Disability in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union ─ History, Policy and Everyday Life

There are over thirty million disabled people in Russia and Eastern Europe, yet their voices are rarely heard in scholarly studies of life and well-being in the region. This book brings together new research by internationally recognised local and non-native scholars in a range of countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It covers, historically, the origins of legacies that continue to affect well-being and policy in the region today, discusses disability in culture and society, highlighting the broader conditions that construct disability and in which disabled people must build their identities and well-being, provides in-depth biographical profiles that outline what living with disabilities in the region is like, and examines policy interventions, including international influences, recent reforms and the difficulties of implementing inclusive, community-based care. The book will be of interest both to regional specialists, for whom the problem of declining standards of health and well-being is a crucial concern, and to scholars of disability and social policy internationally.

Michael Rasell is a Researcher in the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Lincoln

Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova is a Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology and Social Work at Saratov State Technical University