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Challenges Facing the Disabled People's Movement in the UK

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Challenges Facing the Disabled People's Movement in the UK View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CLoK Challenges Facing the Disabled People’s Movement in the UK: An Analysis of Activist’s Positions Steven Dodd A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of PhD at the University of Central Lancashire December 2014 Abstract This thesis explores disabled activist’s perceptions of the challenges to British disabled people thrown up by changes in policy and cuts to services made by the coalition government of 2010-2015. These themes are explored through a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with 20 disabled activists. The thesis begins with a presentation of the history of the British Disabled People’s Movement, drawing on writers such as Hunt (1966, 1981), Campbell and Oliver (1996) and Barnes and Mercer (2006). This is followed by an overview of available evidence concerning current challenges to the standard of living of disabled people. The next chapter involves a discussion of methods in the form of a narrative account of the development of the thesis. This is followed by an interrogation of prominent methodologies in disability research, pointing to the strengths and drawbacks of the emancipatory disability research approach (Oliver, 1992; Barnes 2008) by drawing on critical realist perspectives (Sayer, 1992; Lawson, 1999). Moving on to an analysis of interview data, the combination of challenges currently facing disabled people are explicated. To make sense of challenges revealed at individual, collective and ideological levels, the notion of ‘enforced individualism’ (Roulstone and Morgan, 2009) is drawn upon. It is argued that, taken together, these challenges comprise novel forms of disablism that coexist with older and more familiar forms of disablism associated with paternalism and oppression within institutions. Following examination of these challenges, attention turns to the political positions and responses that disabled people have adopted in reaction. To theorise such responses, Fraser’s (1995: 2003) analysis of injustice and resistance is applied to the political positions taken by participants. Later chapters reflect further on injustice and resistance, drawing again on Fraser, as well as the extension of the social model of disability presented by Thomas (1999; 2007; 2010; 2012), the political theory of Holloway (1991; 1993a; 1993b; 2005) and the political economy of Polanyi (1944). These theories serve to highlight the nature of contemporary anti-disablist resistance, and also provide a novel means of conceptualising the relationship of disability studies and disability activism. i Contents Chapter 1: The History of the British Disabled People’s Movement ............................................ 1 The British Disabled People’s Movement ................................................................................. 1 The British Independent Living Movement ............................................................................ 13 The Recent History of the Disabled People’s Movement ....................................................... 18 Recent Examples of Protest against Government Disability Policy ........................................ 19 Resurgent Socialism in the Disabled People’s Movement? The Example of Disabled People Against the Cuts ...................................................................................................................... 21 Tensions Surrounding the Positions Taken by Disability Rights UK ........................................ 24 Chapter 2: The Challenges to Disabled People Brought About by Austerity .............................. 30 Examples of the Challenges to Disabled People Brought About by Austerity ........................ 34 Overview of Cuts/Reforms ...................................................................................................... 42 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 3: The Development of the Thesis ................................................................................ 49 How the Focus of the Thesis Developed ................................................................................. 49 Why I Chose To Interview Disabled Activists .......................................................................... 58 Defining Disabled Activists ...................................................................................................... 63 Access Issues ........................................................................................................................... 65 Summary of Participants ......................................................................................................... 68 Strengths and Limitations of Sample ...................................................................................... 68 Use of Semi-Structured Interviews ......................................................................................... 71 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................................. 73 Anonymisation of Participants ................................................................................................ 74 The Process of Data Analysis .................................................................................................. 75 Chapter 4: Methodology ............................................................................................................. 78 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 78 The Critique of Disability Research by Disabled Activists and Academics .............................. 78 Emancipatory Disability Research (EDR) ................................................................................. 82 The Five Principles of EDR: ...................................................................................................... 83 Constraints on the Potential of EDR ....................................................................................... 88 The Relationship of my Research to EDR ................................................................................ 89 The Necessity of a Pluralist Outlook in Disability Research .................................................... 94 The Relevance of Critical Realism to my Approach ................................................................ 99 ii Using the Notion of Contrastive Explanation as Support for Drawing Upon Disabled Activist’s Views ..................................................................................................................................... 103 The Relevance of Narrative Analysis to my Approach .......................................................... 107 Chapter 5: Challenges to the Disabled People’s Movement .................................................... 111 The Challenge to Individuals: Isolation and a Loss of Autonomy for Individual Disabled People ................................................................................................................................... 111 The Challenge To Organisations: Conditions Facing Disabled People’s Organisations ........ 118 The Ideological Challenge: The Ideology of Choice Informing Government Policy .............. 129 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 140 Chapter 6: The Challenges of Enforced Individualism and their Relation to Personalisation .. 143 Enforced Individualism.......................................................................................................... 144 The Personalisation Narrative and Enforced Individualism .................................................. 149 The Scope of Enforced Individualism .................................................................................... 161 Chapter 7: Participants’ Strategic Positioning .......................................................................... 164 The Social Model of Disability ............................................................................................... 164 Radical and Gradual Tendencies in the Movement .............................................................. 176 The Role of Protest and Service Provision within the Movement ........................................ 185 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 196 Chapter 8: The Merit of Nancy Fraser’s Analysis to Theorising Anti-Disablism ........................ 198 Summary of the Challenges of Enforced Individualism ........................................................ 198 Fraser’s Analysis of Injustice and Resistance ........................................................................ 199 Applying Fraser’s Analysis to Anti-Disablism: ....................................................................... 207 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 222 Chapter 9: The Strengthening Of Social Model Politics in Carol Thomas’ Social Relational Theory of Disability ............................................................................................................................... 224 Why Examine
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