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

Abstract

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