The major theme of this accessible and engaging text is that `disability' is caused by the way society is organized. The contributors demonstrate the many ways in which disabled people have taken the initiative in reshaping both the meaning of disability and the services and support available to them. The notion that disability is either a medical condition or a `personal tragedy' is strongly challenged, and the marginalized position of black disabled people and disabled women is also addressed. Focusing on the barriers which disabled people encounter in education, housing, leisure and employment, this book critically reviews professional practice and describes alternative models of support which give disabled people control over their own
`This book is about change; change brought about, mainly by disabled people, in the way disability is conceptualised within our society... its structure reflects its content and message. It does not categorise people or specific disabilities, but focuses on their experiences of social barriers to `full participative citizenship'. The book, edited and written in part by people with disabilities... provides a positive framework within which to articulate many of my own findings... a major contribution to understanding disability... I found both the way this book is written and its content to be stimulating, exciting and challenging, with implications not just for how we think about disability but also for constructions of health and illness' -
Health Psychology Update `A welcome explicitness about the social model of disability, the nature of the barriers we encounter, the importance of definitions of disability, and the fact that control by disabled people is crucial' - Community Care
`This book gives an insider's perspective of disability which should make workers in this field review their approach and question existing procedures and attitudes. It is thought provoking and relevant in these times of patient/client choice.... Anyone within the caring professions can benefit from reading this book. It is presented clearly, is comprehensive and meaty in its content, with a refreshing lack of jargon. It is a book primarily aimed at students but one to be borrowed and digested by occupational therapists at all levels and in any field' - British Journal of Occupational Therapy
`At the risk of sounding like a scratched record, I am constantly delighted by the quality of the Open University's set books. This course Reader for 'The Disabling Society' is a magnificently challenging and readable collection of papers from some of the most stellar writers and thinkers in what I am reluctant to call the 'disability movement'. Mike Oliver can undercut people's cherished notions of 'disabled clients' and 'helping professionals' like few other writers, while Sally French's and Vic Finkelstein's contributions offer brilliant insights into people's everyday struggles and experiences of disability.
Among the 35 contributions it is hard to fault any and even harder to select highlights. When I think of the ways in which 'disability' is traditionally taught in our schools of nursing - that is, as some kind of apolitical human tragedy or physiological malfunction - I could get down on both knees and plead with nurses to read this book instead' - Nursing Times
`An explicit and detailed breakdown, from the perspective of participants, of why disabled people are engaged in a revolution - a revolution to break down barriers of attitude and the environment.... For students, researchers, policy-makers and disabled activists there had been a real need for a compendium of thought and ideas such as this.... I am sure it will have a place of honour in the increasing list of disability literature' - Journal of Social Policy
`It should be read by those interested in disability as well as those wishing a more complete perspective on issues relating to minority groups and to discrimination' - Contemporary Sociology
`It contains essays on a range of disability subjects and is therefore an excellent reference book' - Equality Street
