Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2008): Services for the disabled - overseas

The challenge of designing optimum legal services for disabled people: the New Zealand experience

K. Diesfeld and others

Disability and Society, vol. 23, 2008, p. 431-443

New Zealand is reforming its legal services system, including services for disabled people. In 2005 the Legal Services Agency commissioned research on provision for disabled people, focused on Auckland. This article is based on the literature review of the unmet legal concerns of disabled people carried out as part of this project. It suggests that the social model of disability offers a suitable philosophical framework for developing services and concludes with a description of a service proposal based on international models.

The independent living movement in Asia: solidarity from Japan

R. Hayashi and M. Okuhira

Disability and Society, vol. 23, 2008, p. 417-429

Independent living movements are emerging in Asian countries, supported by independent living centres in Japan. These centres offer training to disabled people from other Asian countries which comprises study of the concept of independent living and the history of the disability rights movement, and development of skills aimed at empowering them to establish an independent living movement in their home countries. This study conducted in Japan used in-depth interviews and a focus group to obtain information about the programme, the experiences of the trainees and Japanese hosts and the budding independent living movement in Asia.