Impairment and experience of home

People with disabilities have a difficult and ambiguous relationship with housing and home. This fact can be explained by the processes of economic marginalisation, cultural stereotyping, spatial segregation, and political disenfranchisement that have shaped the lives of disabled people in many Western societies. The association of disabled people with 'institutional care' offers perhaps the clearest example of the population's struggle with regard to housing. In recent decades, institutional care has been replaced by an emphasis on community living, although the legacies of the institution as well as current challenges in the provision of accessible and affordable accommodation continue to limit the housing choices of many disabled people. © 2012