A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

Conclusion
I conclude by re-visiting my five substantive questions and asking whether these have been
answered within my analysis. While I do not claim to have attempted to address these
directly, I can state that they have been hovering in the background, shaping my lines of
exploration and enquiry. I address each question in turn.
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Is the social model of disability adequate as an explanatory tool for the description
and analysis of the everyday experience of living with impairment in a disabling
society?
The social model was initially developed as a practical tool in order to understand the
externally imposed restrictions which limit the full participation of people with impairments
in society. Where it does relate to impairment and to medical or therapeutic treatment, the
social model identifies the suffering caused within disabled lifestyles as due primarily to the
poor organisation of services (Oliver, 2004:22). While many disabled people (myself
included) have found the social model liberating in terms of the light it has thrown upon the
circumstances of our lives, it is to expect too much of it to account for or provide all the
answers to every conflict experienced by every disabled person in every instance. In a
commodity culture alienation is endemic and is felt by more than just disabled people. There
are other causes of oppression than disabling barriers.
We recall Brian‟s characterisation of disability as „a wide vista of experience…‟ (l.1:140)
impacting on both objective and subjective reality. To suggest that the social model is not the
right tool to use in attempting to understand the deep emotional hurts that disability involves
is not to criticise it, as this is something it was not fashioned for. I have characterised the
social model as enabling an understanding of the disabled self within the broad historical
sweep, and would suggest that in relation to the self it is not required to do more.
In what ways do media representations of disability impact on the identities of
disabled people?
I have suggested that media representations of disability as personal tragedy function
ideologically to harness the willing participation of disabled and non-disabled people in the
daily reproduction of disabling social relations. The endless reiteration of the view that
impairment is undesirable difference reinforces an economics of conformity, a fear and
avoidance of being regarded as different, and an unending pressure to appear as normal.