People who get really defensive of the Social Model are almost impossible to talk to about its limitations.

The Social Model has and has always had limitations. Many of those imitations are sort of inherent to the identities of who theorized the thing.

If you get a bunch of white English cis man wheelchair users theorizing what Disability is, OF COURSE they're going to miss out stuff.

Of course they are.

It's been almost 40 years since we had the term "social model of Disability" and believe it or not, new people have entered the conversation with new perspectives that weren't heard or addressed way back then.

It's fine to talk about what the Social Model misses out.

Mike Oliver said that the social model wasn't meant to encompass everything Disabled people experience and that's... a bit awkward, NGL, but worth taking note of.

Even one of the creators of the social model knew it had limitations.

Here's a thing. https://twitter.com/EbThen/status/1177640348157431810

There's a lot more in that thread including links to other threads. Here's one of those linked threads. https://twitter.com/EbThen/status/1058954226704044032

If you feel threatened by people trying to come up with theories of Disability that more accurately represent their experiences, that's probably a you thing.

Personally, I think new theories of Disabledness are exciting. I probably won't agree with most of them, but so what.

The really exciting thing about being Disabled right now is the way we have unprecedented access to connect and share ideas with each other.

People who have historically been excluded from these conversations and whose experiences have thus been ignored are now HERE.

And, yes, there are still people being left out and that's a real problem. I'm not saying we're at a perfect state of inclusion.

But there are more Disabled voices being heard than there were 40 years ago.

It's a fuller, richer conversation.

If people say they don't see themselves represented in the social model, I'd suggest the proper response is not "you've misread the social model" but "what do you think is missing?"

And then listen to the responses.

Because even if you think the social model proper DOES address their concerns, chances are the way people are interpreting the social model and using it for guidance actually aren't adequate.

Excellent thread with citations. https://twitter.com/alexhaagaard/status/1357903762078240769