EVOLUTION OF UNDERSTANDING OF DISABILITY AND THE CONCEPT OF «PERSON WITH DISABILITY»
Authors:   Department of the Office of the President of Ukraine, adviser to the Chairman of the Public Union ", Sotska A. ,   All-Ukrainian Public Association ",   National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine"
Published: March 2023

The article describes models of disability that reflect society's attitude to people with disabilities in different periods of historical development, in particular moral (according to it, disability is a way to atone for sins caused by negative behavior), medical (disability leads to a vital need for treatment and support to compensate for it negative consequences), charitable as a type of medical (consists in the need to compensate people for the problems caused by disability), social (disability causes problems for a person due to the barrier environment in which he lives) and human rights (disability according to this model is not a sentence, people , who have health disorders at the same level as society are subjects who ensure their comfort). Against this background, historical parallels are given and approaches to the perception of people with disabilities in certain periods of the historical development of society are described. The legislative definitions of the concept of «person with disabilities» since 1991 have been analyzed and a positive trend towards humanizing the perception of such people as equal members of society and bringing the relevant terminology into line with international approaches, in particular reflected in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has been revealed. In Ukraine, the medical model of disability prevails, after the ratification of the Convention, the model used in our country can rather be called mixed, because the state policy regarding social and legal protection of people with disabilities is characterized by both the aspect of material support and the creation of conditions for self-realization, participation in society and a number of other aspects. The development of the disability institute has gone through stages from rejection to comprehensive support. At the same time, it is not fundamentally interdependent with historical periods, since certain characteristics of the disability models listed above can still be traced in state policies. Accordingly, the concept of "person with a disability" developed on the territory of our country. It was noted that in 2011 the cited definition was humanized with an emphasis on the state's duty to create conditions for the equality of people with disabilities and provide them with social protection. In particular, according to the Law of that time and until now, a person with a disability is considered a person with a persistent disorder of body functions, which, when interacting with the external environment, can lead to the limitation of his life activities, as a result of which the state is obliged to create conditions for the exercise of his rights on an equal basis with other citizens and ensure its social protection. It is noted that as a result of a certain life situation, every person can get an injury, disease, etc., which will cause the emergence of experiences related to health disorders and, accordingly, disability. As a result, problems may arise that people with disabilities have to face, including: barrier of the external environment, lack of income to purchase medicines, unavailability of certain types of services (medical, rehabilitation, etc.). Therefore, "disability" can affect every person. Therefore, the state policy regarding the legal and social protection of people with disabilities, the practice of its implementation and the attitude of society towards such people should be democratic and humane, meet the interests of people with disabilities, taking into account the best international experience.