A working social model? Disability, work and disability politics in the 21st century

Following recent developments in the theoretical and general understanding of disability and social policy, this article addresses the complex and changing relationship between the ‘social model of disability’, work and politics. It is suggested that within a social model framework, the conceptualizations of disability and work are interdependent, that recent policy developments in the employment field are likely to have only a marginal effect on the employment problems encountered by disabled people, that meaningful change is possible only through a radical reformulation of the meaning of work and that the foundations for this reformulation have already been put in place.