The UK Government's Creation of the Personal Tragedy Model of Disability
Main Article Content
Keywords
Stigma, disabled, Disability, tragedy, personal, model, UK, United, Kingdom, social and medical model of disability, Austerity
Abstract
This article argues that efforts by the United Kingdom’s Government, and its devolved parliaments, to shame disabled people into work has resulted in more stigma and prejudice against disabled people. It demonstrates this has been done by modifying the personal tragedy theory of disability into the foundation of a personal tragedy model of disability across the UK. It explains how this model has been created, why it was employed, and how it has impacted disabled people’s lives. Recognising this model as a true antithesis to progressive models, which can remove barriers facing the disabled community, can hopefully aid in preventing its application in other areas.
References
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Blyth, M (2015) Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press
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Jensen, T. (2014) Welfare commonsense, poverty porn and doxosophy, Sociological Research Online, 19 (3) 3 [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
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Mattheys, K. (2015) The Coalition, austerity and mental health. Disability & Society, 30(3), pp.475-478.
Mills, C. (2017) ‘Dead people don’t claim’: A psychopolitical autopsy of UK austerity suicides. Critical Social Policy, 38(2), pp.302-322.
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Oliver, M. (1996) Understanding Disability. London: Macmillan, p.33.
Oliver, M. and Barnes, C. (2012) The new politics of disablement. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Olsen, J. and Soorenian, A., 2021. Exploring the everyday lives of disabled people. UK Cabinet Office, Disability Unit.
Patrick, R. (2014) Working on welfare: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study into the lived experiences of welfare reform in the UK. Journal of Social Policy, 43(4), pp.705-725.
Pérez-Garín, D., Recio, P., Magallares, A., Molero, F. and García-Ael, C. (2018) Perceived discrimination and emotional reactions in people with different types of disabilities: A qualitative approach. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 21.
Phelan, J., Link, B. and Dovidio, J. (2008) Stigma and prejudice: One animal or two? Social Science & Medicine, 67(3), pp.358-367.
Pilkington, D. (2012) 'Scroungers' rhetoric over benefits fuels abuse say charities. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/scroungers-rhetoric-over-benefits-fuels-abuse-say-charities-6579630.html [Accessed 7 Jan. 2019].
Pinker, R. (1971) Social Theory and Social Policy, London: Heinemann Educational Books
Putnam, M. (2005) Conceptualizing disability: Developing a framework for political disability identity. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 188-198.
Quarmby, K. (2013) Media reporting and disability hate crime. In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed., Disability, Hate Crime and Violence. Oxon: Routledge.
Quinn, G. and Degener, T., 2002 ‘The Moral Authority for Change: Human Rights Values and the World Wide Process of Disability Reform’, in Human Rights and Disability: The Current Use and Future Potential of Human Rights Instruments in the Context of Disability, eds. G. Quinn and T. Degener (United Nations, 2002), 13, 14.
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Sayer, A. (2016) Responding to the troubled families programme: Framing the injuries of inequality. Social Policy and Society, 16(1), pp.155-164.
Shakespeare, T. (2006) Disability rights and wrongs. Oxon: Routledge.
Shakespeare T, Watson N, & Alghaib OA.(2017) Blaming the victim, all over again: Waddell and Aylward’s biopsychosocial (BPS) model of disability. Critical Social Policy. 2017;37(1):22-41. doi:10.1177/0261018316649120
Sharma, A. and Dunay, A., 2016. Life Proposes, Disability Disposes: An Overview on the Models of Disability with Special Reference to WHO Conceptual Models. LITTERA SCRIPTA (Economics, Management, Marketing, Linguistics, Pedagogy, Education, History).
Sherry, M. (2013) International perspectives on disability hate crime. In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed., Disability, Hate Crime and Violence. Oxon: Routledge.
Shipman, T. (2010) State-funded idleness: 1.5m are spending fifth Christmas in a row on sick benefits. [online] Mail Online. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342076/State-funded-idleness-1-5m-spending-fifth-Christmas-row-sick-benefits.html [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
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Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (1975) Fundamental principles of disability. [online] London. Available at: https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/UPIAS-fundamental-principles.pdf [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].
Valentine, G. and Harris, C. (2014) Strivers vs skivers: Class prejudice and the demonisation of dependency in everyday life. Geoforum, 53, pp.84-92.
Walker, R., Kyomuhendo, G., Chase, E., Choudhry, S., Gubrium, R., Nicola, J., Lodemel, I., Mathew, L., Mwine, A., Pellisserry, S., and Ming, Y. (2013) Poverty in global perspective: Is shame a common denominator? Journal of Social Policy, 42(2), pp.215-233.
Whittle, H., Palar, K., Ranadive, N., Turan, J., Kushel, M. and Weiser, S. (2017) “The land of the sick and the land of the healthy”: Disability, bureaucracy, and stigma among people living with poverty and chronic illness in the United States. Social Science & Medicine, 190, pp.181-189.
World Health Organization. (2011) World report on disability (1st ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report.pdf?ua=1
Barnes, C. and Mercer, G. (2010) Disability. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Barton, L. (1996) Disability and society: Emerging Issues and Insights. London: Longman
Baumberg, B. (2015) The stigma of claiming benefits: a quantitative study. Journal of Social Policy, 45(2), pp.181-199.
Blyth, M (2015) Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bogart, K., Rosa, N. and Slepian, M. (2018) Born that way or became that way: stigma toward congenital versus acquired disability. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations
Brookes, S. (2013) The role of the UK disability hate crime network. In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed., Disability, Hate Crime and Violence. Oxon: Routledge.
Cameron, D. (2010) David Cameron's conservative conference speech in full. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8046342/David-Camerons-Conservative-conference-speech-in-full.html [Accessed 16 Jul. 2019].
Clapton, J., 2003. Tragedy and catastrophe: contentious discourses of ethics and disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47(7), pp.540-547.
Clarke, J and Newman, J (2012) The alchemy of austerity. Critical Social Policy 32(3): 299–319.
Cowburn, A. (2018). Benefit fraud 'witchhunt': 280,000 public tip-offs led to no action taken due to insufficient evidence. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/benefit-fraud-public-tip-offs-legal-action-police-no-evidence-dwp-work-pensions-department-a8144096.html [Accessed 3 Jan. 2019].
Curtice, J. and Ormston, R., 2015. British Social Attitudes 32 | Key Findings. [online] London: NatCen Social Research. Available at:
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Dirth, T. and Branscombe, N. (2018) The social identity approach to disability: bridging disability studies and psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 144(12), pp.1300-1324.
Dunn, T. (2012) Blitz the £1.2bn fiddlers. [online] The Sun. Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/politics/411981/blitz-the-1-2bn-fiddlers/ [Accessed 7 Jan. 2019].
Emmel, N. (2017) Empowerment in the relational longitudinal space of vulnerability. Social Policy and Society, 16(3), pp.457-467.
Garthwaite, K. (2014) Fear of the Brown Envelope: Exploring Welfare Reform with Long-Term Sickness Benefits Recipients. Durham University Online.
Goffman, E. (1990) Stigma. New York: Penguin Books.
Goodley, D. (2014) Dis/ability studies. London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Gov.uk. (2014) New benefit fraud and error campaign: Benefits, are you doing the right thing? .[online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-benefit-fraud-and-error-campaign-benefits-are-you-doing-the-right-thing [Accessed 7 Jan. 2019].
Gov.uk. (2015) Report benefit fraud. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud [Accessed 2 Jan. 2019].
Gov.uk. (2018). Hate crime, England and Wales, 2017 to 2018. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2017-to-2018 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2021].
GOV.UK. 2021. UK Disability Survey research report, June 2021. [online] Available at:
Gramsci, A. (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks (New York: International, 1971): 419.
Hoong-Sin, C. (2013) Making disablist hate crime visible. In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed. Disability, hate crime and violence. Oxon: Routledge.
Ipsos.Mori (2013) Perceptions are not reality. [online] Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/perceptions-are-not-reality [Accessed 12 Nov. 2021].
Jenks, A. (2019) Crip theory and the disabled identity: why disability politics needs impairment. Disability & Society, 34(3), pp.449-469.
Jensen, T. (2014) Welfare commonsense, poverty porn and doxosophy, Sociological Research Online, 19 (3) 3 [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
Lawson, A. and Beckett, A., 2020. The social and human rights models of disability: towards a complementarity thesis. The International Journal of Human Rights, pp.1-32.
Lexico Dictionaries. (2019) Slagging | Definition of slagging in English by Lexico Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/slagging [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
Lexico Dictionaries. (2021) Theoretical Model | Definition of theoretical model in English by Lexico Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/theoretical_model [Accessed 11 Nov. 2021].
Lindsay, C. and Houston, D. (2013) Fit for work? Representations and explanations of the disability benefit 'crisis' in the UK and beyond. In: C. Lindsay and D. Houston, Disability Benefits, Welfare Reform and Employment Policy. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Loopstra, R., Fledderjohann, J., Reeves, A. and Stuckler, D. (2018) Impact of welfare benefit sanctioning on food insecurity: A dynamic cross-area study of food bank usage in the UK. Journal of Social Policy, 47(03), pp.437-457.
Mattheys, K. (2015) The Coalition, austerity and mental health. Disability & Society, 30(3), pp.475-478.
Mills, C. (2017) ‘Dead people don’t claim’: A psychopolitical autopsy of UK austerity suicides. Critical Social Policy, 38(2), pp.302-322.
Morris, J. (2011) Rethinking disability policy. Joseph Roundtree Foundation [online] Available at: https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/disability-policy-equality-summary.pdf [Accessed 12 Nov. 2021].
Oliver, M. (1996) Understanding Disability. London: Macmillan, p.33.
Oliver, M. and Barnes, C. (2012) The new politics of disablement. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Olsen, J. and Soorenian, A., 2021. Exploring the everyday lives of disabled people. UK Cabinet Office, Disability Unit.
Patrick, R. (2014) Working on welfare: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study into the lived experiences of welfare reform in the UK. Journal of Social Policy, 43(4), pp.705-725.
Pérez-Garín, D., Recio, P., Magallares, A., Molero, F. and García-Ael, C. (2018) Perceived discrimination and emotional reactions in people with different types of disabilities: A qualitative approach. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 21.
Phelan, J., Link, B. and Dovidio, J. (2008) Stigma and prejudice: One animal or two? Social Science & Medicine, 67(3), pp.358-367.
Pilkington, D. (2012) 'Scroungers' rhetoric over benefits fuels abuse say charities. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/scroungers-rhetoric-over-benefits-fuels-abuse-say-charities-6579630.html [Accessed 7 Jan. 2019].
Pinker, R. (1971) Social Theory and Social Policy, London: Heinemann Educational Books
Putnam, M. (2005) Conceptualizing disability: Developing a framework for political disability identity. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 188-198.
Quarmby, K. (2013) Media reporting and disability hate crime. In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed., Disability, Hate Crime and Violence. Oxon: Routledge.
Quinn, G. and Degener, T., 2002 ‘The Moral Authority for Change: Human Rights Values and the World Wide Process of Disability Reform’, in Human Rights and Disability: The Current Use and Future Potential of Human Rights Instruments in the Context of Disability, eds. G. Quinn and T. Degener (United Nations, 2002), 13, 14.
Rehabilitation International, 2006 ‘UN Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities: Ad Hoc Committee Seventh Session – Daily Summaries,’ 24 January 2006.
Roulstone, A. and Prideaux, S. (2012) Understanding disability policy. Bristol: Policy Press.
Ryan, F. (2019) Crippled: Austerity and the demonization of disabled people. London: Verso.
Sayer, A. (2016) Responding to the troubled families programme: Framing the injuries of inequality. Social Policy and Society, 16(1), pp.155-164.
Shakespeare, T. (2006) Disability rights and wrongs. Oxon: Routledge.
Shakespeare T, Watson N, & Alghaib OA.(2017) Blaming the victim, all over again: Waddell and Aylward’s biopsychosocial (BPS) model of disability. Critical Social Policy. 2017;37(1):22-41. doi:10.1177/0261018316649120
Sharma, A. and Dunay, A., 2016. Life Proposes, Disability Disposes: An Overview on the Models of Disability with Special Reference to WHO Conceptual Models. LITTERA SCRIPTA (Economics, Management, Marketing, Linguistics, Pedagogy, Education, History).
Sherry, M. (2013) International perspectives on disability hate crime. In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed., Disability, Hate Crime and Violence. Oxon: Routledge.
Shipman, T. (2010) State-funded idleness: 1.5m are spending fifth Christmas in a row on sick benefits. [online] Mail Online. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342076/State-funded-idleness-1-5m-spending-fifth-Christmas-row-sick-benefits.html [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
Thomas, P. (2013) Hate crime or mate crime? In: A. Roulstone and H. Mason-Bish, ed., Disability, Hate Crime and Violence. Oxon: Routledge.
UK Independent Mechanism (2018) Progress on disability rights in the United Kingdom. UK Independent Mechanism update report to the UN committee on the rights of persons with disabilities. [online] Available at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/progress-on-disability-rights-in-the-uk-crpd-shadow-report-2018.pdf [Accessed 8 Apr. 2019].
Un.org (2016) Inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland carried out by the committee under article 6 of the optional protocol to the Convention. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [online] Geneva: United Nations. Available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/326/14/pdf/G1732614.pdf?OpenElement [Accessed 12 Apr. 2019].
Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (1975) Fundamental principles of disability. [online] London. Available at: https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/UPIAS-fundamental-principles.pdf [Accessed 27 Dec. 2018].
Valentine, G. and Harris, C. (2014) Strivers vs skivers: Class prejudice and the demonisation of dependency in everyday life. Geoforum, 53, pp.84-92.
Walker, R., Kyomuhendo, G., Chase, E., Choudhry, S., Gubrium, R., Nicola, J., Lodemel, I., Mathew, L., Mwine, A., Pellisserry, S., and Ming, Y. (2013) Poverty in global perspective: Is shame a common denominator? Journal of Social Policy, 42(2), pp.215-233.
Whittle, H., Palar, K., Ranadive, N., Turan, J., Kushel, M. and Weiser, S. (2017) “The land of the sick and the land of the healthy”: Disability, bureaucracy, and stigma among people living with poverty and chronic illness in the United States. Social Science & Medicine, 190, pp.181-189.
World Health Organization. (2011) World report on disability (1st ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report.pdf?ua=1
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Author Biography
Jason Olsen, Disability Research Specialists
Dr. Jason Olsen is the Lead Researcher at Disability Research Specialists, a company that offers businesses and organizations the academic expertise and lived experiences of disabled researchers. He holds a PhD in Social Policy from Ulster University and has completed a professional certification in Executive Leadership from the U.S. government and another in Equal Employment from Cornell University. Dr. Olsen is a former Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. government and a Fulbright Governance and Public Policy Scholar. He’s a well-published author and a recognized advocate for disability rights.