By Shirly Avrami
The Research and Information Center, The Knesset, Jerusalem, Israel
and Arik Rimmerman
The Richard Crossman Chair of Welfare Policy and Social Planning, Haifa
University ,Haifa, Israel
The purpose of the article is to evaluate whether the Israeli legislation for persons with disabilities, the part already enacted as well as the chapters yet to be approved by the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), shows assimilation of the idea of equal rights for this population by Israeli society and its decision-makers. Does the implementation of the act show a fulfillment of the equality principle or is there still a gap between declarative parts of legislation and reality? This comparison evaluates the outcomes of similar legislation in the United States and the United Kingdom, in regard to research done recently by Avrami (2003) on the voting intentions of Knesset members on the subject of equal rights for persons with disabilities.The article also includes a future vision of assimilation and implementation of the Israeli law.