Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie 29(1) 2004 59 Canadian Disability Policy: Still a Hit-and-Miss Affair

Abstract: When the Canadian record on disability policy-making is reviewed a déjà vu discourse is clearly evident. Assessing disability policy reform over recent decades evokes a strong sense that we have been here before in terms of the problems identified and the promises made. From interviews with disability community leaders and documentary analysis, five explanations for this frustrating pace of reform over the last 25 years are examined. These are public attitudes and the lack of information; the relative powerlessness of the disability community; the constraints of economic thinking and public finances; federal-provincial jurisdictional issues; and the absence of robust accountability mechanisms for disability policy within Canada’s welfare state. Drawing on Fou-cault’s concept of governmentality, the article argues that governance arrangements and discursive techniques, and not only programs and benefits, need to be the focus of advocacy and scrutiny by the disability movement and by scholars in disability studies. Résumé: Lorsque l’on examine le dossier canadien d’élaboration des politiques en matière d’invalidité, l’on ne peut s’empêcher d’être envahi par une impression de déjà vu au niveau du dis-cours. De l’évaluation de la réforme des politiques en matière d’invalidité durant ces dernières décennies se dégage une forte sensation de statu quo quant aux problèmes identifiés et au