Disability insurance risks: The Argentinian case

This article analyses the risk of disability facing workers who contribute to the Argentinian Integrated Social Security System (Sistema Integrado Previsional Argentino— SIPA). Using administrative records as our source of data for the period 2000‐2006, the results indicate that 1.46 workers per 1,000 became disabled annually during that period. The risk of disability rates were higher for men than for women, but increased with age for both sexes. The risk of disability rates have also been broken down by pathology and social security scheme, taking the effects of age and sex into account. To conclude, international comparisons are presented.     

Pictures and silences: memories of sexual abuse of disabled people

The article de–individualises the debate about sexual abuse of disabled people, especially women, by showing that both the sexual and asexual identity of impaired persons are invariably fashioned within the institutional arrangement of domination and subjugation. It shows that if disabled persons are seen as asexual or if they are sexualised, they cannot escape sexual violence, which is not an aberration, but is intrinsic to the social construction of disability. The article includes personal testimonies of women with different disabilities from Slovenia, who were abused either at home or in public care and shows some responses of the professionals and caregivers who minimise the importance of abuse. It claims that ignoring the memories of sexual abuse is part of a subtle and unintentional discrimination, which reflects a continuity of prejudices and hatred toward disabled children and adults in the private realm as well as in public care. People from ethnic minorities, such as Roma, are still today more often diagnosed as mentally disabled, which shows that the disability diagnosis has to be seen as part of cultural responses towards an economically and socially marginalised group. The author uses different perspectives: historical, social work theories, cultural studies and feminist analysis.     

‘Disability is not a word we use’: Social workers' professional judgements about support for disabled young people leaving care

Disabled young people leaving care often experience a more complex transition to adulthood than other youths. Still, policy and services can fail to recognize the intersection between a young person's care experiences and disability. Drawing on data from a qualitative interview study with 14 social workers who work with aftercare in the Norwegian child welfare services, we investigate social workers' professional judgements about support for this subgroup of the leaving care population. Our analysis uses the theoretical construct of institutional logics and shows that social workers did not include concepts of disability in their judgements about support for these young people. Instead, the social workers' considerations were guided by three other organizing principles: a ‘medical logic’, an ‘activation logic’ and an ‘aftercare logic’. We discuss these findings in light of critical disability studies and argue for a more nuanced understanding of disability in social work practice with care leavers. Highlighting disability rights and going beyond diagnosis and categorisations of disabled people can challenge a medical model approach to service provision.     

障碍研究论述与社会参与：无障碍、通用设计、能力与差异

障碍研究在过去40年的发展奠定了其对公共政策影响的基础。障碍者社会参与的责任逐渐由以往个人承担与调适，转向社会与国家承担。本文简述西方国家障碍研究的两个主要论述--社会模式与普同主义取向，对比这两个主要论述所衍生出的政策：由早期的无障碍设施到通用设计，至最近的能力取向。障碍者参与社会生活与活动是其基本权利的一部分，这项权利内涵具有积极性，需要政府与社会投入资源，改善外部社会结构与环境，使环境对障碍者更为友善，为其社会参与权利提供保障。     

Disability as the Basis for a Social Movement: Advocacy and the Politics of Definition

Many people with disabilities do not identify themselves as disabled or choose not to be part of a politically active community of disabled persons. This paper discusses both the barriers to the formation of a social movement of disabled people and the ways in which these barriers have been overcome. The role of public policy in the evolution of this movement is discussed, as are the current status and prospects of the disability rights movement.     

浅析社区残疾人公共服务体系的建构与发展

本文分析了社区残疾人公共服务的概念、特点、内容,并提出了残疾人社区公共服务的组织框架。指出社区残疾人公共服务体系是指政府及其公共部门运用公共权力,通过社区这一平台,通过灵活运用多种机制和方式,根据残疾人的需求为残疾人提供服务的过程。而目前我国的社区残疾人公共服务体系应当是一个以街道、乡镇政府为责任主体、以居（村）委会以及基层残疾人组织为依托和实施主体,以商业性服务为补充的社会公共服务体系。     

残障者的制度与生活：从“个人模式”到“普同模式”

近20年来,中国的残障者数量骤然增加,相关的专业化社会服务也随之兴起,但对残障问题的社会学研究却依然滞后。本文主要通过考察现代英美社会在残障问题上的研究历程,集中探讨残障者的制度与生活变迁,反思面向个体援助的福利框架和重视治疗的“医疗模式”,基于对残障观念从“社会模式”到“普同模式”的转变进程的理解,揭示障碍研究的主要问题。在这一演进过程中,社会模式与普同模式批判“健全者中心主义”的制度建构,逐渐确立起残障者作为生活主体的理念,并试图通过连带普通人的障碍体验为策略,汇聚成制度改革的合力。障碍研究的推进,提示了各类模式,引发了诸种思潮,试图改变制度、改造社会,并转变人观。理解这一社会历史进程可以为中国应对残障问题以及化解老龄化所带来的诸多社会问题提供重要的启示。     

Disability rating system reform in Korea: focusing on improving of the service delivery system for people with disabilities

The purpose of this study is designed to explore of improving the service delivery system for people with disabilities in Korea according to the reforming disability grading system. Focus group interview was conducted with public officials involved in the pilot project. As the analysis results, The study suggested it was able to provide integrated services for people with disabilities through intergraded network for public-private partnership, to be connected case management between public-private sector, to establish a unified window for the disabled to handle complaints while using the service and to be accessibility improvement through counseling visits to the disabled. Findings from the study have both practical and policy implications for the service delivery system for people with disabilities. Future studies should include opinions from the perspective of the people with disabilities who participated in the pilot project.     

Using work, health and sick leave to predict work disability

In the Netherlands, a situation has developed in which there is one permanently disabled person for every seven to eight people active in the workforce. This is an economic emergency, for which countermeasures have been taken. The employer is made in large part financially responsible for employees' sickness absence and work disability and, at the same time, is obliged to use the professional support of a Health and Safety Service (HSS). It stands to reason that in this situation, making use of the HSS, the employer is motivated to prevent sickness absence and disablement of employees as effectively as possible. Preventing work disability critically depends on being able to predict disability through early identification of the future disabled. In order to develop a prediction procedure at the individual level, the present prospective study was conducted. Some 3,500 employees were followed for up to five years. Predictors of disability were sought among employees'opinions on their health, work, and working conditions as measured by the Questionnaire on Work and Health (QWH), and sick leave data. The QWH items are concerned with health, work and job circumstances. As expected, most (two thirds) cases of disability occur in male employees aged 50 and over. Disability in this group is strongly predicted by complaints about work strain, health, and illness behaviour, with the odds being in the 4 to 6 range. The odds can be raised to over 10 by including sick leave data. These predictions warrant individual preventive interventions. The results, taken together, speak for the predictive validity of the questionnaire and its usefulness to occupational health services in combating disability.     

Integration and Inclusion: Illusion or Progress in Services for Disabled People?

This paper analyses the meanings of "integration" and "inclusion" in the context of disability services to determine the extent to which the latter signals a change in perspective rather than simply a change in terminology. It is argued that integration implies that disabled people need to be integrated into "mainstream" society and that it is they rather than society which is required to change. The policy response which results from this approach may thus be a technical one which focuses on physical integration alone. In contrast, inclusion takes as its starting-point the fact that a just state of affairs is one in which disabled people are included in society and hence the required policy response is a broad one which includes comprehensive civil rights legislation, an analysis of the effects of present and future policy on disabled people and the participation of disabled people in the democratic decision-making process. However, as disabled people are currently excluded from many aspects of society, the potential for an inclusive approach to be dismissed as being too idealistic is noted, and a number of possible barriers to its realization are discussed. It is concluded that whilst such barriers exist they should not, in themselves, provide a reason for inaction as an understanding of the implications of inclusion for policy and practice can provide a useful starting-point from which to bring about change.     

以可行能力视角看待障碍:对现有残障模式的反思与探索

残障研究经历了个人模式-医学模式-社会模式的发展历程,社会模式对残障产生的原因进行了革命性的解释,大大推进了残障人士权益的发展。但上述模式都将关注点放在障碍产生的原因上,而这可能会强化原因与作为影响的障碍之间的固定联系,进而加重刻板印象以及弱势地位等问题;此外,以原因区分障碍的做法并不能准确地反映人们在现实中遭遇的障碍,在认识、分析和处理障碍方面也存在一些困难和缺陷。因此,我们应当尝试将关注点从障碍产生的原因转向障碍本身,以可行能力受限或者受损看待障碍,将原因和障碍真正“解绑”,从而超越“医学模式-社会模式”“社会隔离-社会融合”“优势-劣势”这些不合理的二元对立。基于这样的转变,我们可以为消除障碍找到更加精准、更具有整体性且更加有效的办法。     

Working‐age people with disability and labour force participation: Geographic variations in Australia

To examine geographic variation in labour force participation rate (LFPR) of working‐age people with disability in Australia and associated factors. This study uses Australian Census 2016 data at Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and engages multiple linear regression to explore the relationship between the dependent variable,= LFPR of people with disability, and diverse independent variables that reflect collective characteristics of people with disability and their non‐disabled peers within SA2. While LFPRs for people with disability varied greatly by SA2, people with disability had considerably lower LFPR than their non‐disabled peers in all areas. The LFPRs tended to be higher in SA2s with higher percentages of people with disability who had completed year 12 or gained post‐school education, with higher household income, and where a higher proportion of people with disability mainly spoke English at home. These results indicate that where people live matters. Geographic variation in LFPR for people with disability is associated with geographic variation in their educational attainment and other social and community characteristics of the areas in which they live. This study contributes towards gaining a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the factors that influence LFPR of people with disability in relation to their local community environment.     

Disabilities,Employers and Employees: Some Issues

Disabled people are nor only capable of being satisfactory employees but often prove superior in terms of continuity, dependability and low rates of occupational injury. Problems in employment of disabled people arise from poor understanding of disablement by employers and the community generally, poor occupational preparation and self-presentation by disabled workers and the current tight job market. Suggestions are made for improving employment opportunities for disabled workers.     

“Build a friendship with them”: The discourse of “at‐risk” as a barrier to relationship building between young people who trade sex and social workers

Young people in statutory care and protection interact with social workers, who hold potential to provide a supportive adult role in their lives. Many however, run away at an early age and end up on the street trading sex for money or other favours. There is potential to improve outcomes for young people in care if the relationship between young people and their social workers is better addressed. This paper uses data from a qualitative study of 14 young people who traded sex and who had experienced interactions with social workers. A thematic analysis identified three themes: the rigidity of social work practice; contesting the family situation; and resisting the at‐risk label. We argue that to have any impact on outcomes for young people in care, social workers need to prioritise relationship‐building above the need to conform to organizational protocols and guidelines. Such guidelines assist the social worker in assessing whether family situations pose high risk for a young person, but the “at‐risk” label is contested by young people, which results in a lack of trust and a barrier to relationship building.     

Violence,Negligence and Suicidal Tendency among Physically Disabled Street Children

This study was carried out among physically disabled street children (PDSC) in the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh. The aim of the study was to explore violence, negligence and suicidal tendency among PDSC. To do this, 30 PDSC (15 male and 15 female) were conveniently selected and interviewed with an interview protocol developed by a step‐by‐step process. The results of this study revealed that all the participants experienced physical violence but female children were more likely to experience sexual violence than male children. Violence against disabled children came from both family members or relatives and other people. As with violence, all the participants experienced some sort of negligence, again both from family members or relatives and other people. More importantly, this study found that more than half of the physically disabled children had suicidal tendency to some extent, i.e. some thought of committing suicide at least once in their life, while others attempted to commit suicide due to the sufferings that came with disability. This study concludes with some policy implications, particularly: providing counseling to parents and the disabled children; training of the service providers who provide services to disabled persons; and building awareness through mass media.     

Welfare consequences of the Swedish disability service system

It has been frequently discussed whether the Swedish disability service system is efficient and whether it meets the demands of equity. The costs of the system for support and service were recently estimated to be USD 11 billion. This article describes the welfare situation for disabled people compared with the general population in Sweden. The Swedish disability service system has managed to provide disabled people with a disposable income over the subsistence minimum in Sweden, but also in the same range as for the general population. In other welfare parameters, disabled people appear to have great welfare losses compared with the general population. Evaluations of handicap technologies (such as service and support) aiming to reduce or compensate for these welfare losses have to meet the requirements of equity and efficiency of the Swedish disability service system.     

Disabling Ideas – Disabling Policies: The Case of Disability Employment Policy in the Newly Established Israeli State

By integrating a social perspective of disability with an ideational approach to social policy, the present study seeks to illuminate the central role of ideas in shaping disability policy. Using employment policy towards civilian disabled people in the newly established Israeli State (1948–65) as a case study, this examination highlights the key role played by the Israeli welfare system in excluding disabled people and structuring the disability category. This case illustrates how the paradigmatic perception of disability, loaded with patronizing attitudes towards the new Mizrachi immigrants, operated both as ‘cognitive locks’ and as a means for gradual yet transformative change. It is argued that this kind of ideational change is best identified and interpreted by assuming that paradigms are relational in nature.     

The Politics of Physical Differences: Disability and Discrimination

Although a "minority-group" model has emerged to challenge the traditional dominance of the "functional-limitations" paradigm for the study of disability, research on attitudes toward disabled people has not produced a theoretical orientation that reflects these developments. This paper proposes a new conceptual framework, based on the fundamental values of personal appearance and individual autonomy, for assessing the "aesthetic" and "existential" anxiety aroused by persons with disabilities. Investigations using this perspective might contribute to determining the attitudinal foundations of the competing models that are dividing research on disability.     

Australia's Individualised Disability Funding Packages: When Do They Provide Greater Choice and Opportunity?

Australia's new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) uses individualised funding packages instead of traditional block‐funded disability services to support people with disability. The NDIS works with the person and their family to assess the person's needs and develop a plan that determines their funding allocation. Funding can be used to purchase support from a disability service or from the open market. People can purchase support that suits their cultural and personal preferences. This paper examined whether individual funding packages met their aims in Western Australia, where they had been the primary mechanism of disability support for over 25 years. An exploratory case study was conducted consisting of face‐to‐face, in‐depth interviews with 11 key participants: people with disability, senior government administrators, service provider managers, and a support worker. Complex systems theory was used to review the data and findings showed that individualised funding packages did not automatically result in more choice and greater opportunities. People needed information to make informed decisions; supportive and creative support from social workers and other professionals; and welcoming communities. The findings can inform policies and assist social workers facilitate maximum choice and opportunities for people with disability and their families.