Second Class Citizens: The treatment of disabled people in austerity Britain

Are disabled people second class citizens in modern Britain?

Despite severe criticisms from the United Nations the UK Government has continued to reject claims that its austerity policies have targeted disabled people. In this authoritative book, Stef Benstead explores these competing claims against the background of the development of the welfare state, the campaign for disability rights and the economics of austerity.

Peter Beresford, Professor of Citizen Participation at the University of Essex and Co-Chair of Shaping Our Lives:

"Second Class Citizens provides the definitive verdict on government welfare reform, the UK's shame. It's a policy against the evidence, against human rights and most of all against disabled people. Here the truth gap is filled with the real voices of disabled people."

Niall Cooper, Director of Church Action on Poverty:

"This is a benchmark study of the treatment of disabled people under austerity. A hugely well researched and comprehensive overview, which provides both the 'long view' of how disabled people have fared within the social security system from the origins of the Welfare State through to the current day. It is illuminated by numerous powerful personal stories illustrating the human impact of austerity, and a devastating critique of the shift from a positive vision of social security to today's welfare system based on a culture of blame and the myth of dependency. A must read "

Baroness Jane Campbell, Patron of Just Fair (UK), founder and co-director of Not Dead Yet - UK, and chair of the Independent Living Strategy Group:

"'This is essential reading for a more balanced understanding of what disabled people face when caught within the complexity of the benefit/entitlement trap."

Author: Stef Benstead
Publisher: Centre for Welfare Reform
Published: 09/24/2019
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.65d
ISBN: 9781912712182

About the Author
Benstead, Stef: - Stef Benstead is an independent researcher in disability and social policy. She has worked with Ekklesia and the Spartacus Network and is currently working with the Chronic Illness Inclusion Project and Church Action on Poverty. Stef has a 1st from the University of Cambridge but had to leave a PhD at the same university after becoming severely ill with the genetic connective tissue disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Since leaving her PhD, Stef has been using her interest in research to investigate the welfare system, particularly for people with chronic illness and disability, to show no just where and why it is going wrong but how to do things better.

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