IP Blog 1 – Disability

In this Task 1, reflections and analysis on how people who have been identified as disabled interact with other aspects of the individuals’ identities, i.e., race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc, will be provided.

The social model of disability (Oliver, 1990) will be applied to develop my understanding of disability and learning differences, and to implement them into my future teaching context. The idea behind the social model of disability stemmed from the Fundamental Principles of Disability document first published in the mid-1970s (UPIAS 1976), which argued that we were not disabled by our impairments but by the disabling barriers we faced in society. As introduced in the Social Model, the fundamental aspect was concerns on equality. The Model was based on a distinction between the terms “impairment” and “disability”. The Model argued that given equal rights, suitable facilities and opportunities to disabled people can address the issues such as under-estimation, then allows potential disabled people to contribute to society by enhancing economic values (Oliver, 1983; Oliver, 1990).

The Social Model of Disability views disability as socially constructed and a consequence of society’s lack of awareness. The 3 interviewees in the example films all mentioned this point from different angles. The interviewees claimed that even disability is natural, human variation – it exists at birth, through the life course and across ageing; one which nobody really wants to be part of but which is growing larger by the minute – the largest minority group on the planet, tactile sign larger than life, available for all to join at any moment – disabled people; however, society more often than not views them as a monolithic blob, when in many ways they are the opposite—individuals with identities that intersect and interact with one another in ways that affect their lived experiences.

During my PhD, I have worked as special exam invigilator for disabled students in the University of Birmingham. In my opinion, addressing intersectionality starts with believing people, even when their experience isn’t yours. Watching them, working alongside with them or even living with them is often insufficient to know what they need or want. Proximity is not lived experience. Until you are at the intersection, you will not experience its marginalisation. By listening and caring for disabled students for many years, and echoed with other researchers’ findings, I believe we higher educators can provide this special groups with a better live experiences by allocate enough time to them to articulate their needs, this active listening will then be beneficial for correctly understanding for their needs and avoid stereotypes, and promoting collaboration with them effectively (Harte, 2025).

According to Harte (2025), intersectional inclusion is not a practise which only happened once, but an on-going act which need educators keep reflecting. Start with understanding and listening, I believe the disability live experiences can be minimised in some day. As an educator, I will try my best to understand and listen to our disabled students and colleagues’ needs, to minimise the negative intersectionality impacts.

References:

Harte, B., (2025), How intersectionality impacts people with a disability – and what we can do about it. Available at: https://missingperspectives.com/posts/intersectionality-disability/ Accessed 07 July 2025.

Oliver, M., (1983), Social Work with Disabled People. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Oliver, M., (1990), The Politics of Disablement. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

UPIAS., (1976), Fundamental Principles of Disability. London: Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation.