Currently around 1 in 5 or 20% of people in Australia have a disability, a massive number and each person has defined themselves as having a disability through one common definition.
Some books point out that ‘disabled’ is an identity that you may not have been born with. In fact often disabilities are acquired through means such as late-emerging effects of genetics, illness or accidents.
There are two main models that are used for defining a disability and they are the medical and social models.
The Medical model was created by the World Health Organisation in the 1980s and refers to three key defining areas: Impairment, Disability and Handicap. The Social Model looks at the way in which the lives of a person with a disability is affected by the barriers that society imposes.
However I think it is a lot more complex even, than these definitions.
Perhaps instead of defining one as having a disability, we should be defining and focusing on our amazing abilities! For they are the true mark and makeup of our identity!
But what do you think?
Alyssa
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