The conception of disability and mental illness in advanced welfare states: A review and a proposal

The chapter presents historical developments in the conception of disability and services for people with disability and mental illness. It identifies the social, political and technological movements, which have led to the epistemologies that exist in this field today. The diverse understandings of mental problems and vulnerability have all through history motivated different guidelines for social work practice when it comes to people with cognitive and mental deficits and in the final section of the chapter, we discuss how current sociological, neurological, and psychiatric perspectives in research as well as clinical experiences from advanced welfare services might support a new model for understanding mental vulnerability.