This thesis deals with the historical background concerning the development of
disability-related employment measures and the employment exclusion
experienced by disabled persons. In particular, the enquiry focuses upon the early
post-war period up until the introduction in 1997 of the New Deal for Disabled
Persons.
The thesis postulates that:
1. major policy shifts within the Employment Service Disability Services
(ESDS)
in the early 1990s did not sufficiently reflect the employment integration
needs of disabled persons;
in spite of a major social values shift, to welfare-to-work measures for
disabled persons these measures proved to be problematic;
problems existed because of the following three inter-related negative social
factors;
3.1 lack of adequate neeeds assessment and response to disabled persons
labour-market requirements;
3.2 lack of support for work capability enhancement; and
3.3 lack of suitable work-integrated environments,accessible jobs and
adequate socially 'adjusted' working conditions.
Although the study was carried out prior to the New Deal for Disabled Persons
(NDDP), the main concerns raised by this study, regarding disabled persons
labour market integration needs, would still appear to prevail. However, the post-
NDDP developments and implications for the employment of disabled persons
under the NDDP would require further research that is beyond the ambit of the
present study which terminated prior to the introduction of the New Deal. The
study examined national developments of disability policy of the Employment
Service (ES), in the light of transitions within service philosophy during the
1990s. This took the form of a major shift on the part of policy makers of the
'position' of disabled persons to mainstream labour markets. Prior to the early
1990s, the position of disabled persons was largely one of relative labour-market
marginality. Many disabled persons experienced social alienation, denoting
exclusion from or restricted entry into employment, on terms that were often
significant of a position of exploitative 'integration'. With the collapse in the
1980s and 1990s of the Keynes-Beveridge Welfare State, the outcome for
disabled persons was a reconceptuality of their relationship to labour markets.
This factor was driven by rising state-benefit dependency and decommodification.
The perspective of the New Right, with its anti-statedependency
ideology, ushered in a new regime wherein disabled persons were to
be exposed to similar labour-market rigours as the non-disabled. While the two
tier disability-employment regulatory system, set in place by Tomlinson (1942),
remained relatively intact, the new requirements of what has been described as a
'Schumpeterian Workfare State' (Jessop, 1992,1994), ensured that the ES,
Disability Service, faced a need for radical reform. It is the framework and
conception of this revised approach, to disabled persons labour-market
involvement, that constitutes the basis of the present study. The research '
contribution to disability and employment lies in the presentation of employment
service users' own perceptions of the suitability of the ESDS. However debate
presented, maintains that the fundamental relationship of disabled persons to
employment, without corresponding change towards the social values perceptions
of disabled persons, ensures that employment associated alienation will remain
intact.
Date of Award | 2000 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | |
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- Disabilities
- Work
- Exclusion
- New Deal
- Policy
- Labor Sociology
- Human services
The employment requirements of disabled persons : a study of the development of state supported employment provision.
Kleinschmidt, T. P. (Author). 2000
Student thesis: PhD