Disability, Policy and Practice: Issues for Health and Social Care Professionals

Disabled people are different - but how does the notion of disability inform the practice of a health and social care worker?This book explores the relationship between disability and professional health and social care practice. Arguing that the nature of disability is a holistic construction, a fusion of medical, social and bio-psychosocial models rather than about innate biological defects or limitations, the authors show how professionals must embrace difference in order to generate empowerment and social inclusion for service users. They also offer a new conceptual model for disability: the existential model, which offers a holistic approach that resolves the traditional tensions between social and medical models of disability.Each chapter provides a set of reflective questions to enable practitioners to reflect on in real-life professional-client interactions, exploring models of disability in relation to life opportunities and social inclusion.