| Abstract: | The boundary between the disability movement and traditional forms of welfare production, whether in the statutory or voluntary sectors is discussed in this article. Drawing on the resource mobilization paradigm in social movement theory, it discusses the role played by existing welfare structures in the formation of disabled people as activists and in the initial stages of mobilization. The article reports on the findings of interviews with activists in the emerging disability movement in Northern Ireland, a region with a very low level of movement activity. It concludes that in such areas, disabled people often lack the resources to mobilize on their own account and are heavily dependent on formal welfare for the necessary networks and opportunities. Although this can be a significant constraint, it is not necessarily so if these opportunities enable the infant movement associations to grow beyond the welfare settings lying behind their emergence. This is more likely to take place if other supportive factors are in place. Many of the required resources are to be found within more traditional voluntary organisations. Few of these organisations play any role in the process of mobilization. But where mobilization is taking place, they are invariably present. |
