Institutional discrimination, disabled people and interprofessional care

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that institutional discrimination against disabled people is prevalent throughout British society, and that the emergence of ‘interprofessional care’ as a policy initiative has done little to eliminate this problem. Competing definitions of disability are discussed and it is argued that the traditional medical approach to disability is no longer acceptable to disabled people and their organisations—the disabled people's movement. Attention then turns to the reconcep-tualisation of disability as social oppression or institutional discrimination. Substantial evidence of institutional discrimination against disabled people from a variety of official and independent sources is provided and the final section shows how professionals working individually or in groups have been and remain central to the discriwzinatoy process. It is concluded that the emergence and/or further development of interprofessional care within the present context has not and will not empower disabled people, or add weight to their campaign for equal rights and opportunities.

Key Words:

• Institutional discrimination
• care
• disabled people
• impairment/disability