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Models of disability define disability, determine which professions serve people with disabilities, and help shape the self-identities of those with disabilities. Although these models have a pervasive influence in the lives of people with disabilities and in the way in which services are delivered, their power is rarely acknowledged. In this paper, a broad, general overview of three models of disability is presented. These models are: the Biomedical Model, the Functional Model, and the Sociopolitical Model. No single model reflects all the needs of people with disabilities. However, a complete understanding of each model will allow practitioners from diverse disciplines to understand the disability experience. Diversity in models has the potential to be both strengthening and enriching.
Much of the way in which rehabilitation practitioners, educators, and researchers undertake their work is guided by the model of disability to which they subscribe (Harper, 1991; Tate & Pledger, 2003). Models of disability define disability, determine casual and responsibility attributions, influence professional practice, drive payment systems, and guide legislation (Dembo, 1982; Hahn, 1993; Nagi, 1969; Zola, 1989). Models of disability permeate every professional relationship in rehabilitation; these models also serve as the structure for rehabilitation and disability research development, providing the rationale for the funding of large studies. Further, every type of rehabilitation/disability resource allocation has its basis in a model of disability and agency policies and regulations trace their origins to a model of disability (Albrecht, 1981, 1992; Berkowitz, 1987; Bickenbach, 1993; Fox, 1993; Wolfensberger, 1972). Thus, the daily lives of people with disabilities, if and how they are educated, if and where they work, and their social and familial life, in large part are determined by models of disability. Perhaps, most important, models of disability exert a powerful influence on the public perception of disability and the public's response to people with disabilities. Consequently, models of disability have the capacity to shape the self-identity of those with disabilities (Conrad, 2004; Davis, 1997; Hannah & Midlarsky, 1987; Hulnick & Hulnick, 1989; Longmore, 1995; Nagi, 1969).
Surprisingly, the power of models of disability is rarely acknowledged or addressed; nor, are these models questioned or challenged (Gill, Kewman, & Brannon, 2003; Harper, 1991; Pledger, 2003). Indeed, most practitioners are only marginally aware that there are other models...