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In Australia and in many other societies around the world, the political economic and cultural concerns of people with disabilities have been marginalized. As a result of this, people with disabilities are among the greatest socioeconomically downtrodden; consequently they are one of the most socially excluded peoples in society. Based on interviews with leading politicians and academics, extensive document based research, and engagement with key theoretical and policy debates, this book engages with key policy and social issues for people with disabilities. In addition to analysing current policy and social processes around disability, this book aims to contribute to more developed approaches to disability services. The author also provides important and new insights into these issues through personal narratives about his own experiences of living with a degenerative disability. This book will be of interest to researchers in social and political sciences, and also to people interested in learning more about the experiences and political struggles of people with disabilities in contemporary societies and their influences on policy processes.

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Dr Peter Gibilisco, B Bus (Acc), PhD (Melb); has Friedreich´s Ataxia a progressive condition that left him wheelchair bound, with slurred speech, to name a few inherent defects. Despite this has shown a command of different abilities succeeding in a PhD at the University of Melbourne, where he researches as an (Honorary) Fellow.

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