'What Rights for Disabled People in a Welfare State? Need-Fulfilment versus Identity-Assertion and the Problem of Dependency'

Tracing aspects of British welfare state history since its post-war inception, this chapter explores the way conceptions of rights have changed during this period in relation to disabled people - reflecting, in turn, different views of the welfare state. On the one hand, we find the welfare state presented as a benign provider of resources for those who are defined as 'vulnerable' and 'dependent', with a right to have their needs met. Yet we also encounter a more ambivalent attitude toward state provision, where as well as supporting disabled people's rights people's rights to 'independent living' via paid work and other forms of 'active citizenship', it is seen as a potential threat to the achievement of these goals. The argument in this chapter is that both notions of rights (to identity assertion/independent living and to need-fulfilment) are problematic, and should be rejected. Instead, a more reciprocal understanding of rights is recommended, establishing that all persons disabled or not, have something valuable to contribute to wider society. That we all have a right to this contribution being facilitated through various state administered systems and services, not only underpins and promotes the value of interdependence, but also establishes a notion of universal citizenship that is active and empowering for disabled and non-disabled people alike.