The disease model liberates the individual from the idea that they are "bad" because they are alcoholic. Those of us who are alcoholics are familiar with the emotional wringer we put ourselves through of shame, recrimination, guilt, self-loathing and on and on and on. If we eventually accept that we have a disease (and read for that, syndrome, handicap, disability, allergy, illness, whatever - again, it is one of those places where the word doesn't matter too much) - then we can seperate out the effects - poor relationships, letting people down, hurting people, cheating, lying and again, on and on and on _ from the cause - compulsive drinking. That orderliness - and I dunno about anyone else but it was a forehead slapping moment, a Homer D'Oh of epic proportions - of the two things being in separate gategories allowed me to address the compulsive drinking - just don't pick up the first drink, one day at a time - quite separate from the effects - takes time to repair me and the harm I've done.
You know the mantra. We're not bad people trying to get good, we're sick people trying to get well.