Beyond Disability

`Beyond Disability... raises questions such as why services tend to miss the needs experienced by disabled people themselves, what is it like to be disabled - and what is it like to experience different impairments such as mobility, visual or intellectual impairments. The volume includes sections on legislation (anti-discrimination), counselling, the attitudes of professionals, and concludes with a `diagnosis of the present′, co-authored by one of the grand old men of the British disability movement, Vic Finkelstein.′ Acta Sociologica

`Overall,the book is an insightful investigation into the perceptions and experiences, struggles, and responsiblities of a society concerned about sensitively addressing issues of disability′ - Contemporary Psychology

`This text moves the disability debate onwards from blunt challenges to prevailing models of disability.... It Explains both the complexities and the practicalities of access from a vairety of perspectives.... It [the book] offers alternatives to assumptions about intervention which are profoundly challenging. I would recommend it to all readers who are interested in reflecting upon their role in the alleviation of communication disability′ - Bulletin

`The value of this section [Section II] is that the authors bring out common themes from the basis of different impairments - and highlight some of the complexities which are hidden by using broad categories of disability.... This wide-ranging book provides a broad overview of disability and social responses witha balance of personal experience, policy analysis and theoretical perspectives′ - Social Policy

`This book is a useful tool.... I rather like the "beyond disability" notion′ - Community Care

′The second section is by far the most rewarding with the chapter [ten] on the changing perceptions of impairment in Nicaragua and its political symbolism and uses being a cross between anthropoligical study and cultural studies. It is this mix of disciplines which enables this text to rise above single discipline texts as its salience and analysis has a depth to it which is rarely achieved.... The editor′s own chapter on the import of Norway′s rehabilitation ideology to the unsuspecting hands of Botswana is a wonderful example of how such an analysis should work′ - Disability and Society