Societal integration of the disabled: power struggle or enhancement of individual coping capacities

Recently critique has been published against the Movement for Independent Living (ILM) as an effective mechanism for improving disabled persons' chances for integrating into normal social life. This critique highlighted a crucial issue which up to now has not received a satisfactory answer, namely, what are the factors that enhance or impede disabled persons' integration? In the present paper doubts have been raised as to whether the obstacles to successful integration should indeed be viewed as a political issue requiring political activity as a solution. It has been suggested rather to pry into the types of assistance which may enhance or impede integration. The analysis suggested to conceive of the actual problem as the difficulty of establishing an effective and acceptable criterion differentiating between resource enhancing and resource compensating activities. It is suggested to view the difficulty of motivating resource enhancement and of establishing a limit beyond which resource compensation be conceived hazardous to successful integration as the crucial problem of the rehabilitation of disabled persons.