Brief Summary of Models of Disability

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Chapter 2 (In ‘Implementing the Social Model of Disability: Theory and Research’ edited by Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer (2004); Leeds: The Disability Press, pp. 18-31). CHAPTER 2 The Social Model in Action: if I had a hammer Mike Oliver Introduction A little while ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that the Labour Government’s aim is: ‘To take down the barriers that hold people back from fulfilling their potential’. It is tempting to suggest that we are all social modellists now! It certainly seems that it is not just disabled people who recognise the potential and usefulness of the social model. However, its rising popularity has coincided with it becoming increasingly contested, not just its definition but also in terms of its usefulness and applicability. In this chapter, I want to argue that, as the title implies, in the last twenty years we have spent too much time talking about the social model and its usefulness and indeed its limitations and not devoted enough attention to actually implementing or attempting to implement it in practice. This criticism applies both to the disabled people active in the Disability Movement and those academics who have been central to the ongoing progress of disability studies. In order to develop this viewpoint, firstly, I will provide a brief history of the social model from my own personal perspective as someone who was centrally involved in its elaboration, almost from the beginning. Secondly, I will explore the main criticisms of the social model that have emerged from the Movement and from disability studies. I do not intend to engage with the disapproving analyses that have been offered from those outside the Movement or in other parts of the academy. Thirdly, I will examine examples of the application of the social model with which, in one way or another, I have been involved. I will focus primarily on a recent
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