Between equality and discrimination: Disabled persons in Romania

Abstract

Using a qualitative approach based on an institutional ethnography of social organization of work inclusion for disabled persons, the current paper addresses the specific ways in which the individual experiences of the Romanian disabled persons, in society and on the labor market, are influenced and shaped by the social relations of textually mediated discourse. It draws on the results of a larger study, conducted between 2014 and 2015 in Romania, as part of a research project focusing on the dysfunctionalities that impede the labor market access of disabled persons in Romania and the institutional arrangements and structural mechanisms that underpin these dysfunctionalities. The paper reveals a particular type of consonance between the Romanian legislative provisions, institutional arrangements and local practices, that allows for the concept of ‘protection’ of the disabled persons to transcend its initial purpose and philosophy and start working against the disabled persons. The article also sheds some light on the way in which the fragmentation and parallelism that currently govern the system of protection for the disabled persons hamper the development of a consistent vision, backed by a homogenous approach, in dealing with or managing the multiple negative issues associated with disability in Romania.