Participation Of Disabled People Research Articles

Disabled People: Active or passive citizens - reflections from the Malaysian experience

The concept of citizenship has once again entered centre-stage in the debate among political philosophers, welfare theorists and activists. Marginalised groups, including disabled people around the world, are making a claim for their inclusion, rights and equal opportunities on the basis of citizenship rights. The Malaysian experience of disabled people within a newly-industrialising country draws lessons on how a disadvantaged section of Malaysian society struggle to enhance their rights as citizens of the nation and a share of the nations wealth. While there are difficult challenges, there are also positive indicators for the active citizenship participation of disabled people among fellow Malaysians.

Discourse and Resistance in Care Assessment: Integrated Living and Community Care

SUMMARY This paper illustrates how value conflicts between the competing philosophies of community care and integrated living are played out at a micro level. The experiences of service users in Derbyshire show how the process of care assessment can perpetuate traditional discourses of disability based on dependency, individualization and segregation. By contrast, self assessment within an integrated living approach opens up new possibilities for resistance through the supported self-empowerment of service users. Moreover, the participation of disabled people in managing their own affairs challenges established cultural values about the role of disabled people in society. British disability policy has been traditionally dominated by an ideology of disabling cultural values. In particular, policy makers and those in the 'caring' professions have often viewed disability in terms of personal tragedy, the impaired body and otherness. These core values have been translated into mainstream disability services through a preoccupation with care, medicaliz ation and segregation (rather than civil rights, participation and social integration). By contrast, the values of the disabled people's movement rep resent a significant counter-culture. In particular, the professionally domin ated discourse of 'care' has been increasingly challenged by the establishment of numerous independent living projects under the control of disabled people

Participants or Recipients--Disabled People's Involvement in a European Programme

SUMMARY Drawing on an evaluative study of UK participation in a European disability pro gramme (HELIOS I), this paper explores the extent to which and the ways in which disabled people were—or were not—involved in the programme as active participants rather than passive recipients, at local, national and European levels. TTte findings presented here draw attention to the different perspectives of the programme's various stakeholders and are discussed in relation to two broader themes. The first of these themes is the involvement of disabled people themselves in any programme aiming to promote the full participation of disabled people in society. The second is the role and value of formalized networks as a means of promoting information exchange and learning, as a prerequisite for promoting change in individuals (that is in day-to-day practice) and change in organizations (that is service developments). These two themes are pertinent to current developments in social work, with its explicit attention to anti-discriminatory practice and its strong tradition of valuing the learning gained from experience.

Integration and Inclusion: Illusion or Progress in Services for Disabled People?

This paper analyses the meanings of “integration” and “inclusion” in the context of disability services to determine the extent to which the latter signals a change in perspective rather than simply a change in terminology. It is argued that integration implies that disabled people need to be integrated into “mainstream” society and that it is they rather than society which is required to change. The policy response which results from this approach may thus be a technical one which focuses on physical integration alone. In contrast, inclusion takes as its starting‐point the fact that a just state of affairs is one in which disabled people are included in society and hence the required policy response is a broad one which includes comprehensive civil rights legislation, an analysis of the effects of present and future policy on disabled people and the participation of disabled people in the democratic decision‐making process. However, as disabled people are currently excluded from many aspects of society, the potential for an inclusive approach to be dismissed as being too idealistic is noted, and a number of possible barriers to its realization are discussed. It is concluded that whilst such barriers exist they should not, in themselves, provide a reason for inaction as an understanding of the implications of inclusion for policy and practice can provide a useful starting‐point from which to bring about change.