Introductory awareness of models of disability — NCFE Apprenticeship Assessment Qualification Health & Social Care Revision
This element introduces the contrasting medical and social models of disability, examining how each perspective shapes care practice and societal attitudes
Topic Synopsis
This element introduces the contrasting medical and social models of disability, examining how each perspective shapes care practice and societal attitudes. Learners will explore how adopting a particular model can either empower individuals by removing barriers or disempower them by focusing on impairments. Understanding these models is crucial for promoting dignity, independence, and person-centred support in health and social care settings.
Key Concepts & Core Principles
- Person-centred care: Tailoring support to the individual's needs, preferences, and goals, ensuring they are at the centre of all decisions about their care.
- Safeguarding adults: Protecting individuals from abuse, neglect, and harm, following policies like the Adult Safeguarding: Prevention and Protection in Partnership (NI) 2015.
- Effective communication: Using verbal and non-verbal techniques to build trust, understand needs, and report concerns accurately, including active listening and appropriate language.
- Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Recognising and respecting differences (e.g., age, disability, race, religion) and ensuring everyone has equal access to care and opportunities.
- Duty of care: The legal and professional obligation to act in the best interest of individuals, avoiding harm and ensuring their safety and well-being.
Exam Tips & Revision Strategies
- When answering exam questions, always use person-first language and link models to practical examples from care settings.
- Ensure you differentiate between the models by using the 'barriers' framework for the social model and 'impairment' focus for the medical model.
- Always structure answers to directly compare the two models, using phrases like 'In contrast to the medical model...' to show critical analysis.
- Use clear, simple examples from a learning disability setting, such as how each model would approach supporting someone with autism to access leisure facilities.
- Link the models explicitly to wellbeing outcomes, e.g., 'The social model improves emotional wellbeing because it values the individual’s identity and choices.'
- For extended responses, reference the shift from institutional care to community-based support as evidence of the social model’s impact on quality of life.
- Check that definitions are not simply regurgitated but are applied to the individual’s experience, as this is what examiners look for in higher-scoring answers.
Common Misconceptions & Mistakes to Avoid
- Students often confuse the social model with merely being 'kind' rather than addressing systemic barriers.
- A common error is believing the medical model sees disability as solely a physical condition, overlooking the psychological and social dimensions.
- Many learners incorrectly assume the social model denies the existence of impairments or medical needs.
- Confusing the models by assuming the medical model only applies to physical disabilities or hospital settings.
- Believing that the social model disregards the individual’s impairment entirely, rather than separating impairment from disability.
- Stating that the medical model is always harmful and the social model is always positive, without recognising that medical intervention still has a valid place.
Examiner Marking Points
- Award credit for clearly defining the medical model as viewing disability as a problem of the individual, caused by impairment, requiring medical treatment or cure.
- Credit for explaining the social model of disability as arising from societal barriers, attitudes, and environments that restrict participation, not the individual's condition.
- Allocate marks for identifying at least two ways the social model can improve wellbeing, such as by promoting inclusion and reducing discrimination.
- Expect evidence of how the medical model may negatively impact quality of life, e.g., by fostering dependency or lowering self-esteem.
- Award credit for accurately defining the medical model as locating the 'problem' within the individual, focusing on diagnosis, treatment, and normalisation.
- Award credit for clearly describing the social model as identifying physical, attitudinal, and institutional barriers as the disabling factors, not the impairment.
- Demonstrates understanding of how a medical model approach can lead to low self-esteem, learned helplessness, and institutionalisation, reducing quality of life.
- Shows how adopting the social model promotes person-centred care, autonomy, and inclusion, thereby enhancing wellbeing and life opportunities.