ABSTRACT
There has been a revolution in approaches to care over the last 30 years or so, with the closure of long-stay hospitals for people with physical and intellectual (learning) disabilities and mental health problems, and the new emphasis on care in, and by, the community. As self-advocacy movements such as the Disabled People’s Movement and People First (to name but two) have grown in strength and influence, so governments have increasingly seen self-directed and sponsored care as the way forward for those in our community who need support. But what part should social work and social workers play in this new world? If, as some analyses suggest, social work in the past was ‘part of the problem’, how can it now become ‘part of the solution’? The following extract, from a journal article by four UK academic researchers, raises these issues in the context of a discussion of work and welfare. We might take the discussion further and ask: where is social work here?
From Disability & Society, 24 (5): 557–69 (2009).
