Don’t get involved: an examination of how public sector organisations in England are involving disabled people in the Disability Equality Duty

Pearson, C. , Watson, N. , Stalker, K., Lepiniere, J., Paterson, K. and Ferrie, J. (2011) Don’t get involved: an examination of how public sector organisations in England are involving disabled people in the Disability Equality Duty. Disability and Society, 26(3), pp. 255-268. (doi: 10.1080/09687599.2011.560370)

Abstract

The Disability Equality Duty (DED) came into force in December 2006. It stipulated that all public sector organisations were to develop policies to promote the equality of disabled people as staff members, consumers or visitors. Its emergence comes as part of a network of social policies developed over the last 20 years to promote disability rights and citizenship in the UK. However unlike previous legislation, the DED set in place the need for organisations to be pro-active in their policies and work with disabled people to move towards change in public sector cultures and working practices. This article reports on this early stage of implementation in England. Findings show that whilst some progress has been made in securing change, practice varied greatly. Therefore if a fundamental change in the culture of work and service provision is to be secured, this key requirement will need to be given a higher priority by organisations.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Due to publisher embargo the full text of this article is not available until September 2012.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ferrie, Professor Jo and Paterson, Dr Kevin and Watson, Professor Nicholas and Pearson, Dr Charlotte
• Authors: Pearson, C., Watson, N., Stalker, K., Lepiniere, J., Paterson, K., and Ferrie, J.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Social Scientists working in Health and Wellbeing; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Social Work; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Disability and Society
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0968-7599
• ISSN (Online): 1360-0508
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2011 Taylor and Francis
• First Published: First published in Disability and Society 26(3):255-268
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher