The 1944 Disabled Persons (Employment) Act introduced a range of programmes to help disabled people find and keep paid work but, until recently, little was known about their effectiveness. This paper reports the findings of a survey of economically active disabled people and shows that their feelings about statutory employment services are mixed. A small majority expressed satisfaction, but a significant minority reported negative experiences. The state's employment programmes for disabled people frequently ignore `felt needs' and some services are segregated, leading to problems such as `stigma'. The paper concludes by reflecting on policy to improve services and argues that integration into `improved' mainstream areas of provision is the best way forward.
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