Disability in Sweden

Response

Evaluation of science advice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden “Many elderly people were administered morphine instead of oxygen despite available supplies, effectively ending their lives.” (2022, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications)

Social Protection

Austerity and identity formation: How welfare cutbacks condition narratives of sickness:

“Interviewees describe extreme stress as a result of their contacts with the Social Insurance Agency (SIA), which results in a perpetual crisis that is renewed with each new denied application. In particular, the sense of not having a future means that it is hard to construct narratives to make sense of one’s situation. To escape the perpetual crisis, some people have politicised their situation, constructing a narrative about themselves as suffering from oppressive politics. Others have escaped by not applying for sick insurance or other social insurances. But generally speaking, the most common effect of being denied sick insurance is an ongoing crisis that leads to deteriorating health.” (2022, Sociology of Health and Illness)

Disability, Gender and Hiring Discrimination: an experiment sending 2,000 job applications found that “nondisabled applicants receive 33 percent more callbacks than similarly qualified wheelchair users despite applying for jobs where the impairment should not interfere with performance” (2023, IZA Institute of Labour Economics)

Why did Sweden sterilise up to 30,000 people against their will? ‘Sweden set up a eugenics plan, grounded in the science of racial biology, between 1934 and 1976. “They wanted to get rid of a certain type of people: The weaker ones”.’ (2023, Euronews)

Migration

Sarah’s Journey an animated video of Sarah's story, “a 37-year-old disabled Syrian female refugee with a secondary education who had to flee her country of origin in 2015”. (Feb, Newcomers with disabilities)

In Search of Links: Overview of the State of Research on Disability, Migration, Employment and Health. (Jan, Independent Living Institute)

Towards Dignity and Autonomy a report on personal assistance policies across nine countries. (Mar, ENIL and ILO)

The government's change in course in aid policy “One example is MyRight, which works globally for people with disabilities. In the past, the organization has received one million a year in support for its information work. This year it was zero.” (In Swedish, quote from Google Translate, 2023, Kollega)

Help to live before help to die powerful personal testimony on why end of life decisions shouldn't be left to medical professionals (2022, Adolf Ratzka on Facebook)

Overview

Another Way for Blind People to Cross Streets: Tactile Traffic Maps. (Jul, Haben Girma)

Air Travel

Wheelchair user left to crawl off Ryanair plane in Sweden. (2023, BBC)

CRPD experts: Commend Sweden on its Commitment to the Committee’s Work, Raise Questions on Gun Shots Fired at Persons with Mental Health Issues and on Institutionalisation (Mar, OHCHR)

30th Session of the CRPD Committee (Mar, OHCHR)