Neoliberalism, postsocialism, disability

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of neoliberalism on disability policy and activism. The paper highlights the neoliberalisation of postsocialist disability policy, as well as the convergence between the neoliberal critique of welfare-state paternalism and the advocacy of disabled people’s movement for deinstitutionalisation and direct payments (personal assistance). The discussion is supported by examples from Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. In conclusion, the paper argues that neoliberalism confronts the disabled people’s movement with two difficult tasks: to defend self-determination while criticising market-based individualism, and to defend the welfare state while criticising expert-based paternalism.

Keywords:

• neoliberalism
• disability
• postsocialism
• disabled people’s movement
• direct payments
• personal assistance

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the two anonymous referees of the journal, as well as the participants in the ‘Neoliberalism in the Postsocialist Region’ workshop (17 March 2014, King's College London, UK), for their comments on early drafts of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In order to capture neoliberalism’s local articulations and hybridity without abandoning the concept, Simon Springer (2013, 151) argues for the need to focus on processes of ‘neoliberalization’ that never reach completion, rather than on fully realised states of ‘neoliberalism’.

2. On the stigmatisation of disability benefits and its link to neoliberalism, see Piggott and Grover (2009, 161–163), whose analysis focuses on UK disability policy.

3. See http://dsd.sofia.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=35 (accessed March 16, 2014).

4. See www.cil.bg (accessed March 16, 2014).

Additional information

Funding

The research for this paper was financially supported by the Leverhulme Trust [Grant ECF-2013-246].