The Danish case of the special needs discourse: Bagom særlige behov: diskurs, politik og praksis

The term ‘special needs’ is associated with a fundamental premise in Danish legislation, according to which an evaluation of the reduced functional capacity and individual needs is a prerequisite for allocating aids, supports, or compensations. At the same time, ‘special needs’ is a concept in which constructivist, medical/biological, and interactionist models compete to define. The definition of the needs of disabled people has, throughout history, been the object of a series of political shifts, conflicting interests, general conflicts, and battles over the knowledge and views of human beings. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis (Foucault, 1973a; Foucault, 1973b; Foucault, 1977) and the vulnerability theory, as defined by Martha Fineman (2010; 2015; 2017), we critically examine th ambiguity of the special needs discourse