Understanding Disability Policies

By Robert F. Drake
February 1999
Macmillan UK
ISBN: 0333724275 paper edition: $49.50
ISBN: 0333724267 hardcover edition: $147.50
256 pages

This book is printed on demand. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.

---

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the development and consequences of disability policies, contrasting policies grounded in medical definitions of disability with a 'social model' of disability supported by disability rights campaigners in their pursuit of anti-discrimination legislation. British policies are set in comparative context, and the impacts of policy on disabled people according to their class, gender, age and ethnicity are explored.

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Structure of the Book
PART ONE: THE MEANING OF DISABILITY
Theoretical Understandings of Disability
PART TWO: DISABILITY POLICY, MODELS AND DEVELOPMENT
Models of Disability Policy
The Development of Disability Policies in Britain
Contemporary Disability Policies in Britain
Contemporary British Policy in the International Context
PART THREE: POLICY OUTCOMES AND DISABLED PEOPLE'S RESPONSES
Social Class and Disability
Gender and Disability
Minority Ethnic Communities and Disability
Age and Disability Policies
Disabled People and the Policy Process
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index

Author Biography:
ROBERT DRAKE is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Wales, Swansea, and an associate lecturer with the Open University. He has published research on equal opportunity policies (with Ken Blakemore), disability policy, and the role of the voluntary sector in Britain. Currently, he is researching disability policies within the broader context of the European Union.

Return to main page of Trans-Atlantic Publications