Synopses & Reviews
Working futures looks at the current effectiveness and future scope for enabling policy in the field of disability and employment. By addressing the current strengths and weaknesses of disability and employment policy, the book asks:·[vbTab]Is the dichotomy of 'work for those who can and support for those who cannot' appropriate to the lives of disabled people? ·[vbTab]Does current and recent policy reduce or reinforce barriers to paid employment?·[vbTab]What lessons from other welfare regimes can we draw on to further disabled peoples' working futures?Contributions from academics, NGOs, the OECD and the disabled peoples' movement bring multiple theoretical, professional and user perspectives to the debates at the heart of the book. Working futures is aimed at academics and students in disability studies, policy and welfare studies and those working in the voluntary sector, employment organisations and at street-level with disabled people.
Review
Working futures? is a welcome and much needed contribution to this crucial domain of disability studies. It is an excellent resource, providing an original text that should be drawn on by a wide audience within the social sciences. John Swain, School of Health, Community and Education Studies, University of Northumbria at Newcastle
Review
This collection of academic research, review and policy papers maps out attitudes of governments and employers towards disabled people, and puts these in both a historical and global context ... Alongside the critiques, there are positive suggestions as to how to redefine disability, impairment and the notion of work itself, alongside ideas for restructuring disabled people's involvement in decision-making and in society at large. ... This is essential for anyone involved in disability policy-making, human resources, supported employment or day services. Community Care
Review
The book includes an impressive range of authors... who provide a stimulating critique of the trends and issues underlying employment policies... It is delivered in short chapter-length chunks, and so will be a very useful text for researchers, students and policy-makers in the field of Disability Studies. Social Policy, Volume 36/3 - 2007 - Reviewer: Val Williams, Norah Fry Research Centre, Bristol University (Cambridge Journals)
Synopsis
Disability benefits remain the largest single form of spending in the British government's social welfare budget. Working Futures looks at the current strengths and weaknesses of disability and employment policy in the UK. It assesses whether the policy reduces or reinforces barriers to paid employment for disabled people. Bringing together a wide range of policy insights to bear on the question of disabled peoples working futures, this book includes analysis of recent policy initiatives as diverse as the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Draft Disability Bill, the benefits system, New Deal for Disabled People, job retention policy, comparative disability policy, the role of the voluntary sector, and 'new policies for a new workplace'.
Synopsis
Working futures? looks at the current effectiveness and future scope for enabling policy in the field of disability and employment.
Synopsis
Working futures looks at the current effectiveness and future scope for enabling policy in the field of disability and employment. The book is original in bringing together a wide range of policy insights to bear on the question of disabled peoples working futures. It includes analyses of recent policy initiatives as diverse as the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Draft Disability Bill, the benefits system, New Deal for Disabled People, job retention policy, comparative disability policy, the role of the voluntary sector and 'new policies for a new workplace'. Contributions from academics, NGOs, the OECD and the disabled peoples' movement bring multiple theoretical, professional and user perspectives to the debates at the heart of the book.
About the Author
Alan Roulstone is professor of applied social sciences at Northumbria University and an honorary professor at Swansea University.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part One: Work, welfare and social inclusion: challenges, concepts and questions: The challenges of a work-first agenda for disabled people - Alan Roulstone and Colin Barnes
The missing million: the challenges of employing more disabled people - Kate Stanley
Part Two: The current policy environment
New Deal for Disabled People: what's new about New Deal? - Bruce Stafford
Disabled people, employment and the Work preparation programme - Sheila Riddell and Pauline Banks
Legislating for equality: evaluating the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 - Nigel Meager and Jennifer Hurtsfield
Disability frameworks and monitoring disability in local authorities: a challenge for the proposed Draft Disability Discrimination Bill - Ardha Danieli and Carol Woodhams
Job retention: a new policy priority for disabled people - Geof Mercer
Benefits and tax credits: enabling systems or constraints? - Anne Corden
Challenging the disability benefit trap across the OECD - Mark Pearson and Christopher Prinz
Jobcentre Plus: can specialised personal advisors be justified? - Patricia Thornton
Disability and employment: global and national policy influences in New Zealand, Canada and Australia - Neil Lunt
Disabled people and 'employment' in the majority world: policies and realities - Peter Coleridge
Part Three: Towards inclusive policy futures
Employment policy and practice: a perspective from the disabled peoples' movement - David Gibbs
Changing minds: opening up employment options for people with mental health problems - Jennifer Secker and Bob Grove
Enabling futures for people with learning difficulties? Exploring the employment realities behind the policy rhetoric? - Danny Goodley and Ghashem Norouzi
Barriers to labour market participation: the experience of Deaf and hard of hearing people - Jennifer Harris and Patricia Thornton
Work matters: visual impairment, disabling barriers and employment options - Phillipa Simkiss
Disabled people and employment: the potential impact of European policy - Hannah Morgan
Missing pieces: the voluntary sector and community sector's potential for inclusive employment - Lorraine Gradwell
Professional barriers and facilitators: policy issues for an enabled salariat - Bob Sapey and Jeannine Hughes
Disabled people, the state and employment: historical lessons and welfare policy - Jon Warren
'Work' is a four-letter word: disability, work and welfare - Colin Barnes and Alan Roulstone
Conclusions