ABSTRACT

THE ROLE OF THE ECONOMY AND THE INFLUENCES OF TRADITIONAL POLITICAL ACTIVITY To begin with it is more than a mere truism to state that the fortunes of dis­ abled people, as of everybody else, are closely bound up with the economy. It is not only people of left wing persuasion who recognise this significance for as Reg Prentice, formerly Minister for the Disabled, pointed out when dis­ cussing services for disabled people: ‘In the past the rate of growth had already been conditioned to some degree by economic circumstances.’ (RADAR 1980) In other words, goods and services for disabled people are dependent upon the size of the national cake.