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A sociological treatment exploring the medical model in relation to the neurodiversity movement with reference to policy and practice
- Authors:
- CASANOVA Emily L., WIDMAN Cheryl J.
- Journal article citation:
- Evidence and Policy, 17(2), 2021, pp.363-381.
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
Background: The Medical Model of disability focuses on diagnosed conditions. It is used in policy particularly to categorise people. This enables predictions and forecasting about the size of policy needs but tends to homogenise disability representations, assigning a negative evaluation to illness that may be irrespective of patho-anatomical correlates. The Social Model considers disability as imposed by society through attitudes and barriers. The Neurodiversity Model is a type of social and cultural model with biological implications; it states that differences in brain and behaviour lie on a non-pathological spectrum. Critics say this whitewashes lived experience. Policymakers may devalue the Neurodiversity Model’s origins within activist neurodiverse communities. The model that policy and practice decision makers use has fundamental effects on their impacts. Aims and objectives: The Medical and Neurodiversity Models are reviewed in reference to their politicisation as ways to characterise disability, and identity politics. The implications socially and for disability policy and practice and evidence use are considered. Key conclusions: Both models fall short in addressing the needs of the broad community of the disabled, yet both have useful features. We propose the Biological Gradient Model (BGM), which integrates scientific theory while avoiding pathology-based concepts and value-laden judgments concerning ‘deficiency’. Its usefulness is demonstrated; it resolves some of the ambiguity and tensions that exist in the way people with disability are viewed by different groups and treated within policy. It has the potential to reduce issues of partial representation, where the voices of those who cannot self-advocate may be less heard. (Edited publisher abstract)
Transgender children and social work: theory, discourse and debates
- Author:
- BALKOW Michael
- Publisher:
- Centre for Welfare Reform
- Publication year:
- 2019
- Pagination:
- 24
- Place of publication:
- Sheffield
A discussion paper exploring how social workers and professionals can approach an understanding of the complexity of working with transgender children. Drawing on current literature, it attempts to locate a debate and discussion, within the key realms of social work; support, safeguarding and advocacy. It makes suggestions as to how this can be attained by placing the needs of the young person paramount, whilst paying attention to public and political debates that can amplify transgender issues in both positive and detrimental ways. (Edited publisher abstract)
Medical vs social
- Authors:
- CANTOPHER Tim, TURNER Margaret
- Journal article citation:
- Professional Social Work, February 2017, pp.24-25.
- Publisher:
- British Association of Social Workers
This article asks the question as to whether antidepressants are too readily prescribed when support to address underlying social, relationship and environmental causes of depression would be more helpful. One author, a psychiatrist and author of Depressive illness: the curse of the strong, argues medication is a key 'first aid' to recovery, whilst a mental health social worker, calls for a more socially-orientated focus. (Edited publisher abstract)
Mind your language!
- Author:
- GILFOYLE Sharon Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 21(1), 2017, pp.47-52.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Design/methodology/approach: This paper explores the use of recovery and mental health language and the application in modern day mental health services. Findings: The language that is used to describe mental health is often based on a traditional medical model primarily focussing on diagnosis, symptoms and problems. This is a stark difference to the modern day use of recovery orientated language. Practical implications: The paper can be used as a discussion topic in teams to explore themes around recovery language. (Edited publisher abstract)
The dialectics of dementia
- Authors:
- MANTHORPE Jill, ILIFFE Steve
- Publisher:
- King's College London. Social Care Workforce Research Unit
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 38
- Place of publication:
- London
This analysis attempts to clarify the different positions taken by those with an interest in dementia, the reasons why they adopted them, their relation to both medical and social science, and their consequences for people with dementia, and also for carers and services. It explores the issues using four thesis which are: Dementia is a big and expensive problem and something must be done about it; Dementia is a disease process that deserves a medical solution; The medical solution is undermined by failure to recognise dementia, which must be put right; The care of people with dementia is primarily an individual or family responsibility. For each thesis, the report looks at: who adopts that stance and why; provides a counter argument to the thesis; and provides a synthesis that attempts to resolve the split between thesis and counter-thesis. The report argues that dementia should be understood more as a disability, rather than a disease, with a greater emphasis placed on supporting those who care for people with the condition. In its conclusion the report looks at what this might mean for a refreshed Dementia Strategy 2.0. (Edited publisher abstract)
Consensus or contention: an exploration of multidisciplinary team functioning in an Irish mental health context
- Author:
- MADDOCK Alan
- Journal article citation:
- European Journal of Social Work, 18(2), 2015, pp.246-261.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are conventionally recommended in mental health care literature as an important way to offer holistic treatment provision to patients. This study aims to explore multidisciplinary teamwork in contemporary mental health settings, particularly what aids and hinders the process of multidisciplinary teamworking, and the social work contribution in such teams. In order to attain an in-depth exploration of these phenomena, a single case study design was employed. Within this design, data were generated through semi-structured interviews and structured observation of a mental health MDT in Ireland. These data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The research highlights how the concept of mental illness is contested within this MDT, with the medical model dominant within an environment of fluid working arrangements. Professional role blurring and stereotyping were found to impact the division of labour on this team, with role negotiation found to be an integral part of retaining a professional's practice identity. This research raises concerns for social work's capacity to function within mental health MDTs in Ireland, and highlights ways in which social work educators might respond in order to empower Irish social workers to meet the challenges of mental health multidisciplinary teamworking. (Publisher abstract)
Rights discourses in relation to education of people with intellectual disability: towards an ethics of care that enables participation
- Authors:
- MCKENZIE Judith Anne, MACLEOD Catriona Ida
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 27(1), 2012, pp.15-29.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article argues that human rights approaches people with learning disabilities have failed to recognise the complexity of rights claims made by and on behalf of this group. Drawing on a research project into discourses of education for intellectually disabled people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, it discerns three rights discourses; namely, rights to full participation, rights to special services and rights to protection. These draw off a social model, a medical model and a protective model, respectively. The authors note that these discourses may be set up in contestation with each other. However, the article argues that they can be seen as complementary if viewed within an ethics of care that enables participation. Within this conceptualisation, participation is viewed within relations of care but is subject to a critique that examines the role of context and disciplinary power in constructing dependency.
Models of disability, work and welfare in Australia
- Author:
- HUMPAGE Louise
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 41(3), June 2007, pp.215-231.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
In discourse around disability there has been a shift away from a ‘medical model’, which perceives disability as an individual problem to be ‘cured’ or contained, towards a ‘social model’. The latter focuses on the relationship between people with disabilities and their social environment, locating the required interventions within the realm of social policy and institutional practice. Drawing upon a small qualitative study conducted in Melbourne, this article argues that recent plans by the Australian government to introduce mutual obligation requirements for recipients of the Disability Support Pension (DSP) sit in tension with this shift from the medical to the social models of disability. Mutual obligation is based on the assumption that income support recipients need to be taught how to be more ‘self-reliant’, to ‘participate’ in society more fully and to become ‘active’, rather than ‘passive’, citizens. This language appears to overlap with that used to articulate a social model, which places emphasis on participation in the community and attempts a shift away from reliance on the medical profession. However, examples from interviews conducted with current and former DSP recipients demonstrate that, in practice, mutual obligation is likely to reinforce a medical model of disability, frame DSP recipients as ‘conditional’ citizens and ignore the obligations of the state and society regarding access and inclusiveness for people with disabilities.
Where next. Current thinking and future possibilities for people with dementia
- Author:
- GILLARD Jane
- Journal article citation:
- Generations Review, 12(2), July 2002, pp.13-16.
- Publisher:
- British Society of Gerontology
Provides a brief history of dementia and discusses the medical and social models of dementia. Looks at the social model of dementia as a means obtaining a better understanding of the needs of people with dementia.
Full and equal equality
- Author:
- REDLEY Marcus
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 23(2), 2018, pp.72-77.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: This commentary takes the article, “Participation of adults with learning disabilities in the 2015 United Kingdom General Election”, as a jumping-off point for considering a tension between the aim of full and equal equality for all people with disabilities as set out in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and more traditional beliefs, that on occasion, it is necessary to deny legal autonomy of men and women with intellectual disabilities in order to protect them. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This issue is explored by reviewing the multiple and often conflicting ways in which disability and intellectual disability are conceptualised. Findings: Given the multiple and contradictory ways in which both disability and intellectual disability are understood, any discussion of the rights of persons with disabilities is going to be highly problematic. Originality/value: Equal recognition before the law and the presumption that all persons with intellectual disabilities can – with support – make autonomous decisions could be treated as an empirical question. (Publisher abstract)