Defining Disability

Here at Illuminating Insights, we subscribe to the Social Model of Disability, which defines disability as a result of barriers in society/ the environment, rather than the individual’s impairment. An individual is dis-abled (explainer here or you can also look at this humour-injected demonstration). Going off that definition, the social model could potentially be applied to any marginalised identity, because environmental and/or societal barriers are what can make the world less accessible and safe for any individual, not just disabled people. When we talk about the idea of the world not always being built for, accessible to, inclusive of or safe for everyone, those people the world isn’t always built for, accessible to, inclusive of or safe for, are also people who are likely to have a marginalised identity/ies. More on this in our post on Privilege, Oppression and Intersectionality (available here).

Disability can be self-identified, and/or part of an official diagnosis- here at Illuminating Insights, we seek to support both. The main defining factor of disability is, in accordance with the social model of disability, the effect of being dis-abled.

The Social Model of disability preferentially uses identity first language- that is, ‘disabled person‘, over person first language- ‘person with disability‘. Often, person-first language is used to emphasize disability is not the entirety of their identity while identity first language acknowledges the large part of their identity disability may take up. It is, however, up to each individual to decide what kind of language they use for themselves- we will be guided by the individuals we interact with, support and serve as to their preferences in language. This is why you might sometimes notice us using both forms of language interchangeably in different situations.