Inge Storgaard Bonfils

Empowerment and personal assistance – resistance, consumer choice, partnership or discipline?

The concept of empowerment has been closely linked to the development of personal assistance (PA) and the independent living ideology. However, the use of the concept of empowerment has been disputed as it has begun to be used in both the marketization of the PA scheme and as a government strategy to promote active partnership. In this article, we take a closer look at the concept of empowerment and how different approaches capture different relationships between the state and the users of PA. We distinguish between empowerment as a form of resistance, as a form of consumer choice, as co-productions and as a liberal strategy of dominance in the modern society. The analysis indicates how the different notions of empowerment run alongside each other in the development of the PA arrangement in the Scandinavian countries and that the different perspectives will have different consequences when PA is to be analysed as a tool of liberation for disabled people.

Disability meta-organizations and policy-making under new forms of governance

Disability meta-organizations are playing a significant role in influencing the development of disability policy. An example of this is the Disabled Peoples Organizations – Denmark (DPOD), which has managed to unify the disability movement and place itself in a unique position of power. The strategy of DPOD is based on organizational adaptation fitting into the institutional settings of government and building its influence on dialogue, and the establishment of a relationship of trust with political actors in network-based political settings. The change in governance towards cooperation through formal disability councils at municipal level requires the ability to recruit an increasing number of politically active representatives of disabled people. Tensions based on identity conflicts and different political priorities are revealed between different kinds of member organizations when representatives of DPOD are placed in political settings delegated to speak on behalf of disabled people in general.

Danish disability research across half a century

Social research on disability exhibits a degree of interdisciplinarity. While neither large nor clearly defined, this area of research has political relevance since it is often brought into play when drawing up or evaluating government policy to improve the situation for disabled people. The present article outlines Danish disability research with the emphasis on social research in the last 10 years. It points to forces and framework conditions that have influenced the development of the field of research. It also presents central topics of research as well as some of its findings. It concludes with a discussion of future conditions for disability research in Denmark.