Normal Life

It is widely accepted that disabled people should be enabled to have as normal a life as possible. This raises the key question of what is ‘normal’ and who should define it. Originally published in 1993, it is this question which is the main focus of Normal Life, raised in the context of the experience of war and industrially injured pensioners. It was observed that there had been few, if any, studies on the experiences of war pensioners and their benefit arrangements or the people on the industrial injuries scheme. The aim of this study was to fill that gap. Although the research it is based on was conducted between 1970 and 1973, the findings questioned much of the conventional wisdom about provision for disabled people at time in the context of social security and community care policies. Still relevant today, it can be read to see how far things have changed.