Social Model of Disability
What is the Social Model?
The Social Model of Disability was first developed in the 1970s by Disabled activists, particularly through UPIAS (Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation). Leading figures such as Paul Hunt and Vic Finkelstein argued that people are not disabled by their impairments, but by barriers in society, like inaccessible buildings, negative attitudes, lack of support, and exclusion from decision-making.
In the 1980s, Professor Michael Oliver, a Disabled academic and activist, gave this thinking a clear name, the “Social Model of Disability”, and helped spread it widely across policy, education, and campaigning.
The Social Model challenges the older “medical model,” which saw people as disabled because of their conditions. Instead, it shifts the focus onto society’s responsibility to remove barriers and create equality.
Why Action on Disability Believes in It
At AoD, we believe the Social Model is the foundation of equality. It shifts the focus away from “fixing” Disabled people, and towards removing barriers so everyone has the same rights, independence, and opportunities.
This means:
- We challenge discrimination and unfair systems.
- We value lived experience and leadership by Disabled people.
- We push for change in policies, services, and communities.
How We Use the Social Model in Our Work
The Social Model shapes everything we do:
- Services – our advice, advocacy, youth work, and employment support are designed to increase choice and control, not to “manage” people.
- Campaigning – we work with Disabled residents to identify barriers and push for solutions.
- Co-production – we ensure Disabled people are part of planning, decision-making, and leadership at every level.
- Organisational culture – we are led by Disabled Trustees, staff and members, putting the Social Model into practice every day.
The Social Model also underpins the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which guides our work and reinforces Disabled people’s rights to equality, independence, and full participation in society.
What the term ‘Disabled people’ means to us
- Our community includes people with a wide range of physical, sensory or learning impairments or differences. Some need support to carry out day-to-day activities.
- Some of us have long-term health or mental health conditions, and some behave in ways that are different from the majority. These things don’t have to stop us living full lives.
- Since the 1980s, Disabled people have used a way of thinking called the Social Model of Disability which says it is society that ‘disables’ people. Practical and economic barriers, inflexibility in meeting our needs and negative attitudes to our differences are what stop us leading full lives.
People at Action in Disability have different ways of describing themselves:
- Ben: I’ve got learning difficulties and anxiety
- Naomi would say her son has ‘autism’ and many parents talk about their children having ‘special needs’ or ‘additional needs’
- Donna: I’m neurodivergent
- Ali describes himself as Deaf and prefers British Sign Language as his first language
- Jane: Disabled and disability are different. I haven’t ‘got’ a disability. But Disabled… that’s hard to explain, but it means all of us here.
Though everyone here talks about themselves differently, we each use the words ‘Disabled people’ to mean all of us who are isolated or excluded from full participation in society by barriers that ‘disable’ us.