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"Politicians with Disabilities: Challenges and Choices" published on by Oxford University Press.

As a number of factors have produced more opportunities for people with disabilities, entry into the political arena is a logical consequence. Questions about what challenges such individuals will face as politicians and how they will choose to "represent" and focus on disability concerns become paramount. We profile the disability-oriented activities of two politicians (Bob Dole and James Langevin) representative of different cultural eras in the disability rights movement. Despite differences in constituencies and ideologies, findings suggest, as has been true for other underrepresented groups, politicians with disabilities will be more likely to represent disability issues. Because Langevin has been more public than Dole about disclosing aspects of his disability, findings also highlight the impact of a changed cultural context, a member's background, personality and other circumstances on aspects of his political activity.

AbstractOne significant factor affecting an organization's functioning is the decisions made by other organizations that are important to it. We examine decision‐making in three local human service delivery nonprofits, focusing on the level (local versus national) of the actors making decisions as well as the degree of horizontal or vertical coordination among decision makers. The findings show that the decision‐making context affects nonprofit structure and operations and suggest that providers may have to make significant trade‐offs as they seek to restructure in response to policy changes such as devolution.

The impact of any disability policy depends on the conceptual model of disability upon which that policy rests. For the past quarter century of disability policymaking, culminating in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the dominant paradigm of disability has been a minority group model. That model identifies discrimination as the primary barrier facing people with disabilities in their desire for full social participation, and it proposes civil rights strategies as the proper policy response to that barrier. An alternative model of disability based on the concept of human variation is proposed that implies additional strategies for achieving the goal of integration of people with disabilities. The utility of a human variation model is illustrated by its application to the issue of access to employment.

The minority group model of disability holds that discrimination is the primary barrier preventing people with disabilities from full participation in society & emphasizes civil rights solutions to overcome discriminatory barriers. It is argued here that rooting all barriers disabled people face in discrimination confounds stereotypes & exclusive practices with the social system's incapacity to respond to individual variation, making the minority group model of limited value in guiding medical, educational, & service delivery reforms. An alternative model that views disability from the perspective of human variation provides a mechanism for achieving social integration of people with disabilities. Its utility is illustrated by its application to the issue of access to employment. Adapted from the source document.

This volume of Research in Social Science and Disability brings together interdisciplinary scholarship to examine a wide array of issues related to disability and community, a topic of critical importance academically and politically. The evolving and politically contested notions of community sit at the centre of much of the recent research on disability and, as researchers both create and reflect various ideas of membership when defining 'disability' and aggregating individuals, their methodological decisions have significant implications for how we come to understand disability and community. This volume examines a wide range of social institutions and practices such as education, employment, and cultural venues and the extent to which and how they include people with disabilities in the workings of these institutions. It includes research framed by a variety of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies and offers innovative ways to envision inclusive communities and, therefore, enables us to consider how to move forward to create them.

This volume of Research in Social Science and Disability brings together interdisciplinary scholarship to examine a wide array of issues related to disability and community, a topic of critical importance academically and politically. The evolving and politically contested notions of community sit at the centre of much of the recent research on disability and, as researchers both create and reflect various ideas of membership when defining 'disability' and aggregating individuals, their methodological decisions have significant implications for how we come to understand disability and community. This volume examines a wide range of social institutions and practices such as education, employment, and cultural venues and the extent to which and how they include people with disabilities in the workings of these institutions. It includes research framed by a variety of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies and offers innovative ways to envision inclusive communities and, therefore, enables us to consider how to move forward to create them.