These barriers can be physical but, just as often, they are the result of other people’s attitudes. Removing these barriers – which can sometimes involve quite small modifications to our own behaviour or ways of thinking – can create greater equality and promote the inclusion of Disabled people.
In schools, for the social model of disability to be effectively implemented attitudinal change is required. Inclusion not integration is the goal. Mainstream schools need the funding and staffing to be more inclusive alongside reform to the current curriculum and assessment systems.
Simply saying we should use the social model is not enough without the structural change to support it.
Mainstream schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combatting discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all.Salamanca Statement, UNESCO, 1994
From a social model perspective, the term ‘Disabled people’ is a political term that people with impairments use to emphasise the social cause and nature of exclusion and discrimination faced as people with impairments, disabled by society.
