Unconscious bias and the medical model: How the social model may hold the key to transformative thinking about disability discrimination
| DOI | 10.1177/1358229118820742 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Author | Stephen Bunbury |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Unconscious bias and
the medical model:
How the social model
may hold the key to
transformative thinking
about disability
discrimination
Stephen Bunbury
Abstract
This article seeks to gain access to a new way to engage with disability discrimination
and the legal approaches to it by focusing on the two central models: the medical and
social models. It discusses how the law has based the definition of disability on the
medical model and suggests that this may strengthen some of the underlying factors
that contribute to segregation and discrimination of disabled people. This article argues
that the law should now switch focus to the social model, in an attempt to transform
people’s attitudes towards disabled people and become a positive force to reduce
discrimination. It makes reference to the reasonable adjustment duty contained in
parison the American with Disabilities Act 1990. Relevant critical theories are inte-
grated as a means to explore the conception and the hierarchy that exist between
able-bodied individuals and disabled individuals.
Keywords
Disability, medical model, reasonable adjustments, social model, social exclusion
University of Westminster, Westminster Law School, London, UK
Corresponding author:
Stephen Bunbury, 4-16 Little Titchfield Street, London TW7 7BY, UK.
Email: S.Bunbury1@westminster.ac.uk
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
2019, Vol. 19(1) 26–47
ªThe Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1358229118820742
journals.sagepub.com/home/jdi
Introduction
It has been estimated that about 15%
1
of individuals worldwide live with some form of
disability of whom 2.2%have difficulties with functioning (World Health Organization,
2011).
2
Disability is unique within discrimination, in that every individual has the
possibility of becoming disabled at any point in their lives, and ‘disability’ covers such
a range of characteristics. With so many disabilities, it makes it extremely difficult to
address the inequalities that exist among disabled people. There are two different the-
oretical models which attempt to define and combat disability discrimination: the social
and medical models. These conceptual models are crucial to both the understanding of
disability discrimination, and the intention of legislative provisions aimed at combatting
disability discrimination. They provide a framework for interpreting the notions of
disability (Cantor, 2009). A range of critical approaches to social theories that attempt
to address inequality have emerged over the years. However, the critical awareness of
and focus on one source of inequality; disability, has been less significant during this
time, compared to other transformative areas such as feminism, queer theory and post
colonialism (Goodley et al., 2011). These theories will be explored in this article, to the
extent that they may provide a new means by which to view disability-related inequality,
by examining different ways of thinking about disability discrimination and the theore-
tical models used to define disability. This article will explore the unique duty to make
reasonable adjustments contained in anti-discrimination legislation through the lens of
the social and medical approaches to disability, by suggesting that a social model
approach is a step in the right direction in order to eliminate disability discrimination,
even though it may not be the panacea.
The development of the law in the United Kingdom is predominantly based on dis-
ability theoriesthat challenge disability discrimination with reference to mechanisms that
label disability as a problem in need of a solution, rather than recognition of disability as
different but equal (Goodley et al., 2011). This is in contrast to the more radical models
associated with feminism, queer theory and critical race discourses, which attempt to
disrupt ingrained patterns of thinking which instantiate discrimination. Accordingly, a
recognition of the narrowness of a medical framework of disability has been instrumental
in America’s aim to renew the American with Disabilities Act 1990 (ADA 1990) and has
also been the basis for the European Union (EU) Framework Directive (in employment
and occupation) (Cantor, 2009). The medical framework has been influential in shaping
disability legislation in Australia in 1992 (Disability Discrimination Act 1992) and Great
Britainin1995(Disability Discrimination Act 1995) (Heyer, 2000). In addition, it has
inspired movements worldwide, an example being the CanadianHuman Rights Act which
has made disabilitydiscrimination unlawfulsince 1985 (Heyer, 2000). However,the initial
focus on the medicalmodel of disability has led other instruments to followthis approach.
This article will examine the different models and theories which attempt to explain
inequality by focusing on how the law in the United States and the United Kingdom
interacts with the different theoretical models in transforming the experience of disabled
people. It argues that were Parliament to embrace the social model, it may increase the
pace of the approaches to disability and reduce the levels of discrimination that disabled
people face in the United Kingdom.
Bunbury 27
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