May 2, 2018 - 08:36
Throughout the semester, I have been interested in pursuing the disability studies perspective in medical decision making. At the beginning of the semester, I had focused my thoughts on how medical technology impacts the disability community. As the semester progressed, I became interested in topics related to how our perception of disability shapes our decisions when faced with questions regarding informed consent or physician-assisted suicide. Through exploring these topics, I developed the idea that the relationship between disability and health is largely responsible for the stigma related to disability. My understanding of both medicine and disability expanded as a result of these reflections.
Prior to taking the course, I had not thought about the impact of medical technologies on the disability community. I had held many of the preconceived notions typically held in regards to disability. I had assumed that disabled individuals would welcome treatments or cures to their problems. I feel these beliefs resulted from the lack of accessibility in society for disabled individuals. Knowing that society was tailored for able bodied individuals, I thought that living in a world where the environment did not accommodate your limitations would reduce your quality of life. However, the course challenged these preexisting beliefs and revolutionized the way I think about disability.
My perspective began to shift when I read A Disability History of the United States. The piece showed me how society had originally accommodated for differently abled individuals before beginning to shift to ableism. This piece showed me that societies have the ability to adapt to the needs of everyone. Thus, it should be possible to shift back to living conditions where every individual is praised for their unique set of skills and others can use their skills to make up for others inability to perform certain tasks. Upon reading the book, I had noticed that the shift in society occurred around the same time as the emergence of modern medicine.
Reflecting upon this relationship, I feel that this connection is in part due to society’s lack of accommodation for disabled individuals. The social model of disability focuses on this issue and stresses that issues associated with disability are due to environmental limitations rather than the individual. However, the close connection between health and disability makes the medical model the more appealing model to society. This is due to the fact that disease often results in various different types of disability. As a result, people often assume that disability indicates a lack of health and that disability can be cured or managed with medical technology.
To resolve this issue, society needs to be better educated on the meaning of disability. Shifting people’s understanding of the problems associated with disability from the individual to society can help shift how we address these issues. Stressing the detrimental effect of society on the lives of disabled individuals can shift strategies in managing disability from medical interventions to the restructuring of different aspects of societal infrastructure. People also need to be educated on the quality of life reported by disabled individuals. Learning that disabled individuals can live fulfilling, enjoyable lives may change how an individual thinks when faced with questions regarding living with a disability.
Better educating the general population can help alleviate the stigma associated with disability that colors medical decisions. Hopefully, these individuals will then opt to live with disability rather than editing it out of their gene lines or their children.