[3] By the middle of the seventeenth century, small pensions were allocated to the poor, which often included disabled persons who were barred from wage labor, although these provisions were meager and not substantial enough to live off of.
[3][4] Beginning in the early 1900s, a “residual approach” to social policy was enacted in Britain where financial assistance would be provided to those without support at a minimal level in order to encourage active participation in the labor force.
[4] Political-economic motivation emphasized reform encouraging high rates of employment, lower taxes, and minimal welfare dependents.
[4] Social reform placed women, children, the elderly and the disabled as dependents of a male wage-earner which cast further distinctions between impaired and able-bodied citizens.
[1] Beginning in 1979, the conservative administration led by Margaret Thatcher encouraged this model, arguing that market based access to social citizenship allows for the empowerment of citizens.
[1] Many disability rights organizations in Britain have pushed against this system in which the practitioner’s expertise takes precedence over the experience and assessment of the patient.