Is addiction a disease? Probably. But according to J. T. Maier (The Disability Model of Addiction, 03-Aug-2021, Psychology Today), it should be seen foremost as a disability. Why is that significant?
While the disability model of addiction does not necessarily reject the view that addiction is a disease, it holds that (1) addiction is not foremost a medical problem, but a disability; and (2) the person is not foremost a patient, but a citizen entitled to reasonable accommodation “to go about their lives and achieve their goals” (Maier, 2021).
In this way, interventions that have benefited addicted people – such as safe injection sites, medication-assisted treatment, and indeed the ‘rehab’ system – should be viewed not as medical treatment of disease, but as reasonable accommodations of a disability.
Society is arranged in ways that favour people who are typical, and as a result, people who are in some ways atypical – including those with addictions – face systemic discrimination. “A just and self-aware society recognizes these forms of disadvantage and does what it can to alleviate them by making accommodations” (Maier, 2021).
What would it mean to look at interventions like those noted above as “accommodations” rather than “treatment”? What do you think?
