Learning intention: To develop an understanding of the social model of disability which asserts that people are disabled by physical and attitudinal barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. To appreciate that our society and infrastructure is designed, and that it is a choice whether to design these things to enable or disable people with impairments.
Student learning objective: To understand the social model of disability and appreciate that we can choose to make the world more inclusive for people with impairments.
Introduction
Look at the section on the social model in the NEU resource The Full Story.
Read either or both of the books suggested with the class.
Main activity
- Using the PowerPoint prompts, discuss the story(ies). You could also use the additional suggestions included in the resource.
- Depending on pupils’ level of knowledge and confidence, you could also talk about the following:
- The social model of disability argues that people are disabled not by their differences but by barriers in society. These can be physical or the result of people’s attitudes or behaviour.
- When thinking about people with impairments, do we think ‘they can’t do X’ – or do we think ‘they could do X if we made changes to how things work’? For example, having lifts or escalators for people who can’t walk up or down stairs easily.
- This second way of thinking is more likely to make things better for Disabled people and give them access to the things many of us take for granted – like travelling to school on a bus.
- Imagine you are a Disabled person who can't use stairs and wants to get on to a train or bus with a step. The social model tells us that this is a problem with the vehicle, not the person. What adaptations could you make so that that it is more accessible?
- People may have different sorts of impairments to do with sight or hearing or their ability to move from place to place – or which may affect their ability to learn new skills or be in busy or noisy places. What examples can pupils think of?
- If most people in the world used sign language instead of verbal communication/speaking, how would you feel? Would there be barriers to you communicating as someone who doesn’t know sign language? Have you ever been to a country where you didn’t understand the language? How did you communicate?
