USING ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES TO INTEGRATE THE SOCIAL AND MEDICAL MODELS OF DISABILITY

Abstract

The medical model of disability views the challenges and solutions to disability via medical terms. Within the social model of disability (SMD), impairment is the physical condition specific to a person, whereas disability is produced by society's reaction to impairments, which leads to exclusion from full participation in society and ultimately oppression for people with impairments (Hunt 1975). Despite their different perspectives, an integration of these two models provides a holistic representation of disability within the United States. The unique experiences people with disabilities have with language ideologies and technology are two aspects of life anthropological perspectives can be used to investigate in relation to these two models of disability. The potential for both limitations and sources of improvement are found within the social and medical aspects of disability.