Back to Reality
| Date | 01 April 2013 |
| Published date | 01 April 2013 |
| DOI | 10.1111/2041-9066.12005 |
| Author | Axel Kaehne |
| Subject Matter | Feature |
public domain vis-à-vis people with disabilities. More
recently, the British government also signed and ratified
the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Dis-
abilities (2009), which stipulates basic entitlements of
people with disability. How to implement those remains
a prerogative of national governments and hence varies
considerably across signatory states.
Despite a whole raft of policies and guidelines, the
basic parameters that define the lives of people with
disabilities still reflect significant inequalities when
compared to those of the general population. Whilst
public perception of people with disability may be
changing slowly, neither the Blair government nor
any of the subsequent administrations have managed
to improve the socio-economic conditions of disabled
people considerably. People with disabilities remain
more likely than the general population to suffer from
ill health, unemployment and social exclusion. This has
led to a lively debate about the effectiveness of disability
policy and the levers for change that are available to
government.
A Consistent Disability Policy?
One reason why it may be so difficult to make significant
improvements through governmental programmes is
the considerable diversity of the disabled population.
Besides the two main groups – people with physical
impairments and those with intellectual impairments –
there are other people who may experience disabilities
only temporarily in their lives, or may have acquired
disabilities through workplace accidents. The pathway
towards disability, however, may define to a large extent
their ability to draw on existing support networks. For
example, people with congenital impairments are far
more likely to experience social exclusion than others.
The disabled population is also highly diverse in their
needs and abilities, which led to the design of the so-
called individualisation and personalisation agenda of
support programmes. Whilst support provided through
publicly funded projects in the community was previ-
ously seen as one size fits all, local authorities and their
care providers are now supposed to tailor their support
to the needs and abilities of the individual in their care.
Back to Reality
The Challenges of Disability Politics in the UK
‘The first day I threw a discus was in 2010 and I
said to myself “I’ll be doing this in London”.’
On 31 August 2012, Derek Derenalagi did just
that: he stepped into the Olympic Stadium in Stratford
to compete in the F57 disability category of the Para-
lympics. It was a moment that crowned a remarkable
journey from the battlefield in Afghanistan to Paralym-
pic competition. And it was an outcome that was by
no means certain. Five years earlier, when Derenalagi’s
vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in
Helmand Province, he was pronounced dead on arrival
in Camp Bastion. ‘I was about to be put in a body bag
when they found a pulse.’
The Paralympics have prompted an animated debate
about the lives of disabled people in British society.
Whilst Paralympians have inspired many with their
success in the face of adversity, the athletes are hardly
representative of most people with disabilities in the UK.
Many hope that the enthusiasm for Paralympic sports
may herald a sea change in the way disabled people are
viewed by the general population and improve their
social integration. But how do their accomplishments
fit into the larger picture of living with a disability in
the UK? This article outlines some of the changes that
have occurred over the last two decades in disability
policy. It will also set out the basic parameters of life for
people with disabilities, and discuss some of the persis-
tent barriers to their well-being and inclusion in British
society. Lastly, it will review recent policy that attempts
to address the lack of opportunities for disabled people.
Disabilities in the UK
There have been important legal changes that have
affected the lives of people with disabilities over the
last decades. The Labour government under Tony Blair
launched a major review of disability policy and for-
mulated the Valuing People strategy, which set out four
principles that should guide local authorities and other
public bodies in dealing with disabled people: independ-
ence, rights, equality and choice. Subsequent legislation
reiterated and advanced this policy. The Disability and
Equality Act (2010) defines strict statutory responsi-
bilities and duties of employers and organisations in the
With the success of last summer’s Paralympics in London, people with disabilities have received unprecedented
public attention. Yet ordinary people with disabilities are still more likely than their able-bodied peers to suffer
from discrimination, ill health and lack of employment opportunities. Axel Kaehne reports.
People with
disabilities
remain more
likely than
the general
population
to suer from
ill health,
unemployment
and social
exclusion
12
Political Insight
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