Cross-national comparison of policies and attitudes toward the disabled: the effects of deinstitutionalization

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Title Cross-national comparison of policies and attitudes toward the disabled: the effects of deinstitutionalization
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Family & Consumer Studies
Author Dimond, Elizabeth Susanne
Date 2008-02-06
Description Policy changes influence public opinion and the lives of those impacted by new programs and requirements they create. Deinstitutionalization has been an important part of American disability policy and the subject of much debate and discussion. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) stands as one of the most significant benchmarks in the evolution of the disability rights movement. This paper seeks to understand how policies like the ADA have influenced public attitudes locally and internationally. There has been a worldwide shift in the theory driving disability policy. The shift has gone from a medical model with a focus on cures, treatments and rehabilitation to a civil rights model with a focus on "disabling environments," discrimination and social stigma. Attitude surveys from the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) are used to establish the differences in attitudes across the nations of interest and a policy analysis follows seeking to understand how policies are effecting attitudes. The study also considers how the implementation of a civil rights model of disability policy affects public attitudes. There are significant differences in public opinion across the nations included in the study. Attitudes toward people with disabilities also vary by gender, age and contact with people with disabilities. The key difference between the US policy and the EU policy is the rate of change. The US policy changes were rapid and can be classified as reactionary while the EU policy changes were implemented in pieces with benchmarks and transition requirements.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject People with disabilities; Disabling environments
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name MS
Language eng
Relation is Version of Digital reproduction of "Cross-national comparison of policies and attitudes toward the disabled: the effects of deinstitutionalization" J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections HV15.5 2009 .D56
Rights Management ©Elizabeth Susanne Dimond
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 5,057,997 bytes
Identifier us-etd2,109871
Source Original: University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections
Conversion Specifications Original scanned on Epson G30000 as 400 dpi to pdf using ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Professional Edition.
ARK ark:/87278/s6zs3b46
Setname ir_etd
ID 193307
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6zs3b46
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