Disability in modern welfare states and access to health services

Welfare state is an ideal model of state which, through various typologies, aims at social equality and protection of citizens. Typologies are distinguished by specific characteristics, which group the countries accordingly. Greece belongs to Ferrera's typology, which summarizes the characteristics of the social protection systems of Southern European countries, with many negative points in social benefits to citizens, among whom disabled people face difficulties that place them in an unequal position. Disability is divided into various types depending on the problem that creates it, many different types can coexist at the same time. There are two main models for the interpretation of disability, the former is the medical one, which approaches the medical nature of disability while the latter is the social one, considering disability as a condition created by unequal social conditions. People with disabilities face difficulties in important aspects of life such as work, economy and their place in society, in Greece and in the rest of the European countries. Characteristically, while people with disabilities make up more than 20% of the population in most European countries, they encounter greater difficulty in finding work and are in a greater percentage at the poverty line, compared to the rest, in all European countries. Disabilities create special needs for these individuals that differentiate them from the general population and lead them to an inability to have equal access to social goods. In particular, the physical barriers that disabled people face in the urban environment, the educational system that has not been yet adapted to the special needs of disabled children and the various health services where health workers do not behave equally to disabled people and where the logistical equipment is limited for them. Reduction of physical barriers that disabled people face, impartial and equal behavior of education and health professionals towards them as well as new logistical equipment for disabled people in hospitals, are required.