There are a number of different approachs to disability, the main two of which are the medical model and the social model. Equal Access Consultancy bases all of its work around the social model.
The medical model says that people are disabled by their condition, i.e. they cannot walk, hear, see, work, etc. It also sees disabled people as being sick or ill and therefore needing a cure. Being very clinical and focusing on the person's condition, this is a very dehumanizing approach and creates low self-esteem and a lack of confidence.
The social model has come about through disabled people and their organizations challenging the traditional view that people are disabled by their medical conditions. This approach says that people are disabled by their impairments plus the barriers they experience in society. Impairments are the physical, mental or sensory functional limitations they experience as a result of a medical condition. Barriers experienced by people with impairments might be: lack of information in appropriate formats, lack of communication support, lack of level or ramped access, other people's prejudice / stereotypes / assumptions around disability, inflexible systems, and so on.
Equal Access Consultancy believes that the social model is an equal opportunities model and a more positive approach. An example of this is that in removing barriers for disabled people, similar barriers faced by other sections of the community are also removed – i.e. if information is produced in a clear font, it will more likely be readable by everyone; if shops have ramped or level access, then people with push chairs or those making large deliveries will benefit as well as wheelchair users and others with mobility difficulties; if signage is made clearer this will benefit not only visually impaired people but the whole of society. Although the social model says that people with impairments are disabled by the barriers they experience in society, it does not say that non-disabled people must find all the solutions – in fact, it says that everyone (disabled and non-disabled people) are all involved in finding a solution. It also does not prevent people with particular conditions from finding a cure if that is what they want – it just moves the main focus from the need for a cure to removing the barriers they experience in society.