Models of Disability & Ableism
This model views disability as a problem within the individual that needs to be fixed.
What is the medical model?
These are the three elements that make up functioning within the ICF model.
What are body functions/structures, activities, and participation?
An infant explores their body by kicking, reaching, touching, mouthing objects, and responding to sounds and visual stimuli. These experiences help the infant learn about themselves through this process.
What is sensorimotor learning?
This level of prevention aims to prevent disease before it occurs.
What is primary prevention?
This generation is often described as valuing loyalty, stability, and respect, and may prefer face-to-face, structured, print-based communication with clear instructions.
What is the Silent Generation/Traditionalists?
This model focuses on societal and environmental barriers rather than the impairment itself.
What is the social model?
These are the three elements that make up disability within the ICF model.
What are impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions?
This state in older adults is characterized by low functional reserve and increased vulnerability to functional decline after minor stressors.
What is frailty?
Getting a mammogram is an example of this level of prevention.
What is secondary prevention?
This perspective helps clinicians generate patient-centered questions to better understand a patient’s personal and environmental factors and how they may influence care.
What is a generational perspective?
This term refers to discrimination or prejudice against people with disabilities that can seem positive or well-intentioned, but reinforces stereotypes and limits autonomy
What is benevolent ableism?
A patient after a stroke says, “My right arm feels weak and uncoordinated when I try to reach for objects.” In ICF language, classify this finding and write it appropriately.
What is an impairment: decreased right upper-extremity strength and impaired coordination?
In early adulthood, these conditions and injury-related causes are commonly associated with high disease burden. Name at least three.
What are headache disorders, low back pain, depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, HIV/AIDS, and injuries related to road/transport accidents, self-harm, or interpersonal violence?
In this stage of change, the person is not yet considering behavior change and may not recognize a need to become more physically active.
What is precontemplation?
When using a generational perspective in patient care, these contextual factors may help clinicians generate patient-centered questions rather than assumptions. Name at least three.
What are communication preferences, health beliefs and attitudes toward pain, trust in healthcare providers, technology use and comfort levels, motivators and personal goals, societal influences on health behaviors, attitudes toward feedback and authority, and learning preferences/patient education?
This integrated model considers both medical, social, and psychological aspects of disability.
What is the biopsychosocial model?
A patient with knee osteoarthritis reports pain and stiffness when going up and down stairs at home. In ICF language, classify this example and write it correctly.
What is an activity limitation: difficulty climbing stairs?
During middle adulthood, adults commonly experience these lifespan themes. Name at least three.
What are re-evaluating identity and priorities, managing career demands, balancing caregiving and family/work roles, prioritizing wellness/prevention, and managing psychosocial stressors?
This model outlines the stages individuals go through when changing health behavior.
What is the Transtheoretical Model of Change (Stages of Change)?
This is the final step in the 5 A’s model, where the clinician ensures continued support by scheduling a future check-in or referral.
What is Arrange?
These models of disability served as the foundation for the development of the ICF framework.
What are the medical, social, and biopsychosocial models?
A patient with COPD reports that shortness of breath has prevented them from attending family gatherings and helping host Sunday dinners, which has always been an important role in their family. In ICF language, classify this example and write it correctly using a life role.
What is a participation restriction: limited in the ability to be a family member/host?
These are common biological age-related changes in the integumentary system. Name at least three.
What are decreased skin thickness, decreased skin elasticity, decreased skin vascularity, decreased sensory perception, decreased wound-healing capacity, and decreased thermoregulation?
This tool helps individuals weigh the perceived pros and cons of changing a health behavior, supporting reflection and motivation for action.
What is the Decisional Balance Scale?
In this step of the 5 R’s, the clinician explores the personal significance of behavior change and asks the patient to identify their own reasons for considering change.
What is Relevance?