ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two central models of disability: the individual model and the social model. It reviews the employment situation of disabled people in general, and visually impaired people in particular, in Britain today. The most widespread view of disability at the present time is based upon the assumption that the difficulties disabled people experience are a direct result of their individual physical, sensory or intellectual impairments. The social model of disability is often referred to as the 'barriers approach' where disability is viewed, not in terms of the individual's impairment. Before exploring the social model of disability in more detail, it is necessary to place it within its historical context within the disabled people's movement and to examine briefly the origins and growth of that movement. People with impairments are disabled by institutional barriers that prevent their full participative citizenship within society and their access to and participation within organisations. The chapter concludes with the concept of institutional discrimination.
