Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2015, Page 112

UPPELDI OG MENNTUN/ICELANDIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 24(2) 2015112
SOCIAL ( IN )EQUALITY: COLLABORATIVE REFLECTION
The discourse on the disability pension has been anything but encouraging and has
to some extent been reflected in disability policy (Rice, Björnsdóttir, & Smith, 2015;
Traustadóttir, Björnsdóttir, Rice, Birgisson, & Smith, 2011). Government officials and
public figures have argued in the national news that since the working public pays
the disability pension through taxes, minimum wages should always be higher than
the pension. It has been suggested that if the pension was too high, disabled people
would not be motivated to work, implying that unemployed disabled people who
rely on a disability pension are not interested in working (Auka þarf eftirlit með bóta-
svikum, 2015 [There must be stricter surveillance to prevent pension fraud]; Eygló:
Bótasvik eru einfaldlega þjófnaður og skaðar okkur öll, 2014 [Eygló: Pension fraud
is simply theft and harms us all]; Getur bara ekki verið að við séum svona veik, 2010
[It can’t be that we are this sick]; Pétur Blöndal: Þetta er ekki Freyju að kenna, 2010
[Pétur Blöndal: This isn’t Freyja’s fault]). The government officials overlook the fact
that most people who rely on a disability pension became disabled in middle age and
had actively participated in society as taxpayers. Many also have part-time jobs and
contribute to society by paying taxes, and the great majority would rather work than
depend on a disability pension. Furthermore, it involves complex medical assessment
to become eligible for this type of governmental assistance. Thus it should not be
viewed as a personal option or choice to receive a disability pension (Traustadóttir et
al., 2011).
Despite reports of such negative discourse and the risk of social exclusion, studies
have shown that disabled people often score higher on the World Health Organization
quality of life instrument than the general population and often rate their quality of
life higher than for example their physicians and relatives (Carr & Higginson, 2001).
Also, there seems to be some kind of hierarchy within the discussion on disability
where some impairments seem to be interpreted as undesirable, or at least less de-
sirable than others, and not considered to allow for a high quality of life (Vehmas &
Watson, 2013). Albrecht and Devlieger (1999) have examined what they describe as a
‘disability paradox’; that is, many disabled people report a good quality of life when
others consider their daily existence to be undesirable. Many different factors seem to
influence how people rate the condition of their life and often this has little to do with
their physical or mental abilities, but is more relevant to the context of their lives.
Kristín: What do you think about this disability paradox?
Steindór: I guess since non-disabled people have never experienced being disabled
they look at our lives from a different perspective. Maybe it is about not wanting to
be disabled themselves. That is why they rank our lives lower than we do for our-
selves.
Kristín: Do you think it has to do with prejudice?
Steindór: [Laughs] You cannot generalize. But maybe for some and I think it is about
what kind of upbringing they have had and life experiences. Some people are not
able to understand until someone close to them or they themselves become disabled.
Although people with intellectual disabilities are faced with the risk of social exclu-
sion, research has demonstrated that they would prefer to be construed as able, social