Cherry Picking Disability Rights? Swedish Disability Policy on Employment, Health and Participatio

Abstract

The aim of this article is to broaden the understanding of how Swedish disability policies are constructed to meet the objectives of the ratified UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) regarding active citizenship and full participation on an equal basis with others. The study examines two policy domains: health and employment. Recently issued legal documents are analyzed using the approach of directed content analysis and the theories of ‘social risk’ and ‘governance’. The results suggest that the policy area of employment implicitly and explicitly overshadows the policy area of health and related rights accounted for in the CRPD. A more nuanced perspective in disability policies concerning employment in relation to active citizenry and full participation is required, accompanied by social policy schemes that encompass the perspective of the CRPD as a whole in all support-to- work services, instead of the limited focus of finding full-time employment

Work Inclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Three Nordic Countries: The Current Policy and Challenges

“…There are strong labour market policies such as the 'work-principle' (Swedish: arbetslinjen) that favour active measures fostering employment, rather than receiving subsidies (Luthra 2020;Piippola 2010). The meaning and benefits of employment have attracted attention in national policy making and have implications that reach from being a tool to manage social expenditure to attaining compliance with the CRPD and enabling active citizenship (Nouf-Latif et al 2020;Hvinden et al 2017). People with intellectual disabilities are not specifically mentioned in official documents about work inclusion.…”

“…In Sweden, policies are explicitly focusing on an individuals' flexibility within the market, and not the opposite case, which is encouraged through different support-to-work programmes (Nouf-Latif et al 2020). It reflects that programs including work placements have been widely recognized as an effective means of equipping people with both generic and job-relevant skills by combining learning and work (Ineland et al 2021;Kuczera & Jeon 2019).…”

“…Participating in workplace activities is considered to provide students with knowledge about vocational cultures and how to become part of a workplace community. However, Ineland and colleagues (2020) show that placing a strong emphasis on 'work-first' policies for people with intellectual disabilities in Sweden risks disregarding other (noneconomic) policy areas, as well as individual preferences among people with disabilities (see also Nouf-Latif et al 2020;Gustafsson, Peralta & Danermark 2018). This conclusion helps to explain a paradoxical trend over recent years regarding the employment of people with disabilities in Sweden, that is, that unemployment rates are increasing, while increased support was simultaneously provided by the PES (UN Recommendations 2018).…”