Definitions of Disability

The Disability Discrimination Act uses medical terms to define disability as "a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day to day activities". This type of definition is know as a Medical Model and suggests that it is the person's medical condition which prevents them from having jobs, using public transport, going to mainstream schools etc.

From the 1970's onwards disabled people started to suggest that disability is not just about a persons condition but also about the way that non-disabled people often exclude disabled people. This could range from the way a building is designed without any wheelchair access to preventing disabled people from entering certain public places to socialise with friends. The following statement was written by a group of disabled people and describes what being disabled means to them.

"We are routinely denied access to transport, mainstream education, employment, information and services. We are routinely patronised, segregated and pushed to the margins of society... We have in this way become the subjects of charity, the objects of other people's pity, and have to fight continually to be recognised as the legitimate subjects of our own lives"
(British Council of Disabled People)

At BT we try to use our awareness of the Social Model of disability to remove barriers to our products and services so as not to exclude our disabled customers. As well as producing some products specifically for disabled people for example the BT Textphone for Deaf and speech impaired customers, we also try to design products that can be used by everyone, for example the Big Button 100 phone. We also make sure that any information we produce is available in a range of alternative formats such as Braille and large print in order to ensure equal access for disabled customers.

Disability theory continues to develop and we acknowledge that the Social and Medical Models are not the only ways of defining disability.