There’s an ongoing debate about the medical vs. social model of disability.
The medical model says that disability is bad and it holds people back.
Disability is a personal problem and it is each person’s duty to find ways to accommodate their own needs. If the disability were lessened or eliminated the disabled person wouldn’t struggle.
The social model says that disability is neither good or bad, just a neutral difference like race or gender.
The problems disabled people face are not due to the disability but rather the barriers put in place by an inaccessible society.
Making society more accessible will fix most of the problems disabled people face.
As both a person with a disability as well as a provider of services to disabled people, I see both sides.
If society were not stingy with accommodations, our world could be made a lot more accessible. If the social barriers relating to disability were eliminated, finding community and social acceptance would be so much easier for disabled people!
That said, there are some negative aspects of disability that will
never be alleviated by societal changes alone.
No amount of accommodations that
can teach someone an important life skill they do not currently have.
In terms of sensory accommodations, turning the lights and volume down is great.
But there are no changes that could be made to the physical environment
that could teach a person skills to communicate.
The problem with this debate is that it’s drawing from 2 extreme views.
Problems (no matter what their cause) are rarely solved by extreme solutions.
A more moderate takeaway from this debate would offer
the greatest chance at the pursuit of happiness for disabled people.
For me, that sounds like, advocating for society to
be more willing to provide accommodations and increasing social acceptance of disability.
I acknowledge that my autism makes things challenging
sometimes and that’s ok, and that’s not anyone’s fault,
it just is. And I’ll keep finding new ways to adapt.