Beyond Disability Toards an Enabling Society [Hardcover]

This important text draws together a wealth of experience to present theoretical and practical insights into the way society intervenes in the lives of disabled people, and considers how resources could be used in ways that are more helpful and supportive.

Stressing the social contexts within which disabilities become apparent, the contributors highlight two key points: disabled people have practical difficulties only in the area of life affected by their disability and in other respects are no different from anyone else; and they are handicapped not by the parameters of their disability but by the demands and attitudes of society. The contributors consider the position of people with specific types of disability, explore bThis important text draws together a wealth of experience to present theoretical and practical insights into the way society intervenes in the lives of disabled people, and considers how resources could be used in ways that are more helpful and supportive.

Stressing the social contexts within which disabilities become apparent, the contributors highlight two key points: disabled people have practical difficulties only in the area of life affected by their disability and in other respects are no different from anyone else; and they are handicapped not by the parameters of their disability but by the demands and attitudes of society. The contributors consider the position of people with specific types of disability, explore b`Beyond Disability... raises questions such as why services tend to miss the needs experienced by disabled people themselves, what is it like to be disabled - and what is it like to experience different impairments such as mobility, visual or intellectual impairments. The volume includes sections on legislation (anti-discrimination), counselling, the attitudes of professionals, and concludes with a `diagnosis of the present', co-authored by one ol��