51 THREE Understanding disability: from ‘personal tragedy’ to social disadvantage There has been a shift in thinking about what constitutes ‘disability’ in recent years, from restriction arising through individual functioning and based on medical interpretations, to that which is caused by social, environmental and cultural barriers. This transition from an individual or ‘medical model’ interpretation of disability to a socio-political approach has been crucial for highlighting the constraints that disabled people encounter every day of their lives, and
215 FIFTEEN Disabilities, colonisation and globalisation: how the very possibility of a disability identity was compromised for the ‘insane’ in India Bhargavi V Davar On 1 October 2007, the Government of India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In doing so, it made a commitment to the people of India and to the international community on its obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people with disabilities, on an equal basis
give or receive care ( Knijn and Kremer, 1997 ). At the heart of this exclusion is the value (or lack thereof) placed upon care and its association with the private domain. Tronto (1993) suggests that the inability to think of care outside of privatised and gendered terms is not a failure of care, but a constraint in the social contexts in which caring practices occur in society. Exclusionary practices particularly affect women with disabilities, whose parental rights are not always recognised. For many mothers with disabilities, especially those with intellectual
135 NINE Challenging the disability benefit trap across the OECD Mark Pearson and Christopher Prinz1 Introduction Increasingly, disability benefits have become a trap for potential recipients who, once on benefit, typically stay there until retirement age. They are equally a trap for policy makers, who face – and, by and large, have failed to address – a choice between spending both political and financial capital in reforming what in nearly every country are patently seriously flawed policies, or ‘letting sleeping dogs lie’. Unfortunately, there appear to be few
49 THREE a good life and people with intellectual disabilities Philosophical and social-theoretical accounts of what makes a good life seem far from the lived experience of people with intellectual disabilities. However, in this chapter we reflect on the implications of such theories and ideas for how a good life is framed and understood in the context of the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. In undertaking this task we explore the second of the questions that provide the framework for this book: what are the implications for people with
153 ELEVEN The social model of disability and suicide prevention Helen Spandler interviews David Webb (December 2013) HS: Can you tell us about when you first came across the social model of disability? What impact did it have on you, as a psychiatric system survivor? DW: Very briefly, it begins with what I now call my four years of madness in the late 1990s. It was not until after this time that I found out about and began to get involved in (mental health) consumer advocacy, activism and politics. I also started my PhD on suicide around this time. All
287 TWENTY Beyond the horizon: the landscape of madness, distress and disability Jill Anderson, Helen Spandler and Bob Sapey This book has explored the distinctions and boundaries between madness/distress and disability, and has highlighted some potential bridges between them. Through bringing together key scholars and activists, from the disabled people’s and survivor movements, and from disability studies and mad studies, we wanted to build on established knowledge to generate fresh learning, support the formation of alliances and even inspire action
1 ONE Disability policies and the citizenship rights of disabled people Introduction The disability politics of the last 20 to 30 years have been described as the last civil rights movement. Disabled people have rejected the damaging stereotypes of passivity and dependency which have underpinned so many forms of welfare provision in favour of new models of independent living which emphasise personal autonomy. In common with other groups, such as immigrants, women, and those who are poor (Held, 1989; Lister, 1990; Roche, 1992), disabled people have argued that a
153 Out of the labyrinth? The disability benefits system unpacked The inclusion of a chapter on disability benefits in this book was prompted by the growing complexity of the UK benefits system and also the almost feverish attention afforded to disability welfare benefits by governments, the media and disability organisations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries (Piggott and Grover, 2009). The focus on ‘sturdy beggars’ in the early Poor Law has never fully gone away – this consideration has, in fact, remained in more contemporary concerns over a
31 TWO Disability, poverty and healthcare: changes in the canji (‘disability’) policies in the history of the people’s republic of China Heidi Fjeld and Gry Sagli introduction The Chinese economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world today, but the growth is to an increasing degree unevenly distributed. Large parts of the population in rural areas, especially in the western provinces, remain economically marginalised and poor, while urban coastal centres prosper (Ravallion and Chen, 2004; Dalen, 2006; Fan and Sun, 2008). International
