How We Conceptualize Disability and Why it Matters Clinically

Presenter: Rhoda Olkin, PhD

Clients come to therapy with entrenched ideas about illness, health, and disability. How they conceptualize disability impacts all aspects of therapy, including goals, acceptable interventions, and the therapeutic relationship. These conceptualizations, called Models of Disability in the literature, are one aspect of Disability Affirmative Therapy. The models are Moral, Medical, Social and Biopsychosocial models. Most clients have some combination of each model and its positive and negative connotations. This presentation covers the four models of disability and gives examples of how clients talk within their model, and how that affects their responses to microaggressions. The relationship of models to mental health are discussed.