This text provides an analysis of the development and consequences of disability policies, contrasting policies grounded in medical definitions of disability with a social model of disability supported by disability rights campaigners in their pursuit of anti discrimination legislation. British policies are compared with the civil rights approach adopted in America and Australia and the welfare orientated stance of countries like Sweden, and the impacts of policy on disabled people according to their class, gender, age and ethnicity are explored.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the development and consequences of disability policies, contrasting policies grounded in medical definitions of disability with a 'social model' of disability supported by disability rights campaigners in their pursuit of anti-discrimination legislation. British policies are set in comparative context, and the impacts of policy on disabled people according to their class, gender, age and ethnicity are explored.