Convenors-

Yueh-Ching Chou, Institute of Health and Welfare Policy, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
Teppo Kröger, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

In disability studies, geographical and social boundaries can refer to place and space, and social accessibility, social inclusion or social exclusion. This thematic panel bring together research on the disability policies and services from all geographical and social boundaries. We invite both conceptual papers and empirical studies related to one of the following questions. To what extent and how are disabled people supported by different care and disability policies and care services and personal assistance, including both formal and informal support systems and migrant care workers, and what are their impacts on the lives of disabled people and on those of formal/informal carers/assistants? What can we learn from social care policies and the impacts of these policies on disabled people when we focus on the different welfare states, cultures and social contexts? What is the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people while comparing it with the impact on non-disabled people? And what can we learn from disabled people’s experiential knowledge who in some societies have faced exclusion and isolation not just during the pandemic but during their entire life course?

This thematic panel aims at contributing to the issues of geographical and social boundaries addressing the impact of social care policies and services on disabled people and related groups (e.g. family/friends, formal care workers, migrant care workers). Papers on all such debates, discourses and studies are welcome in this thematic panel.