Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
disabilities to further their education. In the United States the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides for access to public edu-
cation for all children regardless of disability. Under this act a student may
have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) whereby the student may not
be expected to achieve as much as other children without a disability.
Legal Model:
People with disabilities are citizens who have rights and re-
sponsibilities like other citizens. Accessibility to public buildings and spaces,
voting, computers, television, and telephone are some of those rights. These
rights are ensured by many laws in the United States including the Rehabil-
itation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Often assistive
technology related to legal access is provided free of charge.
Social Model:
People with disabilities are part of the diversity of life, not
necessarily in need of treatment, cure, or special assistance. They do need
access - often through technology - to partake in many activities of life, but
they do not need to be taken care of or have decisions made for them by
others. Technology developed in the social model is typically paid for by the
individual with the disability or is free, if mandated by law. Closed captioned
television is an example of free technology mandated by law.
Naturally, these five descriptions of models of disability are oversimpli-
fied, but they do help delineate overlapping approaches to disability. Each
of the models has a work force that provides the services and products as-
sociated with the model. Medical professionals provide medical procedures
and services. Rehabilitation professionals provide services like job training
and assistive technology training. Special education professionals teach in
the classroom and provide out-of-class training. Disability lawyers and other
legal professionals provide legal assistance when needed, for example, to file
a law suit. The social model workforce includes developers and sustainers of
technology whose goal is technology at no or low cost to consumers. There
are also certain workforces that cut across all five models. For example, sign
language interpreters and real-time captioners are needed by deaf people in
many situations including medical, educational, work place, legal, and social.
3.3 Accessible Technology
These models of disability provide a framework for thinking about the re-
lationship between people with disabilities and the technology they use.
The medical model tends to focus on prostheses, devices that restore lost
function. For example, the cochlear implant is a surgically implanted device
that stimulates the auditory nerve system and may partially restore hearing.
Joint replacement surgery may restore someone's ability to walk. Research
on retinal implants may partially restore vision someday. The rehabilitation
model tends to focus on assistive technology that does not necessarily restore
