Disabled People Work And Welfare

This is the first book to challenge the idea that paid work should be seen as an essential means to independence and self-determination for the disabled. Writing in the wake of attempts in many countries to increase the employment rates of disabled people, the contributors show how such efforts have led to an overall erosion of financial support for the disabled and increasing stigmatization of those who are not able to work. Drawing on sociology and philosophy, and mounting a powerful case for the rights of the disabled, the book will be essential for activists, scholars, and policy makers.

From its very start at the end of World War II, the British welfare state—despite its grand promises—excluded millions of disabled people.Disability and the Welfare State in Britain traces attempts over the subsequent three decades to reverse this exclusion. The first book to set disability in the context of the history of the welfare state, it shows how policy and perceptions were slow to change, and it offers close analysis of key groups and moments, like the Disablement Income Group and the 1972 Thalidomide campaign.

Every few months there's a shocking news story about the sustained, and often fatal, abuse of a disabled person. It's easy to write off such cases as bullying that got out of hand, terrible criminal anomalies or regrettable failures of the care system, but in fact they point to a more uncomfortable and fundamental truth about how our society treats its most unequal citizens. In Scapegoat, Katharine Quarmby looks behind the headlines to question and understand our discomfort with disabled people. Combining fascinating examples from history with tenacious investigation and powerful first person interviews, Scapegoat will change the way we think about disability - and about the changes we must make as a society to ensure that disabled people are seen as equal citizens, worthy of respect, not targets for taunting, torture and attack.

Having gone through 30 years of development, the new edition of this highly-regarded classic is the most trusted companion for understanding and promoting the potential for social work with disabled people. It offers readers a clear introduction to the core issues of disability alongside discussion and assessment of the social worker's role. Written by an experienced and highly respected team of authors, the book reflects: - The latest updates, developments and policy changes - The broad range of areas needing to be understood for informed practice - Recent changes to the focus of social work education and practice - The Social Model of Disability, encouraging debate about its role in social work - Developments for independent living - The heightened importance of safeguarding issues, giving attention to the topical issue of disabilist hate crime Accessible to a broad readership and respected by disabled people themselves, this text is the foundation for effective practice.

Bringing together contributions from institutions such as the OECD, the WHO, the World Bank and the European Disability Forum, as well as policy makers and researchers, this volume focuses on disability and work. The contributors address a wide range of issues including what it means to be disabled, what rights and responsibilities society has for people with disabilities, how disability benefits should be structured, and what role employers should play. Fundamental reading for specialists in disability, social protection and public economics, and for social policy academics, researchers and students generally, Transforming Disability Welfare Policies makes an enormous contribution to the literature.

This is the first book to challenge the concept of paid work for disabled people as a means to ‘independence’ and ‘self determination’. Recent attempts in many countries to increase the employment rates of disabled people have actually led to an erosion of financial support for many workless disabled people and their increasing stigmatisation as ‘scroungers’. Led by the disability movement’s concern with the employment choices faced by disabled people, this controversial book uses sociological and philosophical approaches, as well as international examples, to critically engage with possible alternatives to paid work. Essential reading for students, practitioners, activists and anyone interested in relationships between work, welfare and disability.

In 2016, a United Nations report found the UK government culpable for ‘grave and systematic violations’ of disabled people’s rights. Since then, driven by the Tory government’s obsessive drive to slash public spending whilst scapegoating the most disadvantaged in society, the situation for disabled people in Britain has continued to deteriorate. Punitive welfare regimes, the removal of essential support and services, and an ideological regime that seeks to deny disability has resulted in a situation described by the UN as a ‘human catastrophe’. In this searing account, Ellen Clifford – an activist who has been at the heart of resistance against the war on disabled people – reveals precisely how and why this state of affairs has come about. From spineless political opposition to self-interested disability charities, rightwing ideological myopia to the media demonization of benefits claimants, a shocking picture emerges of how the government of the fifth-richest country in the world has been able to marginalize disabled people with near-impunity. Even so, and despite austerity biting ever deeper, the fightback has begun, with a vibrant movement of disabled activists and their supporters determined to hold the government to account – the slogan ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ has never been so apt. As this book so powerfully demonstrates, if Britain is to stand any chance of being a just and equitable society, their battle is one we should all be fighting.

This book has been substantially revised to take into account the legislative changes since 1983 and the theoretical developments in the field of disability. Whilst continuing to highlight the negative impact of welfare policy on the lives of disabled people, it develops arguments as to how social work can contribute to the removal of disabling barriers and looks at the implications that an anti - disablist practice would have for the education and training of social workers and the management of welfare agencies.