Accessibility to Welfare Services and Communities: Enabling Integration and Human Rights

Suvi Raitakari, Jenni-Mari Räsänen and Anže Jurček
Additional contact information
Suvi Raitakari: Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland
Jenni-Mari Räsänen: Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland
Anže Jurček: Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Social Inclusion, 2025, vol. 13

Abstract: This thematic issue discusses the accessibility of welfare services and communities, emphasising its role in enabling integration and the realization of human rights. Accessibility research is positioned as a vital tool for identifying social problems and inequalities and fostering inclusive services and communities. The thematic issue presents current accessibility research and its results conducted in different contexts. Accessibility is conceptualized as the ease of obtaining services, resources, and participation opportunities, particularly for individuals and groups in marginal societal positions. Accessibility is approached through different dimensions, including institutional, informational, economic, physical, experiential, interactional, and relational dimensions, to highlight how various factors shape access in society. For example, this thematic issue addresses access barriers confronted by adults and families experiencing poverty, marginalisation, harmful drug use, immigration, disabilities, and LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex). This editorial underscores that accessibility is not a neutral concept but a politically and ethically charged phenomenon, often constrained by exclusionary mechanisms and service system limitations. It calls attention to the importance of trust‐based relationships and interactional practices in promoting accessibility. This issue advocates for transformative approaches to reconfiguring welfare systems and communities so that they become inclusive and responsive to individuals’ diverse circumstances and needs.

Keywords: accessibility; human rights; integration; interaction; marginalisation; social problems; welfare services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/11329 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:11329

DOI: 10.17645/si.11329

Access Statistics for this article

Social Inclusion is currently edited by Mariana Pires

More articles in Social Inclusion from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().