H. Barnes, P. Thornton and S. Maynard-Campbell, Disabled People and Employment: A Review of Research and Development Work, York: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1998, £11.95.

A. Roulstone, Enabling Technology: Disabled People, Work and New Technology, Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1998, £45.00, paper £14.99, 160 pp.

K. Simons, Home, Work and Inclusion: The Social Policy Implications of Supported Living and Employment Opportunities for People with Learning Disabilities, York: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 1998, £11.95.

Our understanding of ‘disability’ is inextricably linked to paid work. Since at least the industrial revolution to be defined as ‘disabled’ means to be either unemployed or underemployed. Only in times of war, when the ‘non-disabled’ workforce are deployed elsewhere, does this unfortunate state of affairs change significantly (Humphries and Gordon 1992; Oliver 1990, 1996). As a growing number of mainly disabled writers (UPIAS 1976; Oliver 1990, 1996; Barnes 1991, 1992; Hyde 1996; Oliver and Barnes 1998) have noted, without radical restructuring of social policy in general, and of the way work is organised in particular, there is little cause for optimism for the future.