The Social Model of Disability - 40 years on
Mon 1 Sep 2025 3:00 pm – 5:15 pm AEST
In person or Online
Event details
Join the Melbourne Disability Institute and the University of Melbourne's Diversity and Inclusion team for this engaging and thought-provoking public discussion on the social model of disability 40 years on.
The social model of disability was developed forty years ago as a tool to highlight the barriers people with disability experience in their everyday lives. At the time, the model was groundbreaking in shifting public thinking and discussion away from individual impairments to focus on the physical, social, attitudinal and economic barriers that prevent the full participation of people with disability and the realisation of their human rights.
The panel will reflect on the impact and evolution of the social model over the last forty years. They will also grapple with what further evolution is needed - or whether it is time for a revolution and paradigm shift. Has the social model achieved what was intended or do we need to think about other ways of talking about the lived experience of disability?
This 75-minute session is part of a three-part seminar series designed to build engagement across the University – and the broader community - with key concepts and issues in the critical disability studies space.
There will be time for questions at the end of the talk - a link will be shared to submit questions in advance.
Speakers:
Scott Avery, Professor of Indigenous Disability Health and Wellbeing in the School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney
Lorna Hallahan, Associate Professor, Flinders University
El Gibbs, CEO, Disability Advocacy Network Australia
Chair:
Anne Kavanagh, Professor of Disability and Health at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne and Director of the Research Alliance in Youth Disability & Mental Health
