So what's great about the Social Model of Disability anyway?

So what’s so great about the social model  of disability anyway? Posted: 20 Dec 2011 12:54 PM PST   Disability Political Mobilisation by eldoct  Blog piece below orginally posted at multoo   http://wp.me/p20l4O-P   The history of the disability rights movement in the UK stretches  back to the 1970s. Tom Shakespeare pinpoints the ‘Year Zero’ as  1975 (Shakespeare, 2006:14), with the writing of the Fundamental  Principles of Disability by UPIAS – the Unionof the Physically Impaired  Against Segregation.   The key members of UPIAS – Vic Finklestein, Paul Hunt and Paul Abberley  – wrote the Fundamental Principles against a background where the  societal response to impairment was to provide specialist segregated  settings for disabled people – residential homes, special schools,  segregated workplace settings, etc.   In 1983 Mike Oliver named the dominant societal disability discourse as  the Individual, or Medical, Model of disability. In contrast he named the  new definition the Social Model of Disability. I will explore some aspects  of these definitions in a future blog.   For the purposes of this blog I wish to highlight three factors about this  political activity – The self-mobilisation of disabled people, into political groupings, started at this point. The 1980s saw the formation of groups of disabled people, from national organisations to the regional and local groups. Disabled people began campaigning for equal rights, for better access, and for a range of different things. Some of these groups were very angry, railing against the oppressive practices of non-disabled people, while others were more conciliatory, working with local authorities to deliver ‘better’ public services. The point here is that disabled people began to decide what it is that they wanted to campaign for, or against, and then to do it, without the involvement of non-disabled people; The first fruits of this self-mobilisation was the creation of a new, political understanding of disability – the Social Model. This was the first time that disabled people themselves created a definition of disability. This self-definition and self-naming is an important political process, mirrored within other civil rights movements. It moves disability away from the bounds of medical discourse into the realm of political activity; and In doing this, for the first time the notions of ‘disability’ and ‘impairment’ were separated. People with impairments can be disabled, or not, by the socially constructed world around them. These three things, at least, demonstrate that we, as disabled people,  can change things. TheUK disability landscape is fundamentally different  now from what it was in the 1970s. Without the anger, frustration, and  vocalisation of disabled people themselves it is hard to imagine things  would have changed in the way that they have. Many of us now live  independently in the community of our choosing, with the people we  want, controlling our own support packages. Not all of us are  institutionalised and segregated away from the mainstream in the same  way as we were in times gone by. But there is still a long way to go. For some people this independence  is still not a choice. Some people experience profound degradation,  humiliation and even torture in the place they call ‘home’ – look at  Winterbourne View and other recent ‘care home’ scandals.   It looks like things will get a lot worse in times to come. As budgets  are reduced, the squeeze on Local Authority social care provision will  increase. More people may well find themselves in institutions when  they would like to remain living independently. The Hardest Hit in  these tough times are disabled people.   The battle is not over, nor is it ‘won’. Not by any means. The question  is how do we win it? I believe we need a mobilisation of grass roots  disability political activity. We have shown what we can do when we  are in control, and we have shown that by working with government –  locally, regionally and nationally – we can make significant change. There can be a friction between Local Authority service delivery,  contracting and tendering and this political campaigning. But there is  space for this activity. The key here is to mobilise on a regional and  national scale. To bring together the voices demanding change. Festive Cheer One and All. References Shakespeare, T. (2006) Disability rights and wrongs Routledge, London,UK For another perspective on the social model here’s a video  from Disability LIB http://www.disabilitylib.org.uk/human-rights-equality-and -campaigning/social-model-of-disability

Miller admits PIP changeover will take £160  million away from disabled people! Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:54 AM PST DPAC has been passed an unedited transcript from Work and Pensions  Committee in which Maria Miller appears to admit that the changeover  from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment  (PIP) is set for cuts of £160 million from disabled people. It’s claimed that  the department must raise the cash cuts lost in the U-turn on removal  of mobility allowance for those in residential institutions. In the full transcript  participants also seem to be talking as though DLA to PIP is already passed  in law which it isn’t. Q194 Sheila Gilmore: Some of my colleagues may want to ask whether or  not it is just a question of people filling in the form. There is quite a lot of  dispute as to whether it is fair to say that is all that goes on here. As to  the financial position, a lot of people were very pleased to see the removal  of mobility allowance from people in residential homes, which is something  people have campaigned on from the time it was proposed. That also had  a savings implication because a reduction of some £160 million was in the  financial estimates. Is your Department still expecting to find additional  savings from the migration from DLA to PIP that now will not be found from  removing mobility allowance from people in residential care? Maria Miller: As you would expect me to say, the Department has very  clear commitments to the Treasury in terms of the spending it is able to  undertake in the spending review period. The answer to that question is,  very firmly, that we will have to find the funding that was associated  with the mobility component for people living in residential care, but we  will not find it from within the Disability Living Allowance. Q195 Sheila Gilmore: From within PIP? Maria Miller: Yes. DPAC are running a campaign on DLA as already people are losing  this in increasing numbers see: DLA tell DPAC your story Campaign and Social model respomse to  loss of DLA See full unedited transcript of meeting of Work and Pensions Committee  at link below: Proposal to replace disability living allowance with personal  independence payment – uncorrected evidence Organisation: House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee Source: House of Commons – Uncorrected Commons Committee Evidence Date: 18.12.11 The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee has published an uncorrected transcript from its evidence session on December 12 2011  on the proposal to replace disability living allowance with personal  independence payment. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/ cmworpen/uc1493-iii/uc149301.htm Witnesses: Maria Miller MP, minister for disabled people, Department for Work and Pensions Dr James Bolton, deputy chief medical adviser, Department for Work and Pensions Simon Dawson, deputy director of independent living and Office for Disability Issues, Department for Work and Pensions 18 December 2011