Disabled People, Work and Employment

Theorising disability and chronic illness: Where next for perspectives in medical sociology?

“…Indeed, large sections of the disabled population have reported worsening living standards in recent years, as well as diminished opportunities for social participation; these are outcomes found in both the global north and south (Soldatic and Meekosha, 2012). In disability studies, it is argued that the language of empowerment, inclusion and individual rights has been appropriated by politicians and state officials because it has served their shared neoliberal political and economic agendas in the last three decades (Roulestone, 2012). That is, the freeing-up of market mechanisms and the curtailment of state welfare provision have been hastened by encouraging disabled people to self-manage, deepen their individual responsibility and join the ranks of the employed.…”

‘If this wasn’t here I probably wouldn’t be’: disabled workers’ views of employment support

“…Well intentioned as this activity may have been, it has been accompanied by a return of unhelpful rhetoric about disingenuous disabled benefit claimants that may add to the perception of disabled people as poor employment risks (Roulstone 2012). Moreover, its focus on disabled people rather than on workplaces and labour markets assumes their higher unemployment rate stems from gaps in their skills, experience, abilities or motivation, rather than discriminatory practices and unwelcoming workplaces.…”

National and international disability rights legislation: a qualitative account of its enactment in Australia

“…Despite three decades of international mandates for inclusion from the UN, disabilities scholars working within CDS disciplines have identified the continuation of marginalisation of people with disabilities across divergent social systems (Devlin and Pothier 2006;Erevelles 2011;Goodley 2013;Roulstone 2012;Slee 2011;Soldatic and Meekosha 2012).…”