Section 1.2: Defining Disability, Part 2

Models of disability

In discussions of disability 2 "models" or approaches emerge:

A medical/clinical model which tends to treat disability as a problem to be "cured"
An environmental model which tends to treat disability as a product of the encounter between functional limitations and "design flaws in the environment" (Alan Cantor)

From U.S. Census Bureau (2004)

49.7 million- the number of people age 5 and over (noninstitutionalized) with at least one disability, according to Census 2000. This is a ratio of nearly 1-in-5 U.S. residents, or 19 percent.
46% of people with disabilities report that they have more than one disability.

Section 1.2 is continued on the next page.