Socio-relational model of disability by Carol Thomas and its significance for disability studies

Abstract

Disability models are conceptual frameworks used to understand and investigate the phenomenon of disability. Social and medical models stand out as key in disability studies. In her works, British sociologist Carol Thomas offered a critical review of the social model of disability and its supplement, which formed a new conceptualization of disability called the social-relational model. Aiming to overcome the exclusivity of previous approaches, Thomas recognizes the essence of disability in the relational area, between persons with and without impairment, where according to her are the key elements of disability. This model offers a perspective that makes room for both the physical and social aspects of impairment and enables the analysis of the psychological implications of the experience of impairment and disability that transcends the traditional dichotomies of medical and social, healthy and diseased. In this overview paper, the medical and social model of disability will be presented in basic terms, followed by the key elements and concepts of the socialrelational model of disability from the original publications of Carol Thomas and other authors who relied on it, as well as a discussion of the importance of the socialrelational model for disability studies and related disciplines.