12 Discuss the problem of pension reform in Russia. Do you know the history of modern pension reform in Russia?

Evaluation

1. What have you done in this unit?

2. What have you learnt from it?

3. What did you enjoy about it?

4. Have you any criticisms of it?

5. Have you any recommendations or suggestions for doing it differently?

Disability

“Fear and prejudice are often based on ignorance and unfamiliarity.”

2. Barnes,

British Psychologist, Writer 20-th century

………………………………………………………………………………...

1 Could you define the term ‘a disabled person’? What other synonyms of this phrase that are used in English-speaking countries do you know? Which of these words seem to be offensive when referring to a disabled person? If necessary look up the information in a dictionary.

U SA

Canada

UK Australia

2 Give your own definition of a ‘disability’ and write it down. Work in pairs and share your ideas with your partner.

3 Now read the text below on how the problem of defining disability is viewed in the UK and check whether your ideas coincide with the views expressed in the passage or not.

What is a ‘disability’?

Several writers and organizations have tried to make a distinction between physical aspects of disability and socially created limitations. Ann Shearer uses the terms ‘disability’ and ‘handicap’ in this way, suggesting that disability must be taken as given, but handicap is something that is imposed on that disability to make it more limiting then it must necessarily be. The extent to which a disability is a handicap depends on a number of factors such as a type of job a person has, the services that exist to help, the attitudes of society and the personality of the person with the disability. Ann Shearer illustrates this point by arguing that not being able to run for a bus wouldn’t be a handicap if buses waited for the passengers. However, many disabled people find a term ‘handicap’ offensive because of its historical association with begging and charity. A similar distinction can be made using the term ‘impairment’ to refer to the physical dimension and ‘disability’ as the term that incorporates the socially created aspects.

These distinctions are important because they reflect differing ways of thinking about disability. On the one hand, there is a medical model of disability, which focuses on the individual and physical conditions (impairments). A social model of disability takes the focus away from the individual and looks at disabling environments – ways in which society creates disabilities.

The definition, adopted by Oliver and Barnes, suggests that the term disability refers to:

the disadvantage or restriction caused by a contemporary social organization which takes no or little account of people who have…impairments and thus excludes them from the mainstream of social activities.

(By Y. Pat, Mastering Social Welfare.)