The disabled body and the medical model : disability and unconditional cash transfer in Brazil (Diversidade corporal e perícia médica: novos contornos da deficiência para o Benefício de Prestação Continuada), 2009.

The Continuous Cash Benefit (BPC) is the largest social program targeting disabled people in Brazil. In order to have access to the benefit, individuals must prove low income and must be evaluated by a medical specialist. This article analyzes the concept of disability used by the medical professionals in charge of the evaluation to grant access to the social program. The research was conducted among 448 physicians using a structured questionnaire. It proposed different situations on which the physicians would express their evaluations. The results show how the social and medical models of disability are used by the physicians in charge of the medical evaluation. There are situations in which the medical model is dominant, situations in which both models are in dispute, and others in which both models are equally valid. The study concludes that the comprehension of disability as an issue of social justice is now moving to areas of expertise where the medical model was traditionally hegemonic.