ABSTRACT
Swedish conceptions of disability are formed in the context of a centralist state that imposes universalist principles through legislation. By means of legally defined criteria it gives to disability a consistency that it never had before. As shown by Stone (1984), the disability category became important when the welfare state emerged in the last century as a means for redistribution; it became important in order to decide when citizens were so poorly off because of illness and impairment that some form of public aid was necessary. In the Western welfare states this is manifested in legal entitlements to support in terms of social security, disability benefits and social services. In this chapter Swedish disability policies will be analysed in terms of ideas and values about redistribution. What kind of definitions of disability can be discerned during different time periods? Which were the dominant policy ideals, and how were they legitimized during different time periods? To some extent this chapter also describes social policy interventions relating to the dominating policy ideals. A relatively long historical perspective is used for the purpose of providing a background to important changes during the last 5 or 6 decades. The account will necessarily be selective and sketchy since the field is extensive. The time periods that will be focused on are first, the liberal period in the beginning of the last century. Politics targeting disabled people basically consisted of poor relief, workhouses, i.e., institutions with the purpose of infusing work ethics in the inmates. The second era consists of the decades from the end of World War 2 until the 1970s. It is by some scholars described in terms of a ‘golden period’ for the Swedish welfare state, when social security, social services and an active labour market policy emerged. Next, some important changes in the welfare system will be dealt with, signifying a development away from the universalist model of the 1960s and '70s to a more selective welfare model that also emphasizes human rights as a key element in welfare.
