Models of health and disability

Question 1

What is health?

Answer 1

• state of complete physical, mental and social well-being

- absence of disease or infirmity

Question 2

What is disability?

Answer 2

• physical or mental impairment

- has “substantial” and “long-term” negative effect on person’s ability to do normal daily activities

Question 3

What is impairment?

Answer 3

• loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure/function

Question 4

What is handicap?

Answer 4

• term given by society
• to disabled person
• that stops them from doing they’re capable of

Question 5

What are the models of health disability?

Answer 5

• medical model
• social model
• bio psychosocial model
• affirmitive model

Question 6

What is the medical model?

Answer 6

• Focus on diagnosing diseases, discovering causes, designing treatments
  o Aims at fixing, removal of symptoms
  o Solutions medical or technical
  o Health professional is the expert with advice, treatment and ‘cure’
  o Hierarchy, clinician-centred interactions
  o Individual defined by the diagnosis
  o The patient vs the person
  o What the individual can’t do vs can do

Question 7

What is the social model?

Answer 7

 Developed by people with disability to take action against discrimination
o Campaigns for better building access, more consideration, inclusion
o A tool to challenge, confront and change society
o Individuals with disability understand more about disability than those without
o Barriers to inclusion:
 Attitudes e.g. fear, ignorance, low expectations
 Environmental e.g. access, transport
 Institutional e.g. government, charity, discrimination

Question 8

What is the bio-psychosocial model?

Answer 8

Attempts to recognise the concerns of the social model
 Encourage holistic understanding of complex experiences of health and illness
 Acknowledge psychological and social facets of disease and injury
 Accept each person experiences disease in an individual manner
 Encourage a person-centred approach – expertise of health professional and patient shared
 Identify person’s own resources for adapting and coping

Question 9

What is the affirmitive model?

Answer 9

“I am what I am” – just deal with it to their best of ability