Disabled People, Work and Welfare: is Employment Reallythe Answer?

Rebecca Monteleone (Tizard Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.)

Tizard Learning Disability Review

ISSN: 1359-5474

Article publication date: 4 April 2016

195

Citation

Rebecca Monteleone (2016), "Disabled People, Work and Welfare: is Employment Reallythe Answer?", Tizard Learning Disability Review, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 113-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLDR-11-2015-0046

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Disabled People, Work and Welfare is a collection of academic essays from the UK, Australia, North America, and continental Europe that challenges the assumption that paid employment – and more pointedly, conditional benefits for unemployed individuals based on their involvement in “prosocial” job-seeking behaviour – is crucial for social membership and in the best interests of individuals with disabilities. Authors argue, through a series of theoretical and empirical methodologies, that employment, which is generally assumed to lead to social inclusion and financial independence, often does not achieve such lofty goals due to social and political structures.

Despite its rather salacious subtitle, the chapters included in this collection do not necessarily support the argument for the right to “not work” that Grover and Piggott promote in the book’s conclusion. The only chapter to directly address learning disability (LD), “Supply- and demand-side policies and the employment of learning disabled people in Britain” by Sarah Woodin (2015) of the University of Leeds, never questions the necessity of opportunities for competitive employment – citing its links to “autonomy, emotional well-being, and an improved sense of control over the wider world” (p. 184). Rather, Woodin’s chapter is an examination of factors influencing employment opportunities for individuals with LD – the importance of employment is never questioned. The political and economic landscape in the UK, which values growth and competition above all else, has very little demand for the commodity that is the labour of individuals with disabilities. Therefore, rather than supporting Grover and Piggot’s argument for the right to not work, Woodin concludes by emphasising a need to support supply-side efforts (e.g. vocational training programmes), that attend to the demand for the labour being produced.

While no other chapter addresses individuals with LD exclusively, most explore the systems within which individuals with LD operate. For example, Chapter 4, “Why are the policies and organisations seeking to help disabled people access work failing?” by Bruce Stafford explores government-funded programmes designed for job-seekers with disabilities. Stafford argues that, while employment programmes have been successful in some instances, large swathes of the population – including those with profound and multiple learning disabilities – are purposefully excluded due to the incentives given to support more “job-ready” individuals into paid employment. Chapter 7, “Disability and employment in the United States: the intersection of healthcare reform and welfare-to work policy” by Owen, Gould and Harris, critiques the complex relationship between paid employment and benefit receipt in the USA – an issue that has in the past forced many individuals with disabilities to limit their income in order to be eligible for critical healthcare. Chapter 11, “How can integrated services help sick and disabled people remain in employment? Findings from an evaluation of an in-work support service in the North of England” (Warren, Garthwaite and Bambra), considers how fractured service delivery negatively impacts health and well-being for individuals with disabilities, and then reports overwhelmingly positive, qualitative outcomes from a piloted integrative system of services.

A theme throughout the book is the definition of “productive work” and whether the restrictive, capitalist understanding of work might be an inappropriate way to evaluate the working ability of people with disabilities. Hall and Wilton (chapter 12) argue that “alternative economic spaces” such as social enterprises, might provide a more fitting environment, as their primary goal is not “profit maximisation”. Grover and Piggott, in Chapter 13, argue that the social model of disability, which many contributors reference in some capacity when citing barriers to work for individuals with disabilities, values paid employment as the primary passage toward productivity and away from social oppression. “This focus,” they argue, “disadvantages disabled people because they are often considered less productive, and therefore, less valuable” (p. 241). The authors recognise that the current reality for many individuals with disabilities is abject poverty; in their contentious opinion, however, “paid work […] is not the cure for poverty” (p. 282).

Disabled People, Work and Welfare is valuable in that it is primarily an economic exploration of a subject that has most often been examined through a social-science lens. While the argument can be made that Grover and Piggott’s endorsement of the “right not to work” is not supported by their fellow authors, the collection absolutely “demonstrates […] that the relationship between wage work and welfare is difficult and complex” (p. 282). Viewing the issue of employment for individuals with disabilities from an economic perspective allows for a broader knowledge base to draw from when considering solutions. The complexity of the economic relationship between conditional benefits and work-related activities should be taken into account when working with individuals with disabilities. Regardless of whether one agrees with Grover and Piggott’s ideology, disability professionals should be aware of the intense economic pressures and complex systems that critically impact the lives of the individuals they work with.

Reference

Woodin, S. (2015), “Supply- and demand-side policies and the employment of learning disabled people in Britain”, in Grover, C. and Piggott, L. (Eds), Disabled People, Work and Welfare: Is Employment Really the Answer? , Policy Press, Bristol.

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