• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.161-187
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• 2009

Disability Discrimination Act(DDA) is generally recognized as the institutional frame to realize social model of disability. However social model is not automatically realized via the enactment of DDA. The realization of social model is influenced by various factors among which the definition of disability in DDA is very important factor. Paradoxically definitions of disability based on social model may push DDA into contradictory situation. This is caused by the fact that on the one hand definitions of based on social model exclude impairment and on the other hand they mixes characteristics and treatment. Because of these, when definitions of disability based on social model is reflected into definitions of disability in DDA, they may not be helpful to realize social model against original intention of advocates of the model. We can consider two approaches to resolve this paradox; one is to partially reform current definition of disability in DDA, the other is to totally amend current definition of disability. The former may pragmatic and worth to pursue but it cannot solve fundamental problems and may cause some new problems. The most consistent resolution with social model is to amend current definitions of disability into radically new one which excludes substantial limits and definition of disabled person from definition of disability. This new definition may called characteristics based definition or impairment based definition. Some people may think this new definition as one based on medical model but it is not. What we need is not to carve definition of disability based on social model into DDA but to make institutional frame for DDA to operate without contradictions and to develop social model of both impairment and disability. This model which does not exclude impairment could takes part in realization of the social model disability.