Uncertainty in Care for Intersex People: Medical Model vs. Social Model of Disability?

Intersex people are people whose sex characteristics such as chromosomal, gonadal, hormonal and anatomical do not fit into male and female socio–medical norms. Ever since the 1950s intersex people have been subjected to medically unnecessary treatments. After more than a decade of critique from intersex survivors, queer, feminist and science scholars the medical establishment introduced new guidelines known as the Chicago consensus statement. The consensus statement established a new medical framework that detailed recommendations for surgical pathways, while also emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary teams and psychosocial support in providing care for intersex people. However, the statement proposed non-surgical pathways as it underscored the importance of psychosocial and peer support. Despite the highlighted importance of psychosocial aspects in care for intersex people the treatment protocols and care remain medicalized. The emphasis on medical means to provide care for intersex people is analogous to the medical model of disability where disability is to be treated with medical means. As a response to dehumanizing aspects of the medical model, disability scholars have proposed the social model of disability that criticizes the environment for impairing people with disabilities. In this paper I aim to explore the potential of the social model of disability in care for intersex people. I argue that the role of psychosocial support in the care for intersex people is to shift the attention from the medical model to social aspects of care. The delivery of psychosocial support in care for intersex people is highly needed, but it is often not provided at crucial timepoints when parents decide to operate or not on their child. The psychosocial care for intersex people has much to adapt from social model of disability as it examines the social relations, imaginaries and identities of disability and their effect on disabled people while engaging with materiality of intersex bodies. I explore the importance of social model of disability in care for intersex people to address the uncertainty parents, health care professionals and psychosocial providers experience when they provide care for intersex children.