A social relational model of disability: a theoretical framework for special needs education?

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This paper discusses various approaches to the phenomenon of disability in relation to special needs. Ever since disability researchers launched the social model of disability and criticised the field of special education for preserving an understanding of disability in accord with a medical model, the special education field has been in a state of crisis. The implication of this has been the embarrassment of talking about categories and levels of functional difficulty; as well as diagnoses, all of which enable individual assessments necessary for building the IEPs (Individual Educational Plans) and child‐centred teaching within special needs education. The challenge for special needs theorists is to consider the critique of the orthodoxy of special needs education and its understanding of disability, yet at the same time to develop an understanding of disability that can serve as a departure point for working in the field of special needs education. This implies an understanding of the phenomenon of disability, identifying pupils’ needs without contributing to the negative effects that often have come about in the wake of classification, categorisation and labelling in education. The present paper argues for a social relational model of disability as a platform for the enterprise of special needs education. The rationale for the social relational model of disability is that it better conforms to the morality of inclusion because the main issue of the social model, oppression, is not obliterated.