I have a lot of different feelings about the social model of disability and it’s application in my own life.

For those unaware of what the social model of disability is: The social model calls for the change of sentiment that disability is about an individual with a disabling condition — but rather that society’s inability to budge on accessibility is what actually creates most of the disabling that disabled people face. In some instances, the social model calls for individuals to be labelled “disabled people” rather than “people with disabilities” and also sometimes calls for “ableism” to be replaced with “disableism”.

So, for example, the lack of wheelchair ramps and other features on businesses and homes is what creates the issue for those disabled people who need to use ramps — instead of their actual conditions.

Application of the social model to real life

I definitely see the appeal of this new model. Especially for accessibility, it then becomes less of the disabled individual’s responsibility to ensure that accessibility is a thing that people take into account and more of a responsibility on behalf of organisations and institutions to ensure their events and places are accessible to all individuals. And that’s a good thing.

But on the other hand, for those of us who do have conditions which are debilitating, it kind of feels like having to save face in order to pretend the hugest problem is other people. It’s true that prohibiting me access to my medications, which I need in order to live, create significant barriers in my life. I know that as someone who’s lived in a country with and without free healthcare. The value added to my life and the freedom that a healthcare system provides me is incredible.

In “Ethics”, Worf asks Riker to help him commit ritual suicide because the idea of being paralysed is dishonourable to a Klingon. In many ways, our society perpetuates the idea that disability is worse than death.

However, there are certain aspects about my condition that limit me that don’t have anything to do with the barriers people place in my way. It has plainly to do with the fact that my brain doesn’t have the capability to tell my body to release certain hormones.

If I miss my medication, I become incredibly exhausted and will eventually die. That’s not really an issue of a barrier put in place by other people, but just a function of my biology. Just like I am pretty short and thus cannot reach things in high places. It’s not a matter of tall people putting everything out of my reach, it’s just a matter of not being able to reach that far.

Refusing to admit inequity

I feel like people may this continuous effort when it comes to disabilities to try and avoid getting to a point where we admit inequality. And it makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Disability has often been used as a reason to perpetuate inequality and social activists have rarely questioned the ableism at work. For example, if you don’t want to read the entire article, most social groups denied rights are often denied on the basis of disability — women are to “weak” and “feeble” to be in positions of power, similarly for people of colour, etc.

Queerness was once a disagnosed mental disorder, as well as hysteria and let’s not forget drapetomania. It’s unsurprising that, likewise, even disability activists would want to construct a thought process which means that we are likewise not actually physically less able than the rest of the world — where the world is actually the problem.

Personally, I think it’s both, but there’s a danger in pretending like there’s no such thing as a weaker body. I do consider my body, because of my disorder, weaker than most. I’ve got a lot of issues with energy, metabolism, etc. This doesn’t have to mean that I am a weak person. If we believe biology is not destiny, than why is it that we have to have perfect bodies in order to be treated decently. Someone lacking physical abilities others have should not mean they are less human.

I sometimes forget that Anakin is severely disabled because the technological advances of his time erase his disabilities.

Obviously this becomes more conflated when you talk about specific disabilities and access to specific things. But the problem with assuming that all issues of disability are about the lack of access provided by the world, it then creates a situation where, if access is provided, then the blame bounces right onto the shoulders of disabled people or it puts disabled people in a situation wherein there is always something that an institution can provide or do in order to address the issues that disabilities can cause.

And this can be incredibly difficult especially if the disabilities in question are mental disabilities, or a combined range of disabilities. Sure, I can live in a place where I get the medication I need, but it’s up to me to take it, and just because I take my medication doesn’t automatically mean I have the energy for everything or that I should be compared to someone who isn’t disabled and expected to meet the bar because all of the obstacles of my disability have been supposedly removed by the accessibility issues being met.

I do agree that a large part of the disabling nature of disabilities is the attitude other people have towards it. In my own experience, my disorder rarely causes me physical issues. And when it does cause me physical issues, these haven’t been psychologically difficult. Whereas, other peoples’ reactions to my disorder — from assumptions about my capabilities to downright bullying — have created most of the issues that have made me hesitant to disclose my disability in any situation where it doesn’t become patently obvious.

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