ABSTRACT
Retrospective introduction This chapter is based on an article, published in the journal Critical Social Policy, which examines the politics of disability in Italy by means of an analysis of social policy and a case study of a specific organisation: La Lega per il Diritto al Lavoro degli Handicappati (The League for the Right to Work of the Handicapped). The article was based on my experiences working with members of La Lega as an ablebodied ally for 2 years (1985-1987) when I lived in Italy, mainly in Milan. In the early 1980s, in the UK, I had met and become friends with Dick Leaman of the Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS) (see Union of Physically Impaired Against Segregation, 1981), and had been the instigator of a rehabilitation study tour to Cuba, which included Dick, Vic Finklestein, and others: allies, activists, family members, and translators. We planned the tour in order to meet disabled Cuban activists and their allies, which we did, and combined some study (see Hunt, Leaman, Tudor, & White, 1988) with a lot of fun. During the first half of the 1980s, I learned a lot from Dick and other members of UPIAS about the politics of disability and so, when in 1985 I went to live in Italy, I made contact with Italian activists who had a similar analysis of disability, handicap, and impairment. I did voluntary work with members of La Lega, attended meetings, and studied the history of the organisation. I also researched the relevant background material for the article, which was published a couple of years after I had returned to the UK.
