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There are a number of alternative definitions of disability which in part depend upon the model of disability which the authors subscribe to. For the purpose of this training resource I will focus mainly on the legal definition and slightly broader definition used by the University.
Terminology
There are notable differences in the terminology used in the field of disability studies and these are a function of the theoretical model individuals subscribe to. Critical Disability theorists will use terms such as 'disabled person' or 'person with a disability', while within the Minority Group Model, Hahn (1991) explains that individuals have 'impairments' but are disabled by the actions or inaction of society.
Phrases like 'dyslexic student' are preferred by many disability activists because they state that a disability is a part of an individuals identity, however other theorists reject this view saying that this implies that a student is defined by their impairment when their disability is just one aspect of the person that they are. It should go without saying that you should avoid using disparaging terms. Due to the evolution of thinking, the terminology used, in several of the papers quoted, is now considered outdated.
Avoid using terminology indicative of the deficit/ Medical Model of Disability, because this implies that a disability is a flaw, or problem, rather than just one example of the way in which individuals differ from each other. For example, you might ask 'how can I help?' rather than 'what is the problem?'. Equally, rather than focusing on what a student cannot do, try to find out what the barriers to their success are. For example, you may have a student with a hearing impairment who cannot keep up with lectures using lip reading alone. You might ask 'what could help?' as this would give the student the opportunity to proffer a solution, rather than focusing on what the student cannot do.
Click here for a link to the American Psychological Association’s style guide to ‘bias-free language’ for writing about disability.
Our legal obligations
Broadly speaking a disability is, unfortunately, generally expressed in terms of a condition that bestows a disadvantage on the individual with that condition, as a consequence of this, many definitions of disability are redolent of a deficit model of disability, where an individuals with impairments lack an ability or function.
Under the Equality act (2010) disability is a protected characteristic and the definition of disability includes some illnesses as well as conditions more generally considered disabilities. A disability is defined as:
“A person (P) has a disability if - (a) P has a physical or mental impairment, and (b) The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”
Definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010
“...a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.”
“‘substantial’ is more than minor or trivial, e.g. it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed.
‘long-term’ means 12 months or more, e.g. a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection”.
“A progressive condition is one that gets worse over time. People with progressive conditions can be classed as disabled.
However, you automatically meet the disability definition under the Equality Act 2010 from the day you’re diagnosed with HIV infection, cancer or multiple sclerosis.”
(Source: Adapted from https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010)
The university’s policies and definition of disability
The following is quoted from the Teaching Quality Assurance Manual ‘Chapter 26 - Inclusive Practice within Teaching and Learning’. This details the responsibilities that the University has. The University however goes beyond what is required in the equality act 2010 by enabling students with short term injuries as well as those with disabilities to access equivalent support and receive equivalent accommodations.
1.5 The University is aware of, and has regard to the legislative background in which it operates. The Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”) makes it clear that the University is legally bound to facilitate disabled access to Higher Education. The University understands that compliance with this obligation could involve treating some people more favourably than others. The Act also provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of disability.
1.6 The Act also sets out the general equality duty which applies to all public sector organisations and requires the University to have ‘due regard’ for advancing equality. The University is required to:
a) remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people due to their disability;
b) take steps to meet their individual and collective needs; and
c) encourage participation in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.
1.7 Additionally, the University has an anticipatory duty to act in advance and make adjustments so as to remove any disadvantage that might reasonably be foreseen as likely to affect students with disabilities. Whilst this may appear to present challenges, insuring the University embeds inclusive teaching and learning practices within all education provision means many of these requirements will already be met.
University policy documents can be found by clicking the links below.
TQA Manual Chapter 26 - Inclusive Practice within Teaching and Learning
Assessment guidelines
TQA Manual Chapter 2 - Setting and Submission of Assessments 2.9 Accessibility
TQA Manual Chapter 4 - Assessing students with disabilities
TQA Manual Chapter 10 - Mitigation: Deadline extensions and deferrals
Marking guidelines Specific Learning Difficulties
Disability Models
There are several models of disability, many of which are reflective of the period and culture at the time they were first articulated (Drum 2009 quoted in Evans et al. 2017). Most UK bodies, including the University, currently subscribe to the Social Model of disability.
The Medical Model
One of the first models of disability, the Medical Model, viewed disability as a medical problem that arose out of people having damaged or flawed bodies. Attempts to 'treat' or overcome disability were almost exclusively within the purview of medicine and focused upon medical interventions, treatments and the use of prosthetics. The focus was on the disabled individual and the modification of their body rather than external barriers.
The Social Model
According to Evans et al. (2017) while there are a range of iterations of the Social Model, broadly speaking an individual has an impairment but is disabled by the action, or inaction of society. Proponents of the Social Model argue against special facilities for, or segregation of individuals with, impairments instead they advocate for Universal Design
Some argue that the Social Model is rather outdated. Originally developed to avoid the medicalisation of disability that is implied in the Medical Model, the Social Model, initially took the opposite point of view and stated that individuals are disabled only by the action or inaction of society and that modifying the external environment will eliminate the effect of disability. A more nuanced view is that it is a bit of both. As Tom Shakespeare points out, not all of the negative impacts of impairment/ disability are external to the person with a disability/ impairment. For example, if an individual were to experience chronic pain, their workplace might provide ergonomic equipment for them which may prevent the individual's work from adding to their discomfort, but whatever the employer does, or does not do, the individual may still experience high pain levels.
Other disability models
Universal design
Universal design (UD) is an approach that has been well known and applied in the world of architecture since the 1960s. It is based on the principle that buildings should be created in such a way so as to be accessible to as many groups of people as possible; accessibility is in the design brief.
Within a university context, Universal Design, or Universal design for Learners (UDL) means that, in addition to physical access considerations, teaching resources, curriculum, and teaching delivery should be designed so that it is accessible to all groups of students be they impaired, part-time, WP, carers or care leavers, for example. This can be achieved through ‘identifying distractions and threats’ (Kinnealey et al. 2012). What this would mean for us would be that we would design accessibility into all of our modules, programmes and processes. For example, if all, or most, of our assessments were designed to be accessible in the first place then we wouldn't have to have the majority of ILPs and mitigation.
As Evans et al. (2017: 325-4) state current practice in HE generally involves making adaptations or accommodations for individual students based upon evidence of a students’ impairment(s). Tinkling and Hall (1999) say that this approach is often used to try to find ways to surmount obstacles instead of eradicating the barriers. Adopting UD principles would mean that there should be few cases where students require individual adaptations or mitigation because all teaching and assessment methods are designed to be accessible in the first place. For example, if a student with dyslexia has access to assistive software and extra time in timed assessments there would be no need for their dyslexia to be taken into account when marking their assessed work.
For a summary of the UDI principles and guidance see:
The Elixr Merlot initiative has a selection of case studies demonstrating how the principles of Universal Design for Learning cab be applied in a variety of different disciplines.
Summary of the most common impairments
An introduction to the characteristics of the most common disabilities