Introduction: Towards Convergence? Disability Policies in Europe
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Bjørn Hvinden,Wim van Oorschot |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1023/A:1011564804757 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
European Journal of Social Security, Volume 2/4, 293-302, 2000.
© Kluwer Law International (KLI). Printed in the Netherlands.
WIM
VAN OORSCHOT AND
BJ0RN
HVINDEN*
Introduction: towards Convergence?
Disability Policies in Europe
293
Abstract: Disability is one
of
the key areas of concern for social security.
It
repre-
sents one
of
the major risks for loss
of
income from work among people
of
working
age and, historically, it belongs to the risks first covered by social insurance. All
countries with encompassing income maintenance schemes have special provisions
for people with disabilities, and the spending on thesebenefits usually amounts to a
large proportion of total income maintenance expenditure. The administrative and
legal procedures surrounding the assessment of claims for disability benefits are
often complex and involve discretionary judgment. Assessments tend to rely on the
input from different professional groups, such as physicians, psychologists, social
workers, occupational therapists, and rehabilitation or employment counsellors. In
the disability area there is also a close but rarely simple relationship between 'cash'
and 'care'. Participation in treatment, training and rehabilitation programmes, com-
bined with suitable technical solutions and services provisions (transport, personal
assistance etc.) are believed to diminish dependence on long-term financial support
for disabled persons. At the same time, advances in medical diagnosis and treatment
have also meant that more people are able to survive illnesses and injuries that would
otherwise have been fatal.
1. THREE CHALLENGES TO DISABILITY POLICIES
In the 1990s, existing policies and provisions - and the principles and assumptions
that informed them - were challenged in several ways.
Firstly, the governments in many modern welfare states came to see their lev-
els of expenditure on disability benefits as excessive and as threatening the sustain-
ability
of
income maintenance systems in general. Disability benefits were viewed
as being too accessible and generous, to the extent that they contributed to undesir-
able exit from the labour market, especially among middle-aged and older workers.
*Wim van Oorschot, Associate Professor of Sociology, Tilburg University. Address:
P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. E-mail: w.v.oorschot@kub.nl
Bjorn Hvinden, Professor
of
Sociology, Department of Sociology and Political Science,
Norwegian University
of
Science and Technology, N-749 1,Trondheim, Norway. E-mail:
bjorn.hvindemgtsvt.ntnu.no
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SECURITY
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