Search Results
131 SIx Equality, identity and disability introduction Consistent with social work codes of ethics and mainstream social policy objectives, the disability rights movement (DRM) promotes the universal values of equal rights and individual autonomy, drawing heavily on Kantian philosophy. However, I argue here that an anti-universalised Nietzschean perspective is also promoted via specific interpretations of the social model of disability, explored in Chapter Five, that challenge the political orthodoxy of rights-based social movements and the aspirations of
107 FIVE Egalitarianism, disability and monistic ideals introduction In this chapter, I argue that the medical and social models of disability, while establishing clearly located poles for understanding competing interpretations of disablement, allow for a range of interpretations between these two extremes. In this light, the chapter outlines these various interpretations, to help clarify the different types of claim made by the disability rights movement (DRM) as related to the equality and diversity debate explored in previous chapters. Briefly put, the
121 TEN Beliefs about disability Summary The introduction of new benefits in the 1970s reflected a shift in social attitudes to disabled people and recognition that society had a role in responding to their financial needs. Policy since then has, with rare exceptions, been a response to fears that the changed attitudes and benefit provisions may have created excessive, or indeed illicit, demand for benefits. Survey evidence on the extent of disability has proved influential, increasing the climate for policy reform, although the definition and measurement of
165 THIRTEEN The economy and disability Summary The link between the economy and caseloads is likely to be most direct in the case of Incapacity Benefit. Incapacity Benefit caseloads rose at a constant rate throughout most of the period to 1999. The growth was primarily the result of fewer people leaving benefit, resulting in an increase in the length of spells that people spent on benefit. Benefit claims increased as a direct result of more women working, who, when they became disabled, were entitled to benefit on account of their contribution record. Increased
51 5 Social policy and disability Colin Cameron In this chapter I will explore the relationship between social policy and the experience of disability, drawing on perspectives developed by disabled people and using the UK as a case study. I will look at contested meanings of both terms, social policy and disability, and develop an argument suggesting that social policy has largely constructed disability as dependency. I conclude that the aspiration to equality for disabled people remains one which requires continued struggle and that progressive intentions
ELEVEN Disability: prospects for social inclusion Carol Thomas Introduction Disability was a topic of interest to Peter Townsend from the earliest days in his academic and policy-oriented career. From the 1960s onwards he recognised that disability was always present somewhere in the mix that sculpted poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage in communities – especially among old people and in families with disabled children. His long-standing interest in social conditions, social relationships and the unequal distribution of resources meant that social
163 Chapter 16 Benefits for people with disabilities Disability is a complex set of issues, and benefits are given on a wide range of principles, including, for example, need, compensation, rehabilitation, the needs of carers, and desert. The main benefits for people with disabilities are Income Support or Employment and Support Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and the Working Tax Credit. The system has been complicated by attempts to offer distinct benefits while trying at the same time to save money, often by excluding
137 ELEVEN Institutional factors and disability benefits Summary Aspects of the benefit regime and its implementation are implicated in the growth of disability benefit caseloads. This applies to both Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit. Until recently Disability Living Allowance was payable for ‘life’, the effect of which has been to set caseloads on a trajectory of sustained growth. The introduction of self-assessment for Disability Living Allowance may have helped to increase benefit up-take, while the appeals system and welfare rights activity
9 Ethnicity, disability and chronic illness Simon Dyson and Maria Berghs Overview This chapter will help readers to understand how patterns of disablement and chronic illness may partly derive from levels of material deprivation. It also: • illustrates the value of looking at the interactions not only between ethnicity and disablement, but also between other factors such as age, gender and socioeconomic status; and • shows why it is important to interpret official figures on disability and ethnicity with care, and how cultural explanations from a policy
41 FOUR transitions for young people with learning disabilities Gillian MacIntyre introduction This chapter will explore the nature of transition from childhood to adulthood for one particularly vulnerable group of young people – those with learning disabilities. It will outline their experiences of transition before examining policy responses in relation to these experiences. The process of transition has become increasingly complex for all young people. This can be ascribed to structural factors such as the collapse of the youth labour market, increased
