Welfare Reform on the Web (July 2002): Services for the Disabled - Overseas

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE: DISABILITY AND EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

V. Kabzems and R Chimedza

Disability and Society, vol. 17, 2002, p. 147-157

Development assistance to disabled children has been dominated by charitable organisations which have tended to export solutions currently in vogue in their own countries. These may not be culturally appropriate or meet local needs. Article argues that the impact of development assistance could be improved through greater participation by local people.

EQUAL CITIZENSHIP FOR ALL: DISABILITY POLICIES IN THE NETHERLANDS: EMPOWERMENT OF MARGINALS

D. van Houten and C Bellemakers

Disability and Society, vol. 17, 2002, p 171-185

The Dutch welfare state is very bureaucratic and disabled people can only access services if their needs fit into predefined categories. The provision of welfare and care are relatively good, but opportunities for social participation are limited and disabled people are treated as second class citizens. Article presents an alternative vision of the "varied society", in which all people are regarded as worthwhile

SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT AND PEOPLE WITH COMPLEX NEEDS

J. Weston

Journal of Social Work, vol. 2, 2002, p. 83-104

Article uses research from the USA, the UK and Australasia to examine supported employment as a strategy to enable disabled people with complex needs to access mainstream employment. Supported employment is analysed from the point of view of the social model of disability and employment policy. Successful supported employment is built upon the use of individually focused approaches emphasizing user participation and choice. Barriers to supported employment include the benefits system, the persistence of the medical model of disability in places, problems with inequity in provision, and unstable and inefficient funding.

WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE'S NEEDS UNMET?

l. Kemp

Disability and Society, vol. 17, 2002, p. 205-218

Results of a survey of people with spinal injuries in Australia show that, rather than providing services equitably in response to demonstrable levels of need, service providers dictated the conditions under which they could access services. To gain the services they needed people with spinal injuries had to:

• submit humbly to the ascendancy of service providers;
• be considered worthy by conforming to service providers' expectations of them.