Disability Studies

"During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Americans with all sorts of disabilities came to be labeled as 'unproductive citizens.' [...] By tracing the experiences of policymakers, employers, reformers, and disabled people caught up in this epochal transition, Rose masterfully integrates disability history and labor history. She shows how people with disabilities lost access to paid work and the status of 'worker'--a shift that relegated them and their families to poverty and second-class economic and social citizenship. This has vast consequences for debates about disability, work, poverty, and welfare in the century to come."

"This is the first book to challenge the concept of paid work for disabled people as a means to 'independence' and 'self determination'. Recent attempts in many countries to increase the employment rates of disabled people have actually led to an erosion of financial support for many workless disabled people and their increasing stigmatisation as 'scroungers'. Led by the disability movement's concern with the employment choices faced by disabled people, this controversial book uses sociological and philosophical approaches, as well as international examples, to critically engage with possible alternatives to paid work."

"More than 22 million of the almost 173 million working-age individuals in the United States have one or more disabilities. Perfectly Able offers practical guidance for companies large and small on how to hire and retain talented and motivated people from within this largely untapped pool of potential employees..."

"Features research-based documentation of workplace policies and practices that result in the successful recruitment, retention, advancement, and inclusion of individuals with disabilities. The Cornell team whose work is featured in this book drew from multiple disciplines, data sources, and methodologies to learn where employment disparities for people with disabilities occur and to identify workplace policies and practices that might remediate them..."

"This volume seeks to address those factors which have made describing, predicting and examining the work experience of a person with a disability both different and difficult. Contributors examine less frequently analyzed aspects of employment for persons with disabilities, and offer a variety of approaches to the conceptualization of work, how they differ across cultures, organizations, and types of disability..."

"Updated with a new and improved assessment approach, more self-employment success stories, and the latest on policy changes and online opportunities, this book is your step-by-step guide to helping adults with disabilities get a small business off to a strong start..."