The disability process trilogy: (III) Do not shut up

3rd stage of disability: Social model (Modern-critical model)

Abstract

This work is part of a trilogy of articles in which each of the three stages of what we call the “social process of disability” are analyzed , delving into the concept that one had / has of it in each age and in the terms used to designate / desig-nate the people that this concept encompasses. We will see that this nomina-tion justified, and continues to justify, the practices of which this group is the object, always in accordance with the prevailing social norm at all times regard-ing health. This third article of the trilogy corresponds to the study of the third stage of dis-ability, the social model (modern-critical model). At this stage, people with disa-bilities claim control of their situation, claiming that they are the ones who expe-rience this reality and therefore it should be they who decide about it, and not other people (the supposed experts). As if it were the «three wise monkeys» , we classify this stage as the one of not keeping quiet because it is a stage of struggle and change from the predomi-nant medical perspective, which they clearly oppose. This stage coexists in time with its predecessor, precisely that of the medical model, which still constitutes the dominant perspective today, although it coexists with the criticism arising from the social model. More specifically, we can date its beginning in the sec-ond half of the 20th century and it lasts to this day.