A student with disabilities who is on a wheelchair could be viewed in another way by each model.
The charity model would feel shame her for being on the wheel and maybe provide assistance such as food parcels instead making mobility easy for the student and eliminate impairment. The model may even suggest that she may never be able to lead a normal married life whereas in practice there are many people with disabilities who have happy families. However, the medical model may propose that she gets a specialist doctor or physiotherapist to see if there is any treatment that can assist her to walk again like able-bodied people.
According to the social model the community needs to build ramps for her to partake in social life.
The rights-based model may also propose that her company should build rooms which have wheelchair admittance, for her to usage.
Scherer, Schorr, and Johnstone (2001) recommended that it is the public that prolongs the oppression and exclusion of disabled people. The responsibility is removed from the individual with an impairment or disability to the limitations executed by the structure of the social and physical environment and the behaviour of organizations.
Through models of disabled people are shaped the way they treat people with disability. There are some who trust that disability occurs to unlucky individuals and that their circumstances are heart- breaking. One example is about the people with albinism, in my culture it is believed that they if their death time comes, they just disappear and there is no grave for them but if you follow that you find that the family bury them in a secret grave that will be known only by the family. It is believed that the traditional healers would come and dig their bodies to use them as the lucky portion. This
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is a terrible belief about albinism. Disastrous disabilities are those with no cure, where efforts at cure fail. This has been created the personal tragedy theory by around disability scholars (Barnes
& Mercer, 2010). Others understand disability as a disease, something to be cured, an irregularity to be corrected (Barnes & Mercer, 2010). This usually leads to bad stereotyping about disabled people, thus deteriorating the situation.
2.14.1 The social model of disability
This research is grounded on a social model of disability on the premise that “the world must adjust to house the diverse needs of its whole people irrespective of ability or disability (Fuller, Healey, Bradley & Hall, 2004). Barricades should be removed since they discriminate students with disabilities and negatively impact on students’ learning. The social model maintains that disability cannot be categorised only as a medical condition in need of medical attention, but there is a problem of a discriminatory in the social order. There is a difference between disability and inability. Inability refers to unwillingness whereas disability means willing but not afforded an opportunity. Disabled people are not given opportunities to exploit their abilities fully because of barriers that are placed by society. If given a chance, they can live healthy productive lives. In my experience with the students with disabilities, I have noticed that given a chance they do their level best but the system eliminate them in most instances.
Philosophies of the social model of disability were created from disabled people through revealing their experiences (Fuller, Healey, Bradley & Hall, 2004, p. 303). They moulded the disabled people's movement with the slogan” Nothing about us, without us”. The slogan clarifies that people with disabilities should be involved in decision pertaining to them. These concepts were further industrialized by civil rights movements through campaigns. Disabled people difficulties are formed by society and not by the impairments of people’s bodies (Kaplan, 2000).
This model defined disability as the forfeiture or constraint of opportunities to take part in the life of the community on the same level as others (Burchardt* & society, 2004). In this model, social obstacles may comprise bad attitudes and discriminatory policies that reject and separate people with impairments from complete participation in education.
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For physically challenged person impairment means a medically well-defined illness but disability is something executed on top of impairments; by the way, people are eliminated and exempted from participating in society (Barnes, 2003). The expression social model of disability means a shift away from an emphasis on person’s impairments towards the ways in which, physical cultural and social environments eliminate or disadvantage people with disabilities (Barnes, 2003).
From my experience as the disability coordinator in the Technical Vocational Education and Training College, the students are discriminated by the society. In South Africa at large, there are two TVET colleges that embrace inclusion that means in my college we have students from the Northern Cape and other provinces because the students with disabilities are not embraced. Even in my college, there is no variety of programmes to choose from which compel the students to do the programmes they do not like for the sake of getting an education. From my experience, I have noticed that given the opportunity, the people with disability they use it for the best.
2.14.2 Advantages of the social model of disability
According to Oliver (2013), the social model is a tool to develop people’s lives. This model of disability provides hope for people with impairments. Currently, no other model has put forward the variety of ways disability may be experienced and be accommodated. Barnes et al. (2005) state that the social model of disability has confirmed political victory for disabled society and has been used successfully for political involvement.
The model navigates for persons with disabilities to know what needs to happen so that they can enjoy their human and political rights. It further offers an understanding of how society should be formed to provide accommodations for people with disabilities (Carson, 2009). The model liberates people with disabilities from social detention. They can fight for their rights. The social prison that they live in will be preparing more humanitarian, for what occurs to disabled persons reflects where humankind is going wrong
Model of social disability advocates that all the people with disabilities have the right to partake in society (Carson, 2009). The disabled people have denied opportunities, restricted to their voice, choice and self-determination. The inadequate control of support systems in their lives led to people with disabilities to question the norms underlying the traditional supremacy of the medical
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model. Through this model (social model), disability is understood as an unequal relationship within humanity in which the needs of individuals with impairments are often given slight or no attention (Carson, 2009). The social model of disability, for its part, has been a basis of disclosure and stimulus for action. It can dismiss uncritical expectations that handicap is natural and compulsory.
The social model of disability states that a person should be respected regardless of their disability status. Obstacles should be known and detached without discrimination (Tugli, 2013). Diversity should be practised and all students involved in learning not only enrolled but involvement is very important. Good relationships should be encouraged. The social model should serve to empower and develop persons with disabilities.