Disability Politics and Community Care

Mark Priestley is a Research Fellow at the Disability Research Unit at Leeds University. He teaches disability studies and has published many articles, chapters and research reports in the field. He was formerly a lecturer in rehabilitation work with visually impaired people and an independent trainer with social services staff. His research has been informed and directed by the Derbyshire Coalition of Disabled People. He is the administrator of the international e-mail discussion list disability-research@mailbase.ac.uk.

• 1. Introduction i.Some General Hypotheses. ii.Some Specific Questions. iii.Towards a Model for Disability Research. iv.Case Study Methods. v.Structure of the Book. 2. Disabling Values: Disabling Policies. i.Disabling Values. ii.An Agenda for Change? iii.Disabling Values and Community Care. iv.Conclusions. 3. An Enabling Counter-Culture. i.Social Movements. ii. The Disabled People's Movement. iii.The Movement for Independent Living. iv.Conclusions. 4. From Principles to Practice. i.Personal Assistance and Independent Living. ii.`Care' Assessments and Self-Assessment. iii. `Care' Management and Self-Management. iv.Conclusions. 5. Marketing the Social Model. i.A Market for Independent Living. ii.The Politics of Contracting. iii. The Impact of Contracting. iv. Conclusions. 6. Improving Services. i.In Search of Standards. ii. Some Experience of Quality. iii.Improving Service Quality. iv. Towards a Measure of Participation. v. Conclusions. 7. Beyond Services. i. What Kind of Outcomes? ii. Some Examples of Service Outcomes. iii. Quality of Life. iv. Quality and Equality. v. Conclusions. 8. Barriers and Strategies. i. Bridging the Implementing Gap. ii. The Scope of Legislative Change. iii. Social Change. Summary and Conclusions. Index.

This is an important book for those engaged in the delivery or study of welfare. Priestley's study confirms many others which have attempted to examine the impact of individual model approaches to the delivery of `care' services, and his analysis of the importance of the disabled people's movement to redefining the role of welfare is a strong and welcome addition to the growing body of literature in this field. He started the study by putting the research agenda clearly within the hands of disabled people and has succeeded in putting the case that this is what should should be done with the welfare agenda.