Social structures made to serve, like schools, are built to serve a certain group of people, weather intentional or not. These institutions are designed with a specific tolerance for normality in mind, if someone functions outside of that tolerance, they are deemed as too difficult to serve, and are forced to either change who they are or leave. The social model of disability believes institutions should make changes to include everyone, not just in presence, but in the institutions ability to serve them.

I have a lot of trouble believing there is any classroom setting that can equally serve everyone in it. As an example I want to focus on the topic of a recent class discussion. Stimming is when someone makes repetitive or unusual movements or noises, generally to help focus. Even though stimming is widely associated with autism it’s an act that most people can identify with. This is an amazing example of a non-normalized function because it’s ironically so normal, in my experience everyone does it, and has experienced someone else doing it. This is where I find issue with the completion of the social model of disability. By completion I mean reaching a state in society where there is no oppression to those with impairments.

I stim everyday, it’s not a problem for me because it rarely bothers people enough to the point that I’m confronted about it. There’s only one time I can recall that I was confronted about it, rapidly clicking my pen in a quiet classroom. I can recall it being practically impossible to not click my pen when people told me to stop. At the same time, I’ve also been the one to get upset with someone else for clicking their pen, I don’t think I’ve ever confronted anyone about it, but I can recall it being impossible to focus on anything but the clicking when someone else was doing it. I’m focusing on this example as an issue because it’s simple, and one that I’ve experienced both sides of. No one is at fault for clicking a pen to help them focus, and no one is at fault for being distracted by a clicking pen. So whose responsible for making the change? In my experience the reason people are forced to stop stimming is because certain stims will enable an individual to focus, while hindering many other peoples focus.

I use stimming as an example, but I feel as though the same thought process applies to many issues around disability. If you’re someone reading this who is demanding change from society, I’m not asking you to change, and I don’t write this as an argument against the change you want to see. I have not experienced what you have, and I never will. I would like to know the ways that I’m wrong, if you know what changes you want to see, I would like to hear/read them. Because frankly, I’m not happy about what I’ve written.