Lesson learned from Covid-19: disability is socially constructed phenomenon not related to people with impairments

The proportion of disabled people is rising, and it is estimated that ONE billion people (15% of the population) is disabled according to the World report on disability (World Report on Disability, 2011). Disability is much more common in low and middle-income countries. There are many definitions of disability. However, we focus on disability from the Social Model perspective. The Social Model, according to Professor Mike Oliver who coined the phrase in early 1980’s, is a specific focus on the various social forces or barriers such as economic, political, social, cultural which results in disabled peoples disadvantage poverty and oppression. In other words, the social model of disability is “a tool with which to provide insights into the disabling tendencies of modern society in order to generate policies and practices to facilitate their eradication” (Barnes, 2012 p.12).

Today the most widely discussed topic globally on news and social media is the “The impact of the nationwide lockdown on mental health as a result of covid-19”. Let’s all pause for a while and think about this!