This book is concerned with the extent to which social policies, particularly labour market and social security policies, enable disabled people to participate in the ordinary life of their communities. It will argue that both the objectives and implementation of social policies play a crucial role in securing, or failing to secure, the integration of disabled people, by determining the level of income and material wellbeing which can be attained, and by affecting access to, and levels of autonomy within, valued social roles. These include not only employment, but also personal relationships and a range of social and political activities. Disability policies are compared across three countries, Sweden, Germany and the UK, which have contrasting models of welfare state provision, with a twofold aim: to compare the living standards resulting from differing combinations of policy and to assess existing welfare state typologies (such as those of Esping-Andersen, 1990; Castles, 1993) against an analysis of the situation of disabled people, in the same way as has already been done using policies affecting women (Lewis, 1992; Shaver and Bradshaw, 1993; Sainsbury, 1994, 1996). The wellbeing of disabled people is determined partly by access to the labour market, and by cash benefits, but may also depend on both the level and form of service provision, which is not fully taken into account in many existing comparisons of welfare states (although there are exceptions, including work by Alber [1995], Walker et al [1993] and Anttonen and Sipilä [1996], which begin to assess the importance of social service provision in comparing welfare states).

These issues are discussed in a context where welfare spending has been severely curtailed by economic pressures, and where political movements led by disabled people themselves have created a new impetus for social policies in response to their needs, including a renewed focus on the role of employment. If social policies are, as has been argued, ‘disabling’ in their effects (Barnes, 1991), to what extent is this inevitable, or can policies be designed which respect the autonomy of disabled people while continuing to meet other objectives, such as maintaining work incentives and remaining within public spending limits?