Eugene Grant
According to Nobel prize-winning economist, and presenter of this year’s Demos Lecture, Amartya Sen, “the capabilities a person does actually have…depend on the nature of social arrangements, which can be crucial for individual freedoms. And there the state and society cannot escape responsibility”. Indeed, a state can be judged on the extent to which it empowers those less able to realise their own vision of a free, fulfilling life.
The economic crisis hit all sections of society, but people with disabilities were struck particularly hard – entering the recession on very unequal footing in terms of savings, income and employment. During the months that followed, disabled people were considered to be at greater risk of redundancy, more exposed to economic insecurity and vulnerable to increased discrimination from corner-cutting employers.
