CPACC Models of Disability 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The ADA, CVAA, and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act all ground accessibility requirements in which model of disability?
- Medical Model
- Charity Model
- Rights-Based Model (Correct answer)
- Biopsychosocial Model
Correct answer: Rights-Based Model
These laws frame disability accommodation as a civil right, reflecting the Rights-Based Model that obligates society to remove barriers by law.
Question 2: Which statement best captures a key criticism of the Social Model of disability?
- It overemphasizes the role of medical treatment
- It ignores the real physical and cognitive effects of impairments (Correct answer)
- It promotes charity as the primary solution
- It focuses too heavily on legal remedies
Correct answer: It ignores the real physical and cognitive effects of impairments
Critics argue the Social Model can downplay how impairment itself — pain, fatigue, cognitive symptoms — affects daily life regardless of social barriers.
Question 3: An employer tells a job applicant with epilepsy that they cannot be hired because their condition poses a liability risk. This attitude most reflects which model?
- Social Model
- Medical Model (Correct answer)
- Functional Solutions Model
- Rights-Based Model
Correct answer: Medical Model
The Medical Model views the person's impairment as the disqualifying problem rather than examining how workplace design or policy creates the barrier.
Question 4: In which model would a practitioner be most likely to ask 'What is the person unable to do?' as a starting diagnostic question?
- Social Model
- Rights-Based Model
- Medical Model (Correct answer)
- Identity Model
Correct answer: Medical Model
The Medical Model frames assessment around individual functional deficits, identifying what the person cannot do compared to a non-disabled norm.
Question 5: A technology company redesigns its onboarding software with screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and adjustable font sizes for all users by default. This decision is best justified by which model?
- Charity Model
- Moral Model
- Functional Solutions Model
- Social Model (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Social Model
Building accessibility into products for all users by default reflects the Social Model's principle that design, not the individual, should change to remove barriers.
Question 6: Which of the following pairs correctly matches a model with its primary locus of the 'disability problem'?
- Social Model → the individual's impairment
- Medical Model → societal barriers
- Charity Model → the individual as a recipient of pity (Correct answer)
- Rights-Based Model → the person's need for treatment
Correct answer: Charity Model → the individual as a recipient of pity
The Charity Model locates disability in the individual who is seen as unfortunate and deserving of benevolent help, reinforcing dependency.
Question 7: The Functional Solutions Model differs from the Social Model primarily in that it:
- Focuses on curing impairments through medicine
- Seeks practical technological fixes without necessarily challenging social structures (Correct answer)
- Attributes disability to moral failings
- Requires government legislation to mandate change
Correct answer: Seeks practical technological fixes without necessarily challenging social structures
The Functional Solutions Model pragmatically develops assistive technologies and workarounds without requiring the broader social transformation the Social Model demands.
CPACC Models of Disability 5
The ADA, CVAA, and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act all ground accessibility requirements in which model of disability?