When communities fall into decline, disabled people can find themselves alone and invisible in a society of indifferent individuals. Arendt offers an account of such a time in her discussion of the rise of a society of mass labouring and consuming. Bauman's insights into the fragmentation of life, in which established norms, traditional ties and customs fade and solid institutions liquefy, are equally pertinent. Together, Arendt and Bauman point to the conditions and demands that have given rise to the present policy of austerity, current approaches to the education and care of the disabled and the rejection of inclusive education.