Disability, done right

Overview

How you define disability shapes what you see as the problem and what you do. The module traces the impairment and disability distinction drawn by UPIAS in 1976 and named the social model by Mike Oliver, compares four models of disability, and weighs Tom Shakespeare's critique, then covers disability language, Rhian Davies of Disability Wales on organisations run by disabled people, the Welsh approach and Channel 4's Paralympics campaigns. The Equality Act 2010 sets the minimum for employers, and good management decides whether they can do their best work. This module sets the legal test against the social model, then covers who is disabled under section 6, discrimination arising from disability under section 15, the knowledge test and reasonable adjustments. It closes with the disability employment gap, the policy context and the Disability Confident case study.

What you'll develop

In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:

1. 1Distinguish impairment from disability and compare the medical, social, biopsychosocial and human rights models, recognising which one a conversation is using.
2. 2Apply the social model question of what gets in the way, allowing for fluctuating impairment and using language that follows the person in front of you.
3. 3Assess how your organisation represents and involves disabled people, drawing on Channel 4's Paralympics campaigns and the principle of nothing about us without us.
4. 4Explain the Equality Act definition of disability, discrimination arising from disability, the knowledge test and the duty to make reasonable adjustments.
5. 5Plan and hold an adjustment conversation that removes barriers quickly, records what is agreed in an adjustment passport and is reviewed over time.
6. 6Assess your organisation's disability inclusion by outcomes such as recruitment, retention, progression and adjustment times, not by accreditation alone.