People that think of disability medically tend to define disability as a defect, diagnosis, or problem within the individual caused by disease or trauma. While it is important for disabled people to receive medical treatment, only looking at disability from a medical perspective contributes to the idea that disabled people need to be fixed or cured by medical professionals to live a fulfilling life. 

(Trigger Warning)

 The medical model uses negative terminology like cripple, handicapped, invalid, and retarded, the disabled, the blind, special needs, suffering from, and wheelchair-bound. We view non-disabled people as superior to those with a Disability. And the sole purpose of a Disabled person is to be “cured” or become as “normal” as possible.

For Disabled People, thinking about disability medically can lead to biased, discriminatory medical care. Disabled folks are subjects of physicians who have power over their lives. We are characterized as dependent patients who have a low quality of life.

When disability rights activist Kitty Cone was wrongfully diagnosed with polio as a child, for example, her doctors recommended she undergo a series of surgeries to help her walk better– even though Cone desperately pleaded not to because she felt like they were making her feel worse. It turns out that Cone was receiving inappropriate care. She was eventually diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and learned that her muscles became weaker every time she had to rest after a surgery. Her doctor’s unwillingness to listen to her concerns and hope that Cone would eventually walk like a “normal” person hurt her and caused her to feel more pain for the rest of her life.