50 YEARS OF FAILURE - EMPLOYMENT SERVICES FOR DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE UK

The 1944 Disabled Persons (Employment) Act introduced a range of progr ammes to help disabled people find and keep paid work but, until recen tly, little was known about their effectiveness. This paper reports th e findings of a survey of economically active disabled people and show s that their feelings about statutory employment services are mixed. A small majority expressed satisfaction, but a significant minority rep orted negative experiences. The state's employment programmes for disa bled people frequently ignore 'felt needs' and some services are segre gated, leading to problems such as 'stigma'. The paper concludes by re flecting on policy to improve services and argues that integration int o 'improved' mainstream areas of provision is the best way forward.