On the social model of disability:
The Social Model way of thinking uses the words ‘Disabled people’. People with impairments use this to make it clear that it is society that leaves us out and discriminates against us.
When using the words ‘Disabled people’ or ’Disabled person’, we are not talking about what a person can or cannot do. We are talking about our shared experience of how society disables people with impairments.
The words Disabled people bring together a big and very different group of people with impairments. They come together to point out the reasons for discrimination, tell people about our shared experience and to make change happen in society.
Medical Model words such as “a person with disabilities” makes it sound like disability is the person’s issue or something that the person has. This is wrong. It is the barriers in society that disable us, not our impairments.