Welfare Reform on the Web (August 2006): Services for the disabled - UK

Access denied

Anon

Labour Research, vol.95, July 2006, p.15-16

The Access to Work scheme meets the cost of additional support needed by disabled people in the workplace, and also helps those moving out of unemployment find jobs. However, government departments are to lose their right to funding from the scheme, and the rest of the public sector may follow. Trade unions and disability campaigners have attacked the move, arguing that existing public sector budgets will not be able to replace this vital source of funding.

Independent lives and the relevance of lifetime homes

R. Imrie

Disability and Society, vol.21, 2006, p.359-374

A range of research shows that most UK housing remains inaccessible to wheelchair users and those with particular mobility problems. A proposed solution by the government is the adoption of lifetime homes standards that are likely to become mandatory for all new private housing in England by 2008. This article presents a critique of the lifetime homes standards and suggests that while they are in some respects a positive development they are not, in and of themselves, a panacea for rectifying the shortfall in accessible housing.

Whose right to decide?

A.U. Sale

Community Care, June 29th-July 5th 2006, p.28-29

Medical technology now allows screening of both foetuses and embryos for disabilities and it is assumed that the pregnancy should be terminated or the embryo discarded if genetic abnormalities are found. There is concern that these practices will lead to further ostracism and exclusion of disabled people.