Autism Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Introduction

Running Head: AUTISM
Autism
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

AUTISM 2
Introduction
Most people believe that autism is its own disorder that children are diagnosed with.
However, autism is actually a term used for a wide range of disorder which is on an increasing
verge lately. There are various models of disability which that can be employed in exploring
such disorder which include social and medical models. The social model says that disability is
caused by the way the community is organized rather than by a person impairment. The social
model looks at ways of removing barriers that make the life of disabled people hard. With the
removal of these barriers, disabled people can now live independently and equal in society (De
Rubeis et al., 2014). Social model was established by disabled people because the existing
traditional medical model did not explain their personal experience of disability and to help them
develop more exclusive ways of living. The second model of disability, which is medical
declares that people are disabled by their impairment. Under the medical model, this impairment
can be treated and fixed even if the disability does not cause any pain or illness. The medical
model aims at what is wrong with the person and not exactly what the person needs. This paper
aims at discussing how social and medical models impacts on the perception of autism for
children.
Models of disabilities
The medical and social models of disability
A model of disability can be defined as a perspective from which different individuals or
groups assess or analyze disabilities. These perspectives differ from person to person, thus there
exist quite a number of them as claimed by Donaldson, Nolfo & Montejano (2018). This section
analyses and compares and contrasts the social and medical perspectives from which people
view disability, and how these views affect specifically the perception of autism.

AUTISM 3
The medical model is the point of view which depicts disability as a disease (Haegele &
Hodge, 2016). This model begun to take effect around the mid-19th century, as it slowly replaced
the religious model, the oldest model so far, and which viewed disability as God-given. In the
medical model, also referred to as the “personal tragedy” model because it defines disability in a
basically negative way, disability is considered a completely bad condition, which evokes pity. It
causes pain and suffering to both the individual and their family. It is supposed to be prevented
and, if possible, treated or cured permanently (Chou & Kröger, 2017). The negativity associated
with this perception has even caused the undertaking of certain medical practices on people with
disabilities which have been subject to debate over the years, like euthanasia and involuntary
sterilization.
A critical analysis of medical practitioners who subscribe to the medical model of
disability reveals a bitter truth; that these people regard individuals with disabilities as a
difficulty that needs to be solved. They fail to take into consideration the various factors that
might have led to the person’s condition or other aspects of their lives as a whole. Instead of
working on the conditions making a person disabled, they instead tend to work on the persons
themselves, often regarding them as the ones who need to change or need be changed.
Seemingly oppressed by such medical professionals, people with disability
consequentially tend to view them as superior beings, sometimes even as people with the power
to give life. This happens so because the criteria used to diagnose disability and even create
treatments are derived from the perspective of what is regarded as normal (Haegele & Hodge,
2016). And now that most disabilities can often never be completely reverted back to normal,
these professionals regard PWDs as failures and embarrassments.

AUTISM 4
According to Beckett & Campbell (2015), social model, on the other hand, views
disability as a socially constructed occurrence or phenomenon, and was inspired in the 1960s and
70s by a British disability movement. According to the social model, also known as the ‘minority
model’, it is the society which maims individuals with impairments. Therefore, for any
meaningful solutions to be arrived at, it is the society that must adjust itself, instead of directing
the change and rehabilitation to the individual (Beckett & Campbell, 2015). Activists who adhere to
this model put emphasis on the need to focus on the social context of disability, more so how the
social and physical environment imposes limitations on some groups of people.
This model even goes ahead to try and create a distinction between the definition of the
terms ‘disability’ and ‘impairment’. From their point of view, impairment is the lack of a part of
or a whole organ, limb or body mechanism. Disability, on the other hand, is defined as the
restriction or disadvantage of activity brought about by a current social organization which does
not account for, or takes little account for people with physical impairments and therefore
excludes them from participating in the major social activities. Looking at it from that angle is
what construes disability as a socially developed phenomenon, imposed on people with
disabilities and thus forming a certain form of oppression.
In contradiction to the immediate and even long term effects of the medical model of
disability, the social model is actually seen to be working in favor of people with disability.
Governments have been seen coming up with reforms and policies which recognize the PWDs
and the roles they play in the different societies they live in (Watermeyer, 2019). So to speak,
staunch subscribers to the social model have even proposed changing the phrase ‘people with
disabilities’ to ‘disabled people’ arguing that the former term does not clearly bring into light the
fact that these people are actually disabled by the societies they live in, and the attitude and