The Medical vs Social Models of Disability | Part 1 with Brian Middleton

Discover what’s possible when disability is viewed as a whole. 

Have people ever based their perception of you solely on your deficits? Are your strengths and abilities sometimes overlooked because of your differences? 

If so, stay with us for this episode, where Brian Middleton talks about how the biopsychosocial model of disability shifts perspectives from a purely medical approach to a more comprehensive one. 

Brian Middleton is an Autistic Self-Advocate, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and the creator of the Bearded Behaviorist, an initiative dedicated to the dissemination of behavior science and the inclusion of trauma-informed care standards in applied behavior analysis and other human services. 

This conversation was part of a special event which we hosted for our community of SkillCorps® volunteers. Other participants include Danielle Terrell, Tara Hannan-Bruecken, Shannon Haynes, Marianne Spiotta, Hailee Perez, and Christina Cairoli. 

In this conversation, among other things, we discuss:

• How Brian attempts to build bridges across both sides of the ABA divide
• The biopsychosocial model of disability
• Why pathologizing autism can be harmful
• Person-first vs identity-first language
• Transforming the puzzle piece symbol
• How radical behaviorism wasn’t originally developed to “fix” autistic people

Are you a self-advocate willing to share your story and educate others? Or a professional seeking to hear directly from autistic voices and improve your practice? Or are you a family member hoping to support and empower your loved one?

Whatever your connection to autism is, we’d love to hear your takeaways from this episode in our online Global Autism Community, where hundreds of people from all over the world connect to support each other and know that they’re not alone.

Join us today at community.globalautismproject.org. Let’s work together to transform how the world relates to autism. 

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