Lifelong education of the disabled as a social group

the article aims to show the prospects for the development of lifelong education system for the disabled people. The information base for the analysis consists of the material of 19 scientific conferences on education of people with disabilities which were held from 1994 to 2013 at the Institute of Adult Education of the Russian Academy of Education, St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and Social Work, and St. Petersburg vocational rehabilitation center. A number of people with disabilities (including experts) from Leningrad region, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Finland, and Germany took part in these conferences. The author considers three modern methodological approaches to the study of education for the disabled – systemic and structural, personal and humanitarian, cultural and historical – and their heuristic potential. In addition to that, the author discusses the existing components of the educational system for disabled people of all ages and argues that the continuity of the components should be provided by the government, society, and science. The outlook for further research based upon author's long-term hands-on experience of social and educational work is presented. The specific measures to improve a holistic system of lifelong education for disabled people as a social group are proposed.