Conclusion

In this book we have looked towards a social model for inter-agency working. As you will have seen, the social model has a foundation in critique. It is a direction of thinking that challenges the individual model of understanding disability, including the medical model and associated tragedy model. Within this, it takes a critical stance towards the provision, policy and practice of health and social care. This is not to deny the fact that disabled people require effective health and social care, as do non-disabled people. Nor is it about criticizing individual professionals, beyond the commonsense judgement that some do a better job than others. Within the social model, the analysis is directed towards society, lack of justice, and lack of equality built into society — or institutional discrimination. It is as a system, then, that the social model casts a critical eye upon health and social care services.