Welfare Reform on the Web (March 2002): Services for the Disabled - UK

HOUSING ADAPTATIONS: UNDERSTANDING THEIR WORTH

F. Heywood

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 4, Nov. 2001, p. 20-23

Data from oral interviews showed that housing adaptations generally improved the lives of disabled people. In a minority of cases recipients felt that the money spent had been wasted. The most common cause of wasted expenditure was inadequate specification. In these cases what was offered by the local authority was never going to meet the needs of the household concerned.

INDEPENDENT LIVING FUNDS: QUINQUENNIAL REVIEW 2001

Department for Work and Pensions

London: 2001

Concludes that these Funds form a vital part of overall government provision for severely disabled people and that they should continue. Recommends changes that would:

• align the funds more closely with local authority charging regimes;
• encourage greater independence and offer help in moving away from Income Support;
• provide work incentives.

THE UPHILL STRUGGLE: SERVICES FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING PEOPLE: ISSUES OF EQUALITY, PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS

J. Harris and C. Bamford

Disability and Society, vol. 16, 2001, p. 969-979

Article illustrates how the organisation and delivery of services can undermine, rather than facilitate, the participation of deaf and hard of hearing people in society as parents, employees, citizens and patients.