1. Hannah Morgan h.morgan@lancaster.ac.uk
Disability in Society
Hannah Morgan

2. Overview Introduction to the module Constructing disability
Experiences and Expectations of Disabled People
Language and definitions
What I want to cover today:
Introduce you to the aims of the module, resources and assessment.
Perceptions of disability, what it is, who are disabled people, how is it perceived by society
Draw on recent research to highlight some of the key experiences and expectations of disabled people and to highlight the interconnectedness of many of these factors
Spend some time looking at the language used in relation to disability and to the importance of definitions – policy about access and entitlement.

3. In this module… We will meet service users and analyse:
How is disability constructed? What does it mean?
What is discrimination, oppression and disablism?
What is the impact of prejudice and stereotyping on disabled people?
Working through your own experiences of and attitudes to disability
Which barriers and opportunities are there for disabled people and social workers to improve people’s life chances?
What is independent living and how do we work together to achieve it?

4. Module learning outcomes
knowledge of social divisions and their impacts on disabled individuals
knowledge of the social processes associated with the marginalisation of disabled people in society
knowledge of the contribution of the social model of disability and other relevant theory to disability issues
knowledge of the range of government policies on disability in the social welfare field
knowledge of the 'lived experience' of being disabled.

5. Moodle
Support and Resources
Assessment

6. http://youtu.be/ss2hULhXf04 What I want to avoid – Charlie Brown clip
Talk to me, me, let me know what is working and what isn’t

7. Constructing disability
What does disability mean?
Can you think of disabled characters / people and the stereotype it portrays from:
Film?
Literature (including children’s stories)?
Television?
Recent media news story?
Celebrities?

8. Perceptions/Stereotypes of disabled people

9. Talk Video http://www.celebratingthejourney.org/talk-videos.asp/
How to think differently about disability -
‘Talk’ is an award-winning 12 minute film which challenges misconceptions about disability in a creative and entertaining way. Starring TV heart-throb Jonathan Kerrigan of BBC’s ‘Casualty’ fame, ‘Talk’ portrays a society in which non-disabled people are a pitied minority and disabled people live full and active lives. Kerrigan plays a business executive, whose negative preconceptions of disability are dramatically shattered.

10. The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts
Bolton Data for Inclusion:

11. Labels stick! Identity, impairment, diagnosis and labels
Words that show dignity, respect and self-definition
Words that disable and label
Words you aren’t sure of...
Group exercise...

12. Word Power Exercise

13. Lay beliefs ‘common sense’ – but not necessarily thought out – views
Rooted in historical, traditional and religious beliefs
‘better dead than disabled’
‘them and us’
‘Our disability frightens people. They don’t want to think that this is something which could happen to them. So we become separated from our common humanity, treated as fundamentally different and alien’ (Morris 1991:192)

14. Life Opportunities Survey
29 per cent of adults had an impairment.
26 per cent of adults were disabled, as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act.
The Life Opportunities Survey (LOS) is a new large-scale survey of disability1
in Great Britain. It is the first major social survey in Great Britain to explore
disability in terms of social barriers to participation, rather than only measuring
disability in terms of impairments or health conditions. In addition, an estimate
of people with rights according to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)
is provided.

15. Participation restrictions
16 % experienced barriers to education and training opportunities (9%)
57% experienced barriers to employment (26%)
75% per cent of adults with impairment experienced barriers to using Transport (60%)
44% per cent of households experienced barriers to economic life and living standards (29%)
82% experienced barriers
in leisure, social and
cultural activities (78%)
16 per cent of adults with impairment experienced barriers to education and training opportunities (that is, the learning opportunities they had) compared with nine per cent of adults without impairment.
57 per cent of adults with impairment experienced barriers to employment (that is, in the type or amount of paid work they did) compared with 26 per cent of adults without impairment.
75 per cent of adults with impairment experienced barriers to using transport compared with 60 per cent of adults without impairment.
44 per cent of households with at least one person with impairment experienced barriers to economic life and living standards (that is, being able to afford expenses or make loan repayments) compared with 29 per cent of households without any people with impairment.
82 per cent of adults with impairment experienced barriers in leisure, social and cultural activities compared with 78 per cent of adults without impairments.

16. Barriers and Enablers
We say someone is disabled if they have an impairment and barriers stop them doing the things in life that they want to do
Barriers - These are things that may stop people living their lives the way they want to, or stop them doing the everyday things they want to do. Barriers include things like being treated unfairly, or not getting enough support to do the things you want
Enablers - These are the things that help people to live their lives the way they want to, and do the everyday things other people do. Enablers at work include having a personal assistant and being allowed to change working hours
(ONS 2011: 22)

17. Some facts and figures Employment 43% of working age in employment
Less likely to be in managerial or professional occupations and more likely to be in elementary occupations
Education
Less likely to hold formal qualifications
Impact of earlier onset
Compared to 74% of non-disabled population of working age in employment
‘elementary’ occupations eg postal workers, bar staff, warehouse assistant, waitress, porter’

18. Less happy with their lives than other groups
Economic well-being
52% in households <£21k
38% said their financial situation meant that they could not afford to pay for essentials
55% felt that they incurred additional costs as a result of their impairment (heating, transport, medical costs)
Health and well-being
Less happy with their lives than other groups
48% felt their were barriers to using health services .

19. Way of thinking about the cycle of oppression.

20. Discrimination on different levels
Personal
‘individual level of thoughts, feelings, attitudes and actions’ which affect practice
Cultural
‘shared ways of seeing, thinking and doing’
Structural
Institutional discrimination
PCS – useful analytic tool for understanding how discrimination is working and how to set about counting it.
(Thompson 2001)

21. Key messages about social work
Social work has often been part of the problem, creating and perpetuating oppression.
Service users often refer to themselves as ‘lucky’
There are a range of factors that both facilitate and hinder developing more emancipatory practice

22. Its social work Jim but not as we know it