This plan uses the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities definition of disability, which describes people with disability as people who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory differences that, when interacting with inaccessible communities and environments, prevent full and equal community participation.1
This is often called the social model of disability. The social model of disability is an important way of perceiving inequality because it views disability as stemming from communities, services and spaces that are not accessible or inclusive. In the social model of disability, it is society that places limits on a person, not their disability.2
References
[1] Adapted from United Nations 2006, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, United Nations, New York.
[2] Australian Federation of Disability Organisations 2021, Social model of disability, Melbourne, viewed 17 September 2021.
Updated