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Product Description
Review
`Shocking account of how society's most vulnerable are let down by the UK authorities - it must be read' --Sunday Times
'I cannot imagine reading a more important book this year' --Tom Shakespeare
'This fireball of a book is shocking, challenging call to action' --The Herald
`Genuinely authoritative'
--Scotland on Sunday
'I cannot imagine reading a more important book this year' --Tom Shakespeare
'This fireball of a book is shocking, challenging call to action' --The Herald
`Genuinely authoritative'
--Scotland on Sunday
Product Description
Every few months there's a shocking news story about the sustained, and often fatal, abuse of a disabled person. It's easy to write off such cases as bullying that got out of hand, terrible criminal anomalies or regrettable failures of the care system, but in fact they point to a more uncomfortable and fundamental truth about how our society treats its most unequal citizens. In Scapegoat, Katharine Quarmby looks behind the headlines to trace the history of disability and our discomfort with disabled people, from Greek and Roman culture through the Industrial Revolution and the origins of Britain's asylum system to the eugenics movement and the Holocaust, the recent introduction of Ugly LawsA" in the US and the grim effects of Britain's hapless community careA" initiative. Quarmby also charts the modern disability rights movement from the veterans of WW2 and Vietnam to those still fighting for independent living, the end of segregation, and equal rights. Combining fascinating examples from history with tenacious investigation and powerful first person interviews, Scapegoat will change the way we think about disability - and how we treat disabled people.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A brilliant book by one of the UK's foremost investigative journalists exploring the pernicious impact of disability hate crime: on disabled people, their families and society at large. The author travels to the scenes of some of the most serious and notorious hate crimes committed against disabled people, and talks to bereaved families and friends who are struggling to come to terms with the brutal, and often sadistic murder of a loved one. Police Officers involved in some of the cases describe them as the worst they've encountered. The fact that many of these crimes were committed in areas of high density housing where neighbours were apparently able to tune out the horrific violence going on next door is particularly troubling, and brought to mind Hannah Arendt's 'banality of evil' theory which contests that the great evils in history were not executed by fanatics or sociopaths, but rather by ordinary people. Has the hostility towards and baiting of disabled people has become so 'normalised' (as Edward S Herman has argued) that "ugly, degrading, murderous, and unspeakable acts become routine and are accepted as 'the way things are done'"?. Disturbingly, whilst nothing new, the scapegoating of disabled people for society's ills has intensified and become more brazen in recent years, especially on internet. Cries of "burdens to society", "drain on taxpayers" and "scroungers" eerily echo Nazi slogans used to condone the systematic murder of disabled adults and children during the Holocaust. Many of those persecuted, tortured and executed during the witch-hunt era we learn, were disabled or vulnerable, and to this day in some cultures disabled children continue to be labelled as witches. Thanks to this landmark book, disability hate crime is a problem that can no longer be ignored.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Although a lot of the stories were upsetting, I loved this book as it really tackled some of the issues surrounding disability hate crime that the criminal justice system seem to be ignoring or missing. It really showed how people are getting away with this crime and that the people who suffer from it suffer on a regular basis which the police fail to recognise. Sadly, I feel most disabled people withhin the UK will be able to relate to this book at some point in their life. The writer Katherine Quarmby looks at cases from across the UK and speaks to friends and families of the victims getting an in-depth account of the abuse suffered by many. It shows that some people's attitudes towards the disabled makes their life hell and that disabilism needs to be recognised in the same way that racism and homophobia is.
I do feel the book seemed to be largely focused on disability hate crime surrounding people with learning difficulties and failed to recognise disability hate crime surrounding other impairments such as people with physical impairments or sensory impairments.
I think this book is a must read for anybody interested in disability studies but also for anybody in general.
I do feel the book seemed to be largely focused on disability hate crime surrounding people with learning difficulties and failed to recognise disability hate crime surrounding other impairments such as people with physical impairments or sensory impairments.
I think this book is a must read for anybody interested in disability studies but also for anybody in general.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A much needed and very welcome analysis of the appalling treatment- including murder- many disabled people still receive, in our society. Ms Quarmby first raised the issues in her report for the disability charity Scope- "Getting away with murder"- but this book brings it all home. Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times has described this as a 'stomach-turning book- which must be read' and I'd fully agree with his excellent review. This is superbly written, well argued, and Quarmby's research is impeccable and unimpeachable. An absolutely ESSENTIAL read for anyone involved in disability issues and a worthwhile read for those of us who aren't - she shows how our attitudes to disability have been shaped by historical factors, and that disabled people still don't receive the same defence under the law as other minorities. Murder which involves racist or sexist attitudes is punishable as a 'hate crime' (and therefore the convicted get higher sentences) but murder which involves 'disablist' attitudes still doesn't- this must change. Katharine Quarmby is to be congratulated on bringing this issue to our attention, and Portobello books for publishing it. This is a very, very, important book- READ IT.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The best work on the subject I've come across
There's an excellent journalist (yes, they do exist) called Katherine Quarmby who has been covering stories of disability hate crime since 2007. Read more
Published 3 months ago by OneOffDave
The bad continue to sleep well
Books like this are to non-fiction literature what films like 'Night and Fog', 'The Sorrow and the Pity' and 'The Titicut follies' are to the documentary form. Read more
Published 5 months ago by The Sweet poetry of Pus
Excellent book. Important, impeccably researched and non...
Scapegoat is a non-fiction book concerning attitudes towards people with disabilities and why we are failing them. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Nicholas Hedley
Pathology of indifference
Tom Shakespeare is right. This may be truly the most important book you will read, but not only this year. Read more
Published 8 months ago by A. Milewski
Scapegoat - an essential read
An excellent read and social study of society over the ages. The book should be an essential read for all professionals and educators involved with the shaping of services for... Read more
Published 9 months ago by nicola
The truth about disability discrimination
Scapegoat: Why We Are Failing Disabled People
This book is one everybody should be made to read. Read more
This book is one everybody should be made to read. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ann Winfield
Landmark Analysis
The best, most concise and accessible account I have read regarding the treatment of people with learning difficulties, and other disabled people. Read more
Published 10 months ago by rod
Shocking, insightful and readable
This book is shocking, in parts horrific, but always readable.
Not only does Katharine Quarmby show empathy with the survivors and victims of disability hate crime, but she is... Read more
Not only does Katharine Quarmby show empathy with the survivors and victims of disability hate crime, but she is... Read more
Published 11 months ago by John Pring
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