Individualisierung und Behinderung

This study deals with the analytical potential of the individualization approach for the concept of disability and the life situations of persons with disabilities. The study starts with presenting theory of the individualization approach and its various implications (Chapter 2). On this basis the concept of disability as well as the institutionalised forms of handling disability in
the process of industrial modernization is reconstructed (Chapter 3). The discussion focuses on the processes of attributing disability status in legal welfare state frameworks that are dominated by the medical system. The processes are seen in the context of institutionalized forms of handling disability in the system of rehabilitation and disability services.
Chapter 4 analyses the impacts that the current push towards individualization has on the concept of disability. Here the principle of anti-discrimination is used as a category to reflect the non-intended effects of the institutionalization of disability. It becomes obvious, that the practice
of disability services has so far not succeeded in taking anti-discrimination as a modern guideline for organizational performance. The possibilities of such a civil-rights approach are shown in the end of this chapter.
Chapter 5 illustrates the theoretical aspects of the study with the results of qualitative interviews that search for the traces of individualization in day-to-day-experiences of persons with disabilities in the general individualization process of society. It can be shown, how reflective knowledge becomes influential for individual life-course decision-making and how this process is restrictively framed by disability.
The final chapter 6 describes the chances of the individualization approach for the modernization of the disability service system. It is also pointed out, that the individualization approach itself can be enriched and shaped more precisely by analyzing life-situations of persons that are highly governed by indications of the social-security system.