University Policy

Social Model

The University's approach is based on the social model of disability. The social model has been promoted in recent years to alter the way both disabled people and the rest of society view disability. It's usually opposed to the medical model, which views disabled people as having physical or mental problems that need cure or adaptation before disabled people can be made to fit into society. The medical model could imply that it's disabled people themselves who are the problem, and in doing so it disempowers them - they are just passive recipients of whatever society decides to bestow upon them.

The social model, on the other hand, aims at inclusiveness: it says that the problems are caused not by disabled people but by society itself. These problems can only be solved by changing society, by removing the barriers that society has put up against full participation by disabled people. For more online information on the social model, see the Resources section.

University Policy

The University's approach is formally stated in its Disability Policy Statement. In addition some individual Schools and Support Services have developed their own policy statements.