Crippled Justice: The History of Modern Disability Policy in the Workplace. By Ruth O'Brien. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Pp. xiv, 288. $19.00, paper.

Extract

Political scientist Ruth O'Brien's Crippled Justice: The History of Modern Disability Policy in the Workplace grapples with the difficult issue of American policy toward dis-abled workers. In doing so, O'Brien presents a detailed and complex history that covers the evolution of disability policy and law over the course of the twentieth century. Crippled Justice displays a sophisticated understanding of a variety of relevant disciplines: political science and public policy, the histories of the behavioral and medical sciences, and political history and law. O'Brien's central theme is the struggle to change the nation's disability policies. She ably documents the shift from a traditional view that saw the disabled as maladjusted individuals in need of rehabilitation to the contemporary notion, urged by disabled rights activists among others, that the disabled need no rehabilitation, but instead that society needs to adapt the workplace to their needs.