The number of people and agencies deeply concerned with the issues relevant to disabilities is increasing all over the world. They are demanding greater opportunities for their full participation in society so that the people with disabilities should enjoy independent living and economic self-sufficiency. These people are acutely aware of the existence of a social process described as DISABLISM.
Disablism occurs as a combined and cumulative effect of prejudice, humiliation and discrimination experienced by the disabled themselves. The disabled, and particularly those with visible and noticeable impairments, are always at the receiving end of pity and charity thrown at them by society. It is the non-disabled who look down upon those who have different appearance or behave differently on account of their disabilities. It is the widespread circulation of a series of negative assumptions about the disabled which contribute to the social process – disablism. THE WORD DISABLISM WAS COINED BY THE LATE PROF. ALI BAQUER IN HIS BOOK DISABILITY, DISABLEMENT, DISABLISM. It creates and perpetuates prejudice about disability and the disabled. Disablism must be identified as an extremely harmful process for the dignity and rights of the disabled and must be eradicated from every society.
As persons with disabilities are an integral part of a society, the ill-effects and consequences of disablism must be fought and done away with. This has to be done firstly by recognising that disability is a human rights issue and secondly, by consciously involving the disabled into every aspect of the daily functioning of the society.
To achieve the goal of full participation for persons with disabilities one must understand that any society can either be based on the medical or social model of disability in its approach in dealing with them. Can strongly and passionately believes that our world, societies and communities should be based on the social model of disability. The important distinction between the medical model and social model of disability is that the former considers the problem to lie in the individual whereas the latter believes that the problem exists in the individuals environment and not in him/her. The difference between the two is explained in detail below
The medical model views disability as a personal tragedy. Disabled people, in this model are regarded as people with limitations who cannot ensure a reasonable quality of life because of their impairment. The medical model expects individuals to find ways of adapting themselves to society. It puts the duty of adjusting to a society of able-bodied people and their environment on the disabled person.
The social model presents disability as a consequence of oppression, prejudice and discrimination by the society against disabled people. It is society that constructs economic, social, health, architectural, legal, cultural and other barriers in order to deliberately prevent people with impairments from enjoying the full benefits of life in a society or community. The social model shifts the emphasis from a disabled individual to a social order with its disabling attitudes and environment. CAN supports and advocates the social model through all projects and activities.
People with disabilities feel disabled not because of their physical and / or mental impairments but because of the barriers that society chooses to put up to establish differences between the disabled and the non-disabled. These barriers fall in three broad categories.
Environmental barriers –
Inaccessible public and private buildings, schools, colleges, offices, factories, shops, transport, information and communication systems which shut out the disabled or keep reminding them of their alleged shortcomings and shouting at them “You are not welcome”.
Institutional barriers –
These include expulsion, exclusion and segregation from key social institutions including education, employment, health, law, recreation, etc. Direct and indirect discrimination prevents people with disabilities from taking full advantage of these provisions.
Attitudinal barriers –
The non-disabled all over the world view and treat people with disabilities with prejudice and regard them as victims, as incapable, inadequate, pathetic, tragic, pitiable unhealthy, dependent on charity, costly for society to support, drain on family resources, inferior , unemployable, etc.
It was to surmount these barriers that the UN decided to adopt The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. It was opened for signature on 30 March 2007.
DISABLISM