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ABSTRACT Throughout history, theorists have made use of the technology of the day to provide explanatory models of the behaviour they observe in order to provide an improved understanding of human behaviour. Bax (1998) describes the use of models of disability as not particularly helpful in relation to the treatment of children with physical disabilities. It is the purpose of this paper to show that models do have their place within disability research and the implications of using the medical and social models of disability, together with two models from developmental psychology, namely the transactional model and systems theory, will be discussed. It is argued by the authors that the usage of these models can aid understanding of disability in both research and clinical settings.
First there is a need to explore what we mean by the term `model of disability'. Clearly, the term model has been used in a number of different ways (Valentine, 1982), but their use in disability research is that a model represents a particular type of theory, namely structural, which seeks to explain phenomena by reference to an abstract system and mechanism. Models of disability are not synonymous with theory as their usage does not involve data collection, but they may have some usage as generators of hypotheses. It is important to remember that models may help to generate an explanation in same way, but they do not themselves constitute an explanation. Disconfirming evidence is damaging to a theory, but not so for a model. This should not present problems if it is borne in mind that models cannot be `true', but are merely representations that are not in themselves based upon data collection or methodology. One of the essential features of a model is the application of one (better understood and developed) system to another (less well understood and developed) system (Gardner, 1985).
The popularisation of physical and mechanical models in science is due to the progress in the understanding of phenomena where they have been employed. In general terms, models serve as an aid to understanding and, indeed, the success of information theory in explaining the mechanics of memory and perception in humans is testament to this (Gardner, 1985). In the human sciences researchers should not attempt...