In this episode, I’m excited to introduce you to an activity that you can use to explore the Social Model of Disability with your students.
Challenging the standard definition of “disability”
Disability doesn’t make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.— Stella Young
The lesson opens by asking the students to generate the standard definition of “disability”. If they were to ask random people in the street what “disability” is, or look it up in the dictionary, what would be some of the things they would find? I document their ideas in a mind map on the board. I follow up this brainstorm by projecting the Merriam-Webster definition of “disability” (here). As you might expect, this definition articulates disability following “the Medical Model of disability”: disability is exclusively presented as an individual, negative, medical condition, and it is even defined in relation to someone’s ability to be economically productive (aka: “gainfully employed”).
Participant Activity: “Types of Human Characteristics”
Now that we’ve generated this standard definition, it’s time to move on to the main activity. I split the students into pairs, or I let them choose their partners. Once they’re in their small groups, I distribute a handout I’ve created called “Types of Human Characteristics.” This handout lists about 75 words, including various physical, medical, and social labels that we apply to people in society. Students have ten minutes to circle which terms they believe “count” a disability based on the definitions we have just studied.
We then reconvene as a full group, and each pair shares how many types of human characteristics they labeled as disabilities. Students typically report drastically different results, which is precisely what makes this activity so interesting. It reveals the subjectivity of the disability label, and shows the fluid and socially constructed nature of this category.
Unpacking “Impairment” vs. “Disability”
Once students have expressed some surprise about the breadth of different answers, I suggest a brief pause to define the word “impairment” (which has come up several times by this point). I ask the students, “According to you, what does ‘impairment’ mean, and, more importantly, how is it different from the word ‘disability’?” It’s common for students to struggle with this distinction, as our society largely considers disability and impairment as synonyms. I guide them through this with probing questions to help them arrive at the most insightful definitions they can generate.
When the brainstorming tapers off, I project definitions from the social model of disability for “impairment” and “disability” on the board. According to the social model, “impairment is the condition of an individual’s body or mind,” while “disability is the way certain impairments are marginalized by society.” I explain that, in the social model of disability, these conditions are seen as natural variations of human diversity, not inherently negative. They only become impairments when societal and environmental barriers limit a person’s ability to participate fully in society. I provide examples in the slide deck to illustrate how an impairment would be viewed differently by the social model of disability versus the medical model of disability.
Disability as shaped by time, culture, and power
Once we’ve discussed the importance of separating “impairment” from “disability,” we have a solid foundation to resume our activity debrief. As the facilitator, I usually follow two different tracks of exploration: one looking at how the exercise would change if done at different points in history, and the other considering how it would differ in various countries or contexts.
We then explore how this exercise would have been different in the past or in various cultural contexts. It’s eye-opening to see how historical and cultural perspectives have shaped the definition of disability.
The lesson also challenges the Merriam-Webster definition of disability, which ties it to the inability to engage in gainful employment. We discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the flaws in such a definition, as we saw millions of nondisabled workers transition to remote work, while disabled people who needed to work remotely pre-pandemic had been denied employment for those same jobs.
Disability is a Social Justice Issue
By the end of this lesson, students will have gained a profound understanding of disability as a socially constructed concept influenced by societal norms, attitudes, and historical context.
Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to live our lives. — Judith Heumann