Medical Model and Social Model of Special Educational Needs

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Student Number:    0638647                                                                                                                          Module Code:          ED1025                                                                                                                    Assignment 2:          Examine the difference between the ‘social model’ and the ‘medical model’.

Examine the difference between the ‘social model’ and the ‘medical model’ as a way of understanding, identifying and responding to special needs.

Models of disability are tools for defining Special Educational Needs (SEN), in the hope that strategies can be devised to meet the needs of disabled people. The medical model of disability focuses on the child’s condition, seeing the problem within the child, trying to find a way of treating the child to fit in with his environment.  Disability Equality in Education (DEE) defines the medical model stating that the impairment is focused on, rather than the needs of the person (, no date).  In contrast, the social model of disability sees the problem with the environment, addressing that changes need to be made within society.  Alcott (2002, p.120) describes the social model explaining that the focus of attention is on the environment in which the child lives, making changes to it as well as changes to the attitudes of society.  The introduction of the 1981 Education Act changed the way children with SEN were educated, using the findings from the Warnock report.  The Warnock Report promoted the use of the social model of disability, changing the term ‘handicap’ to SEN hoping that this new expression would encourage the focus to be on the individuals needs rather than their disability.  Previous to this report the medical model was adhered to, focusing on a person’s disability, labelling them and ignoring their needs as an individual.  This paper will evaluate each model of disability, explaining how society understands, identifies and responds to both models, as well as highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of both models in debate.  

The medical model approach of understanding SEN is usually generically, arguing that all children with disabilities are the same and that they have the same needs.  Labelling a child with having Down syndrome or Autism as examples often means that they are recognised by their diagnosis rather than themselves; an individual.  To illustrate this point I will give an example from a personal experience.  My daughter has Williams Syndrome; a genetic learning disability.  She is often referred to by doctors with an understanding of this condition as a ‘typical Williams’ child.  Many questions or worries I have had in the past have been answered with “this is common with Williams people”.  Many professionals seem to follow the medical model, seeing the disability as a barrier to achievement instead of finding ways to promote a child’s abilities.  Their decisions affect many aspects of a child’s life, for example: the school they attend, the support they are entitled to and in the worst possible case; the chance of being born.  Screening for abnormalities of the unborn baby is offered to pregnant women as part of routine maternity care. Early detection allows a mother to make an informed choice about the continuation of her pregnancy and, in some cases, treatment can be planned to take place soon after the baby is delivered (Contact a Family, 2007).  The medical model understands the problem as being ‘within-child’, trying to find a remedy to cure the ‘problem’ other than promoting the child’s strengths.  Segregation often takes place in the education system, for example, schools for the blind and deaf, along with schools that ‘specialise’ in autism.  The medical model is also known as the ‘individual model’ as it promotes the notion that it is the disabled person who must adapt to the way in which society is constructed and organised (The Open University, 2006).  

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In 1976 the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) stated that disability was:

“the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organisation which takes little or no account of people who have physical impairments and thus excludes them from participation in the mainstream of social activities” (, no date).

This statement has no recognition of any other disabilities other than physical, however it was this organisation that introduced the social model of disability, ultimately changing and improving the lives of people with SEN.  Understanding SEN using the social model recognises the child ...

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