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

Disability, marginality and the nation-state - negotiating social markers of difference: Fahimeh’s story

P. Dossa

Disability and Society, vol.21, 2006, p.345-358

Disabled women from minority ethnic groups live at the margins of society in liberal democracies and are rendered socially invisible. However, such women can still claim citizenship status and struggle for their rights. This article presents the personal testimony of Fahimeh, an Iranian immigrant living in Vancouver, Canada, about her struggle for inclusion and humane treatment by a society that marginalises her on account of her ethnicity and disability.

On the dialectics of differencing: disabled women, the state and housing issues

V. Chouinard

Gender, Place and Culture, vol.13, 2006, p.401-417

Data gathered from in-depth interviews with 10 disabled women in Ontario show how neoliberal state policies and practices have led to growing economic and housing insecurity for citizens in need. Benefits available through the Ontario Disability Support Programme are insufficient to cover medical expenses, costs of nutritious food, utility bills and rents, leading to increased dependence on family and friends for financial help and trapping women in abusive relationships. Eligibility criteria have been tightened, so that more disabled people are forced to subsist on the substantially lower levels of income support provided by the Ontario Works programme.

Service integration and co-ordination: a framework of approaches for the delivery of co-ordinated care to children with disabilities and their families

G. King and J. Meyer

Child, vol.32, 2006, p.477-492

There is a lack of consensus in the literature about the meaning of the terms “service integration” and “service co-ordination”. As a result of this confusion there has been a great deal of ambiguity about how to translate these apparently simple ideas into practice. This article distinguishes between “service integration” and “service co-ordination” and discusses their roles in the delivery of co-ordinated care. It then presents a conceptual framework of three commonly used approaches to the delivery of co-ordinated care: a system/sector based service integration approach; an agency based service integration approach; and a client/family based service co-ordination approach. It finally considers the implications of the framework for service planning and policy making. It points out the importance of distinguishing between what many clients want (co-ordination as a service enabling them to obtain the help they need) and what organisations work hard to provide (comprehensive and integrated packages of easily accessible services).