Working Toward Equity

"In 'Working towards equity', Dustin Galer argues that paid work significantly shaped the experience of disability during the late twentieth century. by investigating and analysing archival records, personal collections, government publications, and a series of interviews, Galer demonstrates how demands for greater access to gainful employment from disabled people stimulated the development of a new discourse of disability in Canada. Family advocates helped people living in institutions move out into the community as rehabilitation professionals played an increasingly critical role in the lives of working-age adults with disabilities. Meanwhile, civil rights activists crafted a new consumer-led vision of social and economic integration. Employment was, and remains, a central component in disabled peoples' efforts to become productive, autonomous, and financially secure members of Canadian society. 'Working towards equity' offers new in-depth analysis of rights activism as it relates to employment, sheltered workshops, deinstitutionalization, and labour markets in the contemporary context in Canada." --