Disablement in the Informational Age

Abstract

There is considerable evidence to suggest that at this point in history, we are in the midst of a global economic revolution. There is also a considerable literature to suggest that the industrial revolutions have shaped and constructed the nature of disablement in the twentieth century. This paper examines employment data from the USA and UK on the process of informationalisation, in order to ascertain if it is having a particular impact on the construction of disablement. It finds that disabled people are more likely to be excluded from employment in the informational sector and that the current reforms of welfare may remove some of the safety net provision that have been part of the hegemony of care established under industrialisation. It concludes by suggesting that social exclusion, which removes the notion of deservingness, may replace disability as a social process in the twenty-first century.