Impairment occurs in all societies, although the pattern of impairments which occurs in a given country is related to specific economic and social factors such as the level of industrialisation, the extent to which industry is regulated, poverty and diet, and the existence of immunisation and medical treatment programmes (Doyal, 1983; Abberley, 1987, 1991; Oliver, 1990). Disability, defined as the inability to participate in the usual activities of a society, arises as the consequence of the particular social arrangements in that society (Stone, 1984; Oliver, 1990). There are, inevitably, very large differences between the experience of disability in developed and developing countries. Oliver (1990) has argued that it is the particular social and economic arrangements found in advanced industrial societies which produce disability. Industrialisation and the pace of mechanised work, it is argued, have deprived many disabled people both of the opportunity to work, and of previously accepted social roles. While the economic surplus generated provides for redistributive mechanisms via the welfare state, the nature of provision inevitably reflects and reinforces dominant welfare ideologies. Social policies which are based on a view of disability as individual misfortune are likely to have a very different focus from those which are informed by a social model of disability. However, this may or may not result in contrasting patterns of outcomes for disabled people.

As the aim of the research was to assess the impact of social policies on the lives of disabled people, it was necessary to select industrialised countries with developed welfare states for reasons of comparability. Sweden, Germany and Britain were chosen as representative examples of different welfare state regimes, on the basis of existing typologies (Esping-Andersen, 1990). They also have contrasting approaches to disability policy. The research has two main objectives. First, it compares the outcomes of disability policies in the three countries in terms of the extent to which they reinforce or remove disabling barriers to participation in social and economic life.

Second, it seeks to explore whether, and to what extent, an analysis based on the situation of disabled people produces outcomes which are consistent with previous classifications of each welfare state.