Understanding Disability Policy

Roulstone, Alan, Prideaux, Simon, Alan Roulstone, Simon Prideaux

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781847427397
• eBook ISBN: 9781447308362
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Disabilities in Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

In an era of scarce social resources the question of the changing social policy constructions and responses to disabled people has become increasingly important. Paradoxically, some disabled people are realising new freedoms and choices never before envisioned, whilst others are prey to major retractions in public services and aggressive attempts to redefine who counts as 'genuinely disabled'.

Understanding disability policy locates disability policy into broader social policy and welfare policy writings and goes beyond narrow statutory evaluations of welfare to embrace a range of indicators of disabled people's welfare. The book critically explores the roles of social security, social support, poverty, socio-economic status, community safety, official discourses and spatial change in shaping disabled people's opportunities. It also situates welfare and disability policy in the broader conceptual shifts to the social model of disability and its critics. Finally it explores the possible connection between changing official and academic constructions of disability and their implications for social policy in the 21st century.

The book is supported by a companion website, containing additional materials for both students and lecturers using the book, which is available from the link above.

Table of contents

• Coverpage
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of acronyms
• Acknowledgements
• A note on the terminology
• Introduction
• one Contextualising disability welfare policy
• two Cure, care and protect: the paternalist policy heritage
• three The rhetoric and reality of community care for disabled people
• four Aiming high enough?Disabled children and mainstreamed lives
• five New Labour and clauses for conditionality: activating disabled citizens
• six Supporting disabled adults: new paradigms or new paternalism?
• seven Older disabled people: choices and rights in old age?
• eight Getting it right for all disabled people? The impact of disability policy on structured disadvantage
• nine Out of the labyrinth? The disability benefits system unpacked
• ten Coalition dreams, new conditionality and disability policy
• References