Political and economic changes of the decade 1990 - 2000 strongly influenced the life situation of disabled persons in Poland. The first years of transformation limited chances for their rehabilitation and employment, lowered their quality of life, increased the threat of social exclusion of the group. Further years brought many macrosocial changes, which could have affected the life situation of people with disabilities in different ways. On one side there were market mechanisms which actually eliminated “weak” people from productive social life; on the other side there were numerous regulations in the sphere of social policy, the intention of which was to prevent negative effects of market mechanisms. The situation made us undertake a comparative analysis of life conditions of people with disability at the beginning and at the end of the discussed decade. The empirical base for the comparison were two projects which we realised in 1993 and 1999 on samples of persons with motoric disabilities. In this paper we try to put some light on one of the most crucial problems appearing while making such a comparison. The question of most importance is whether and to what a degree the syndrome of features excluding disabled persons in the 90ties have a permanent character. We focused on some aspects which potentially affect social exclusion of the discussed group such as: the potential of help within families, limitations in self-care, limitations in mobility (ex. inability to leave one’s flat), how the needs for orthopaedic equipment are met, which architectural barriers they experience, what is the scope of their home duties, the access to medical and vocational rehabilitation, access to specialist medical services and sanatoria, what is their physical and mental condition, what social contacts they have, how much they fear of poverty, what is their chance to participate in public life.