Disabled citizens and social exclusion: the role of direct payments

This article develops a framework of citizenship, in the light of current developments in social theory, policy and practice, to analyse the social rights and duties of disabled citizens in the UK. It looks at the complex interplay between disabled people's roles as carers, cared-for, workers and employers, by moving the debate on from seeing disabled people as the passive recipients of care to seeing them as active citizens. It asks whether developments in policy, such as the growing use of direct payments, can support disabled people in their struggle to avoid social exclusion and be treated as full citizens.