Models of Disability
The following section presents key models of disability, which are intended to provide information and guidance and offer an overview of different understandings of disability. In a higher education context, engaging with these models is of particular importance, as they significantly shape how disability is perceived and, consequently, influence how teaching, examinations and study conditions are organised and managed. It is only by recognising and reflecting on one’s own patterns of thought that sustainable processes of reflection can be initiated.
1. What is a model?
Contents: Distinction between theory and definition, explanation of terms. Models must be clearly...
2. Models of disability
Contents: Plurality of interpretations, interpretative frameworks, context-dependence. As the con...
3. Individual/Medical model
Contents: Disability as an individual deficit, origins and development, reliance on expert opinio...
4. Relational model
Contents: Disability as an interaction between the individual and the environment, origins and de...
5. Minority model
Contents: Disability as a form of social disadvantage, origins and development, parallels with ot...
6. Social model
Contents: Impairment versus disability, origins and development, consideration of external factor...
7. Cultural model
Contents: Disability as a cultural construct, origins and development, notions of normality and r...
8. Affirmative model
Contents: Disability as a positive identity, origins and development, further development of the ...
9. Human rights model
Contents: Disability as a human rights issue, origins and development, basis for the UN Conventio...
Source directory
Egen, Ch., & Waldhoff, H.-P. (2023). Modelle von Behinderung und historische Entwicklungslinien v...