Definition
The medical model views disability as a problem located inside the person, something to be diagnosed, treated, and ideally cured or normalized. Applied to autism, it frames autistic traits mainly as symptoms and deficits, and centers making the person appear more typical rather than changing the world around them.
Why It Matters
Recognizing this model helps parents notice when advice quietly aims to erase their child's differences rather than support them. Many autistic adults describe being harmed by a lifetime of being treated as a problem to fix instead of a person to understand.
Common Misconception
People assume the medical model is simply the objective, scientific view. It is one lens among several. Diagnosis and medical care can be useful, but framing an autistic person as only a set of deficits misses who they actually are.