Claire Edwards

Inclusion in Regeneration: A Place for Disabled People?

Since 1994, the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) has been one of the British governments main policy tools in tackling inequality within Britains cities. SRB partnerships seek collaboration between public, private and community sectors but, for some minority groups, such inclusionary intentions have proved to be more rhetoric than reality. Drawing on a questionnaire sent to 200 SRB partnerships across Britain, this paper addresses disabled peoples involvement in SRB partnerships. As people who experience multiple forms of exclusion from contemporary society, it would seem imperative that they should have a stake in local regeneration initiatives. The paper explores the extent, form of and barriers to, disabled peoples involvement and consultation in the SRB, and challenges the notion that SRB partnerships are inclusive to all sectors.

Disability and the Implications of the Wellbeing Agenda: Some Reflections from the United Kingdom

A well being agenda has emerged in government that seeks to promote a ‘politics of happiness’, in which citizens are, as the New Economics Foundation put it, ‘happy, healthy, capable and engaged’ (2004:2). This article explores the well being agenda in the UK, and its implications for disabled people. We argue that it is unlikely, in its present form, to contribute to the development of social theoretical, or more politically progressive, analysis and understanding of disablement in society. This is because of the emphasis on biologism, personality and character traits, and a policy prognosis that revolves around self-help and therapy, or individuated actions and (self) responsibilities.

Participative Urban Renewal? Disability, Community, and Partnership in New Labour's Urban Policy

In recent years there has been significant debate regarding the potential of participatory forms of governance to engage with diverse groups and the ‘politics of difference’. This paper explores these debates in the context of disabled peoples engagement in urban policy processes, as an arena in which participative imperatives have become manifest under the UKs New Labour government. Drawing on a case study of a Single Regeneration Budget partnership, I argue that there are significant limits to disabled peoples engagement in urban policy, ranging from their perceived legitimacy and constitution as a ‘relevant public’, through to the processes of partnership in which managerialist objectives clash with participative agendas. The paper therefore raises issues about the rationale for participation and the extent to which notions of deliberative democracy are equipped to deal with issues of ‘difference’.

Regeneration works? Disabled people and area-based urban renewal

Disabled people are increasingly being drawn into the UK Labour government’s strategy to address area-based deprivation through projects which focus on employability as a means of tackling social exclusion. This paper draws on a case study of an employment project aimed at young people with learning difficulties funded as part of the Single Regeneration Budget, to explore how such projects operate in the context of area-based renewal, and with what gains, if any, for disabled people. The case study suggests that the perceived contribution of the project — and people with learning difficulties — to the area was as much about social regeneration, as building a local economy through the creation of active workers. Whilst being part of the SRB seemed to offer some opportunities for participation, the parameters of the policy itself — including its spatiality — acted to circumscribe some of the potential linkages with broader area renewal processes and the potential benefits for project participants, thus raising questions about New Labour’s social inclusion agenda.

Barriers to Involvement: the Disconnected Worlds of Disability and Regeneration:

Disabled people are noticeably absent from the governments regeneration agenda, despite its current emphasis on empowering and involving local communities in urban renewal. This paper explores some of the barriers to disabled peoples involvement in regeneration initiatives at the local level, focusing particularly on the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB). Interviews with regeneration managers, local authority officers, disabled people and disability groups identified a range of barriers. These included a lack of strategic recognition that disabled people were ‘relevant’ to regeneration, difficulties with the SRBs centrally-prescribed outputs and timescales, a lack of accessible information for disabled people, and circumscribed local political networks which served to marginalize certain disability groups from local regeneration processes. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which some of these barriers might be addessed.

Pathologising the victim: law and the construction of people with disabilities as victims of crime in Ireland

Victimologists have for many years explored the construction of identities associated with the ‘victim of crime’, and how certain groups in society are understood as more ‘deserving’ of victim status than others. This paper considers the victim subjectivities ascribed to people with disabilities11 In Ireland, ‘people with disabilities’ is the preferred term to ‘disabled people’. as victims of crime in Ireland by exploring the legal frameworks that shape their encounters with the criminal justice system. The legislative bricolage that exists is shaped by disjuncture, whereby anti-discrimination measures grounded in people with disabilities’ equal rights to access the justice system sit alongside those that construct them in terms of incapacity. Criminal law overwhelmingly pathologises people with disabilities as crime victims, with impairment dominating their victim status. The paper suggests that notions of victimhood that associate people with disabilities with dependency and passivity will do little to raise awareness of the disabling barriers that characterise their encounters with the criminal justice system.

DeafSpace and the principles of universal design

Abstract Purpose: Recent debates about the epistemological origins of Universal Design (UD) have questioned how far universalist design approaches can address the particularities and diversities of the human form through a series of standardised, technical responses. This article contributes to these debates by discussing an emergent architectural paradigm known as DeafSpace, which articulates a set of design principles originating from the d/Deaf community in the US. Method: Commentary. Results: DeafSpace has emerged as a design paradigm rooted in an expression of d/Deaf cultural identity based around sign language, rather than as a response designed to compensate for, or minimise, impairment. It distinguishes itself from UD by articulating a more user-centred design process, but its principles are arguably rooted in notions of d/Deaf identity based around consensus and homogeneity, with less attention paid to the socio-political contexts which shape diverse experiences of d/Deafness and the exclusion(s) of d/Deaf people from the built environment. Conclusions: While proponents of DeafSpace argue that UD and DeafSpace are not mutually exclusive, nor DeafSpace principles applicable only to d/Deaf people, questions remain about the type of spaces DeafSpace creates, most notably whether they lead to the creation of particularist spaces of and for the d/Deaf community, or reflect a set of design principles which can be embedded across a range of different environments. Implications for Rehabilitation UD as a basis for rehabilitation has been critiqued on the basis that creates “standardised”, or universal solutions, thus negating the particularities of the human form. DeafSpace is an architectural paradigm rooted in socio-linguistic understandings of Deafness and the cultural identity of the Deaf community. It challenges UD’s technocratic emphasis on minimising impairment and asserts design which is rooted in a more qualitative understanding of individuals’ relationship with their environment. DeafSpace seeks to place the user more centrally in the design process and draw on the experiential knowledge of (Deaf) users. However, it has less to say about the often exclusionary socio-political relations which underlie the built environment and shape the diverse experience of deafness. DeafSpace raises questions about how the needs of particular groups can be met through UD principles and in turn whether DeafSpace principles lead to the creation of separate spaces for the D/deaf community.

The Short Guide to Urban Policy

With an ever increasing proportion of the worlds population inhabiting urban environments, the management of cities remains a perennial challenge for governments and policymakers. This concise, but wide-ranging text makes sense of the multiple ways in which urban issues and problems have been defined and addressed in different places at different times. From initiatives that focus on social tensions within the urban realm, to those which seek to develop cities as economic entities, the book provides an accessible discussion and critique of some of the key approaches that have characterised urban policy across the globe. Providing case studies of urban policy actions, explanations of key concepts, and succinct chapter summaries, this unique introductory text is invaluable reading for both students and practitioners who are new to the area of urban policy, and who wish to understand and assess policy responses to the challenges posed by urban living and lifestyles.