The definition of "person with a disability" and how persons with disabilities perceive themselves are knotty and complex. It is no accident that these questions are emerging at the same time that the status of persons with disabilities in society is changing dramatically.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the cause of some of these changes, as well as the result of the corresponding shift in public policy. Questions of status and identity are at the heart of disability policy. One of the central goals of the disability rights movement, which can claim primary political responsibility for the ADA, is to move American society to a new and more positive understanding of what it means to have a disability

http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/demographics-identity/dkaplanpaper.htm

Dear @Krishnan,

Thank you for support and link to D. Kaplan's descriptions and analysis of existing models of disabilities. I respect this author cited her in 2012, however it is still find not easy to answer what about the essences and dimensions of cultural model (s) of disabilities  :-) 

Cultural competence is built on more than cultural awareness and sensitivity and requires moving beyond this state to actively seeking out and using knowledge about others. This section discusses what cultural knowledge is, how to acquire and use it, and areas to watch out for. Cultural knowledge is an  educational foundation used to understand other cultures. It involves seeking and obtaining information about the various world-views of different cultures.

Knowledge provides the platform from which “to enter the world of culturally different clients in a manner that understands and preserves the legitimacy of the culture and effectively meets their needs”. In other words, cultural knowledge provides providers with the practical understanding of how to work with others from different backgrounds in a culturally competent way. Three related aspects of this acquisition and use of knowledge stand out in the literature: obtaining specific and general cultural knowledge; avoiding stereotyping; and acknowledging contextual influences.

Specific and general cultural knowledge

There are two approaches to cultural knowledge: the first is to take a specific approach; the second, a general approach. Some authors have argued that one is more useful than the other. Each is discussed in turn, followed by an outline of a model that resists naming one as more important than the other, incorporating the two approaches together.

Specific cultural knowledge

Culture specific competence is the ability to act competently within the culture of a specific group. To achieve this, providers need detailed knowledge of the specific cultural background of their clients. For example, one of the earliest proponents of taking a culturally competent approach to social work defined  cultural competence as “The ability to conduct professional work in a way that is consistent with the expectations which members of a distinctive culture regard as appropriate among themselves”

https://www.communityinclusion.org/projectdocs/Harris.pdf

Dear Beata,

This is so good question. I would say that cultural model is a part of either medical or social model. However, factors that influence cultural model are more deep and probably needs further research.

It is a human nature to help a disable, in general. In a societies that the stast- system has its own norms of facilities in many angles for disables, the culture is built to drop the disable from the shoulder easier than cultures that disables are in living in the mercy of their family, friends, and neighbores, as their norms; because similar problem could happen to them in the future too; if they do not creat these tradition today, they would be helpless tomorrow too. 

This blog post from 2013 offers short and interesting models of medical and social disabilities.

http://katelynhoog.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/medical-social-and-cultural-models-of-disability/

The cultural models of disability are variable but more so in socio-economic contexts. For example, even though the stigma attached to certain disabling conditions are stronger in Asia than they are in the western world, these also lead to fewer cases of official diagnoses and potentially empowering solutions. The economics add further dimensions to these, as the disabled in first-world Asian nations do enjoy a much better quality of life than do their counterparts within the same ethnic culture but in more economically challenged areas.

They vary, dear Beata, from the mental to the physical to the moral to the social to the political to the religious to the communal!

Our modern culture is one whose main mode of propagation and thus mode of manufacturing are the mass media.  So what we see in the news and movies and TV series about the disable persons constitute the cultural models.  In the old civilisation, cultural models were propagated by the mythological stories, in the modern cultures the cultural models are propagate/manufacture my the popular stories in the media.  Not long ago, the only handicap persona in these stories were victim persona that made us cries.  Now, sometime (rarely though) we have handicap character that are not victim but are real positive participant in the stories. As long as we focus on the handicap, see the handicap as a victim , even though we are compasionate, this is not as valuable as a handicap character that we admire for some aspect of the character.  This teach us to look at them as we look at everyone: a focus on the what is positive about that person.  

Dear All, 

Thank you for ideas, contributions and support. The answer is not easy and we mostly are thinking of cultural model as of variation of comprehensive social model. This indicated @Krishnan, @Monica, @Faranack. This is difficult to differenciate frames of cultural model of disability. I'm exploring this issue since some time.  I agree with those of you, who highlighted domains of cultures and their associations with disability model as @Marwan did. I like @Louis' remarks about sources of cultural model of disability in artifacts of passed or current cultures. Thank you  all again. 

People may feel stigma or shame at identifying themselves as disabled. In fact, in some cultures disability is seen as punishment for transgressions committed in previous lives. According to one author, people can perceive that “At a profoundly serious and spiritual level, disability represents divine justice.” For this reason, the question Do you have a disability? is especially inadequate at picking up mental or psychological disabilities which tend to be particularly stigmatizing and are sometimes more easily hidden

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DISABILITY/Resources/Data/MontPrevalence.pdf

Beata,

I think that when we will live into a culture where disable peoples will have as much success as the other peoples and that they will be present in the mass culture media as such and even when we will see cruel evil handicap characters only then we will see them as everybody else, define by what they do instead of being defined by what they can't do.  As long that we will pity them we will not respect them.  In order to get there a lot of handicap person author will have to write interesting fiction stories, scenarios where handicap characters will be present.  It is like the case of women.  When I was a kid there was almost no film, or book written by woman.  The heroine were perfect for a male audience and sub-serving the main male characters.  The woman role models were pathetic.  Now my daughters are reading so many books written by women with interesting women characters.

I don't know if I answer to your broad question, Beata, but I just point that in France, the Law No. 2005-102 for equal rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship of people with disabilities was passed on 11 February 2005 (Official Journal on 12/02/2005). This law consists of 101 articles and leads to writing more than 80 implementing legislation. She brings many changes whose magnitude is determined by the content of implementing legislation and details they provide.

The main axes and advances of this law are: welcome of people with disability, the right to compensation, the resources, the schooling, the employment, the accessibility, the citizenship and participation in social life, and miscellaneous.

The main problem with this law is that economic recession in France no longer permits to fund its applications. In my work I see mentally handicapped schooled children in 2005-2006 returning to our specialized institute because they can not receive the support required for a good fit in the normal school.

The Stockholm Declaration (2004) of the European Institute for Design and Disability (EIDD) states: “Design for All aims to enable all people to have equal opportunities to participate in every aspect of society. To achieve this, the built environment, everyday objects, services, culture and information, in short, everything that is designed and made by people to be used by people, must be accessible, convenient for everyone in society to use and responsive to evolving human diversity.”

We would be putting ourselves, then, in the position of not only respecting the range of functionings common and legitimate to the majority of people, but also taking into account the less common modes of functioning and interaction with technology. Recognition of all the different expressions of functioning that are possible leads to awareness of and respect for functional diversity. All diversity is expressed in terms of difference. Biological diversity, for instance, is the result of taking into consideration all the different life forms that inhabit an environment. Protecting this diversity would mean attending to the preservation of these life forms. In another sense, protecting, so to speak, the cultural, artistic, ideological and other kinds of diversity in a society would involve ensuring that all possible manifestations within that society may be expressed. It is understood that cultural, artistic, ideological and other types of diversity are of value to society as sources of enrichment

In addition to transforming communications and access to information, ICT have profoundly altered a significant portion of human capacities for action.

http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/55420/3/MarioToboso_Manuscript_Ethics-Inf-Tech_13-2_revised.pdf

Hello Beata

In my view, when we talk about culture and disability there are two different aspects that one needs to consider. 1) Culture of disability; and 2) Cultural views of disability.

Culture of disability relates to how disabled people as a larger community or a sub-community of people with specific impairments view themselves. For example, many Deaf people do not view themselves as disabled but claim that they are part of Deaf (with capital D) culture. They have their own set of rules and behaviours (like any other culture) that are acceptable within Deaf community. 

When we talk about cultural views of disability, it refers to how disability and disabled people in general are viewed in various (ethnicity based) cultures. For example, in some cultures when a child is diagnosed with a disability, the parents are blamed for it on the ground that they must have committed some sin in their past life and hence God has punished them with a disabled child. There is a lot of stigma attached in many cultures to being disabled or being parent of a disabled child. Thankfully, such views are changing rapidly as a result of disability awareness campaigns run in different countries largely by DPOs (Disabled People's Organisations) and their allies.

You might find the following book edited by Stone useful:

Stone, J. (Ed.). (2005). Culture and disability: Providing culturally competent services. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Best

Hemant

Dear @Louis, @Krishnan, @Eric and @Hemant, 

Thank you for contribution and interesting ideas.

 I try to recall interesting female with disability movie character, inspired by @Louis. Hmmm... maybe "Repulsion" directed by Roman Polanski with Catherine Denevue - study of schizophrenia ? You are right about current XX centry media who created or negotiated monster grounds of otherness. Currently world-wide there is much more undrstanding attitude in portraying disability with accent on potential not the burdens. 

Dear @Krishnan, Indeed - all diversities have rights to be participants in dominant cultures. I agree. So cutural model could be meant as evolution of legal acts (culltral artifacts) towards accessibility of dominant cultures. 

Dear @Eric, thank you for French data. I had in 2010-2012 opportunities to visit  various French educational and rehabilitation services grounded in legal act you cited. French colleagues from university or facilities perceived this act as an important move towards disability issues in France. I appreciate French inclusion ideas already  implemented as CLIS-es and ULIS-es. 

Dear @Hemant, I agree with your bright remarks of two dimensions while analysing cutural model of disability and with presence of third approach as to Disability Culture concepts. I wrote recently paper for Polish Charity Foundation (without IF), devoted to Disability Culture dimensions. I knew before of anglo-saxon idea of Deaf Culture and have critically analyzed such valuable but slightly narrow concept, trying to indicate, that there are other Disability Cultures included to general term of Disability Culture.  Dear @Hemant your comment is essential in highlighting Boasian relativity prinziple of Disability Cultures, which you connected with the differently conceptualized  origins and sources of disabilities. I agree, dominant cultures had and have great influences over Disability Cultures. Thank you for the reference :-) 

Dear Beata,

an can´t give you a general answer. But I like to give you a hint about my research about disability and queer.

I figured out how difficult it is to bring these too cultures together. Both subcultures are dominated by strikt ideas of body and normality and persons who want to live in both cultures often confrontated with discrimination.

My Research is published in german. If you are interested in my thoughts, please contact me.

Best wishes Gesa

Shame Saeed.