Disability

Disability policy is yet to receive substantial attention from scholars operating within social policy discourse. This has led to a continuation of policy practice that prioritises individualised, overtly medical approaches to providing support to disabled people. Often leading to institutionalised, segregative, and residual care systems. Disability Studies scholars, disabled activists, and disabled people's social movements remain critical of these systems and the overall direction of contemporary disability policy. There is the possibility of change, evidenced in Disability Studies literature, contemporary policy-making processes, and the ideas emerging from disabled activists and their organisations. This chapter employs the concept of Independent Living, as defined by disabled people's social movements, to understand how disabled people are positioned as active welfare citizens participating in social policy and producing, as well as using, welfare. The chapter critically reviews three issues: the realisation of Independent Living within existing social policy; existing assessment methodologies that (are supposed to) provide social protection to disabled people; and disabled people's influence and engagement with the social policy process. The chapter argues that there remains substantial failings with current social policy aimed at supporting disabled people's access to and participation within society. If the issues explored within this chapter remain dismissed by scholars and policymakers, disabled people's emancipation will never be realised. Independent Living remains a useful lens for critically analysing contemporary social policy that affects disabled people's lives.