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Disability and Indigeneity: intersectionality of identity from the experience of Indigenous people at a global level

GILROY, John
UTTJEK, Margaretha
LOVERN, Lavonna
WARD, John
2021

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The authors of this paper have protested, fought, written extensively and represent the broader theoretical foundations of Indigenous and disability research by focusing on their standpoint perspectives informed by their ancestral spirits and knowledge. Based on our knowledge, cultures, and advocacy skills, this paper collectively explores and compares the intersections of Indigeneity and disability as an embodied identity in four countries: USA, Canada, Sweden, and Australia. This is accomplished by beginning with a brief synopsis of colonization to provide context and then examine the consequences of Western assimilation practices, including academic support of the Western status quo. The paper will then turn to the impact of both colonization and academic constructs on Indigenous epistemologies and ideas of self in disability dialogues. Finally, the paper will focus on Indigenous concepts of difference to not only advance Western disability discussions, but also as a way for Western dialogue to overcome its predilection to hierarchical binaries.

Transformative equality: Court accommodations for South African citizens with severe communication disabilities

WHITE, Robyn M
BORNMAN, Juan
JOHNSON, Ensa
TEWSON, Karen
NIEKERK, Joan van
April 2020

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Background: Persons with disabilities are generally at greater risk of experiencing violence than their peers without a disability. Within the sphere of disability, individuals with severe communication disabilities are particularly vulnerable and have an increased risk of being a victim of abuse or violence and typically turn to their country’s criminal justice system to seek justice. Unfortunately, victims with disabilities are often denied fair and equal treatment before the court. Transformative equality should be pursued when identifying accommodations in court for persons with communication disabilities, as the aim should be to enable such individuals to participate equally in court, without barriers and discrimination.

 

Objectives: This research aimed to identify court accommodations recommended by legal experts, which could assist individuals with severe communication disabilities in the South African court.

 

Method: A qualitative design was used to conduct a discussion with a panel of legal experts.

 

Results: Using Article 13 (Access to Justice) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as a human rights framework, four themes were identified: equality, accommodations, participation and training of professionals.

 

Conclusion: Foreign and national law clearly prohibits discrimination against persons with communication disabilities because of their disability and state that they should be given fair and equal access to the court system. For transformative equality to be achieved, certain rules and laws need to be changed to include specific accommodations for persons with communication disabilities so that they may be enabled to participate effectively in court in the criminal justice system.

 

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 9, 2020

Politically disabled: barriers and facilitating factors affecting people with disabilities in political life within the European Union

WALTZ, Mitzi
SCHIPPERS, Alice
2020

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Diversity is a current buzzword in politics, but in the EU, people with disabilities are not achieving the gains made by women and ethnic minorities. This research examined barriers and facilitating factors through a literature review and interviews with politicians and political activists in five European countries. Six categories of barriers and facilitating factors were found: networks, recruitment and mentoring, resources (money, time and energy), the “hierarchy of impairments,” accessibility of political spaces and activities, and laws and policies. Key recommendations include removing access barriers to political participation, from voting to holding office, including physical and procedural barriers in political spaces; ensuring that equalities legislation covers politicians; eliminating barriers imposed by benefits systems; promoting direct support for political activists, candidates and office-holders with disabilities, including access to necessary services and supports; encouraging parties to recruit and mentor disabled people with leadership potential; and considering quotas and job-sharing.

  • Not many disabled people are active in politics. In the EU, about 15% of people have an impairment, but only around 1% of politicians do.
  • Inclusion at school and in social groups makes it easier to get into political jobs or to try to get elected.
  • Some disabled political activists, volunteers, candidates and office-holders don’t get the support they need.
  • Political parties can help by finding disabled people, supporting them, and helping them get involved in politics.
  • Our article provides several ideas about how to make it easier for disabled people to run for office and work in politics.

India’s disability estimates: Limitations and way forward

RAKHI, Dandona
et al
September 2019

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With India preparing for the next decennial Census in 2021, disability estimates and data collection methodology between the Census 2011 and the most recent population-level survey for India and its states were compared, to highlight the issues to be addressed to improve robustness of the disability estimates in the upcoming Census.

 

Data from the Census 2011 and from two complementary nationally representative household surveys that covered all Indian states with the same methodology and survey instruments–the District-Level Household Survey-4 (DLHS-4, 2012–2013) and the Annual Health Surveys (AHS three rounds, 2010–11, 2011–12 and 2012–13) were used. Data from DLHS-4 and AHS 2012–13 round were pooled to generate estimates for the year 2012–13. Data collection methodology between the sources was compared, including the review of definitions of each type of disability. The overall, mental, visual, hearing, speech, and movement disability rate (DR) per 100,000 population were compared between the sources for India and for each state, and the percent difference in the respective rates was calculated
 

The micro-politics of caring: tinkering with person-centered rehabilitation

GIBSON, BARBARA
TERRY, Gareth
SETCHELL, Jenny
BRIGHT, Felicity A S
CUMMINS, Christine
KAYES, Nicola M
April 2019

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Purpose: In this paper, we critically investigate the implementation of person-centered care with the purpose of advancing philosophical debates regarding the overarching aims and delivery of rehabilitation. While general agreement exists regarding person centered care’s core principles, how practitioners reconcile the implementation of these principles with competing practice demands remains an open question.

 

Materials and methods: For the paper, we drew on post-qualitative methods to engage in a process of “diffractive” analysis wherein we analyzed the micro-doings of person-centered care in everyday rehabilitation work. Working from our team members’ diverse experiences, traditions, and epistemological commitments, we engaged with data from nine “care events” generated in previous research to interrogate the multiple forces that co-produce care practices.

 

Results: We map our analyses under three categories: scripts mediate practice, securing compliance through “benevolent manipulations”, and care(ful) tinkering. In the latter, we explore the notion of tinkering as a useful concept for approaching person centered care. Uncertainty, humility, and doubt in one’s expertise are inherent to tinkering, which involves a continual questioning of what to do, what is best, and what is person centered care within each moment of care. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for rehabilitation and person-centered care.

A comparison of disability rights in employment: Exploring the potential of the UNCRPD in Uganda and the United States

OJOK, Patrick
GOULD, Robert
2019

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The disability employment policy systems in the US and Uganda are compared, and areas identified to improve implementation by examining the broader socio-cultural contexts that have shaped disability policy and practices of the two countries over time. Using the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as the overarching analytical framework, the analysis is framed within the discussion of the right to employment, as both countries are recognized for policy advances in this domain, but continue to experience low labor market participation for persons with disabilities. It identifies three critical areas that impact the realisation of disability rights in each context: ideological frameworks; hiring and retention initiatives; and state level supports. Ultimately, it considers the limitations of the rights based framework for actualising employment rights in the context of limited state and individual resources. 

 

Disability and the Global South, 2019, Vol.6, No. 2

 

Social participation and inclusion of ex-combatants with disabilities in Colombia

RIVAS VELARDE, Minerva
Del ROCIO GARZON DIAZ, Karim
SHAKESPEARE, Tom
2019

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The purpose of this paper is to explore ex-combatants’ understandings of disability and the pathways for social reintegration available to them in Colombia. The qualitative data for the study include seven in-depth interviews with ex-combatants and 29 with key informants, including disabled people’s organisations, government agencies, international organisations and academic groups. Findings suggest that transition to civilian life for ex-combatants is made more difficult by inadequate procedures, lack of support and complex administrative data vacuums. Social determinants, historical prejudice against persons with disabilities, high levels of unemployment and political polarisation in a post conflict context combine to trigger poverty traps. The findings indicate pitfalls in the early implementation of the Colombian peace process, which did not consider structural issues that affected transition to civilian life for ex-combatants with disabilities. Furthermore, key enablers for social inclusion such as peer-to-peer support have been identified by respondents. This paper concludes that more needs to be done to enhance the voices of ex-combatants with disabilities and to understand the profound meaning of acquiring impairments through participation in conflict, as well as how post-conflict responses could enable these individuals to gain the skills they need to successfully reintegrate into their communities. 

 

Disability and the Global South, 2019, Vol.6, No. 2

Governmentality of disability in the context of lifelong learning in European Union policy

KAUPPILA, Aarno
KINNARI, Heikki
NIEMI, Anna-Maija
2018

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The possibility to participate in education and lifelong learning has been introduced in EU disability policy in recent decades as one of the key means to improve the socioeconomic position of disabled persons. Simultaneously, lifelong learning has been developed as the defining concept of EU education policy to increase social cohesion and economic competitiveness. However, the education, employment rate and socioeconomic status of disabled persons have remained far below the EU average. In this article, we theo- rize governmentality to explore (1) how EU lifelong learning and disability policy discourses constitute and govern disabled persons and (2) how disabled persons are positioned in the policy dis- courses. The data consist of the most relevant EU policy documents concerning lifelong learning and disability policy in the twenty-first century. We argue that the policies constitute and govern disabled persons as a group who do not fulfil the premises set for the lifelong learner, and that consequently, policy dis- courses marginalize disabled persons instead.

Tensions and unity in the struggle for citizenship: Swedish disability rights activists claim ‘Full Participation! Now!’

SÉPULCHRE, Marie
2018

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This article analyses the claims of contemporary disability rights activists mobilising in a context where de facto second- class citizenship co-exists with legal and political declarations about the rights of disabled people. As an empirical case, it focuses on the blog ‘Full Participation.Now’, which was initiated by disability rights activists in Sweden. Drawing upon citizenship research, the article points to the tensions and dilemmas featuring the bloggers’ demand for participation and equality, as well as the challenges relative to their struggle. Although the bloggers formulate contrasting arguments, the article highlights that the activists share a common aspiration for ‘full citizenship’.

‘My granddaughter doesn’t know she has disabilities and we are not going to tell her’: Navigating intersections of indigenousness, disability and gender in Labrador

STIENSTRA, Deborah
BAIKIE, Gail
MANNING, Susan
2018

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Drawing from qualitative research and over five years of relationship-building with women in Labrador, Canada, this article explores the intersections of Indigenousness, disability and gender. Labrador offers a unique perspective with its three Indigenous nations, including one Indigenous self-government and settler populations; its remote and Northern location; and its long history as a site for resource exploitation, global military presence and colonial displacements. We explore how these features shape the experiences of women with disabilities, including in rejecting the label of ‘disability’ and finding spaces in their communities of both inclusion and exclusion. Understanding the experiences of women with disabilities in Labrador requires recognizing the disabling consequences of colonization and the fast-track urbanization that has accompanied resource development in the region. We highlight some Indigenous models of inclusion that are already working and can provide an opportunity for service providers, governments and those living in communities to learn from them.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 2

Disabling bodies of/and land: Reframing disability justice in conversation with indigenous theory and activism

JAFFEE, Laura
JOHN, Kelsey
2018

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A central claim of this paper is that the destruction of Earth through practices of settler colonialism is inextricable from the disablement of Indigenous ontology, peoples, and communities. The disablement of land/body as a tactic of settler colonialism has persisted for centuries and takes multifarious forms. By highlighting Indigenous struggles to protect Mother Earth and her sacred resources, we suggest that Indigenous ontology, specifically relationships to land (Deloria, 1972), challenges Eurocentric/settler disability theory at the epistemological level by rejecting the taken-for-granted dualism between the environment and (disabled) humans within (settler) disability studies. Indigenous ontology, and Indigenous peoples’ experiences of settler colonialism, belie a clear bifurcation of humans and the environment, or bodies and space. Land appropriation, resource extraction, linguistic genocide, forced removal, erasure, and devastation by settlers invariably wreaks havoc on the land, spirit, livestock, and bodies of Indigenous peoples. Rejecting logics of elimination and imagining alternative futures- in opposition to the capitalist state’s projection of futures devoid of disability and Indigeneity- is essential for realizing national and bodily self-determination for non-Indigenous disabled and Indigenous peoples in the present and into the future.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 2

Disability and conditional social security benefits : Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, special issue, vol. 25, no.2, June 2017

GEIGER, Ben Baumberg
Ed
July 2017

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This special issue of the Journal of Poverty & Social Justice has two aims. Firstly to provide new evidence on the implementation and impacts of conditionality for disabled benefits claimants in order to provide an empirical foundation for the contested claims on both sides of this debate and secondly to prompt further research in this area. 

Article titles in this issue are:

  • Benefits conditionality for disabled people: stylised facts from a review of international evidence and practice
  • Does sanctioning disabled claimants of unemployment insurance increase labour market inactivity? An analysis of 346 British local authorities between 2009 and 2014 
  • Consequences of activation policy targeting young adults with health-related problems in Sweden and Denmark
  • Assessment of work ability in competing strands of social insurance: the German case 
  • Welfare conditionality and disabled people in the UK: claimants' perspectives
  • The bedroom tax in the Supreme Court: implications of the judgment 

Normality and disability: intersections among norms, law, and culture

GOGGIN, Gerald
STEELE, Linda
CADWALLADER, Jessica
April 2017

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The central aim of this anthology of papers is to consider the place of law in political, social, scientific and biomedical developments relating to disability and other categories of ‘abnormality’. The papers consider how categories of abnormality relate to the privileged and frequently unmarked position of ‘normality’ and how legal interventions in abnormality relate to existing normative designations in the dominant cultural imaginary. This collection of papers has a range of disciplinary approaches

Paper titles:

  • Fit or fitting in: deciding against normal when reproducing the future
  • Eccentricity: the case for undermining legal categories of disability and normalcy
  • Eugenics and the normal body: the role of visual images and intelligence testing in framing the treatment of people with disabilities in the early twentieth century
  • The construction of access: the eugenic precedent of the Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Disability and torture: exception, epistemology and ‘black sites’
  • Mental capacity and states of exception: revisiting disability law with Giorgio Agamben
  • Not just language: an analysis of discursive constructions of disability in sentencing remarks
  • Policing normalcy: sexual violence against women offenders with disability
  • ‘The government is the cause of the disease and we are stuck with the symptoms’: deinstitutionalisation, mental health advocacy and police shootings in 1990s Victoria
  • Disruptive, dangerous and disturbing: the ‘challenge’ of behaviour in the construction of normalcy and vulnerability
  • Making the abject: problem-solving courts, addiction, mental illness and impairment
  • Cripwashing: the abortion debates at the crossroads of gender and disability in the Spanish media
  • ‘Figurehead’ hate crime cases: developing a framework for understanding and exposing the ‘problem’ with ‘disability’

Continuum 

Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol.31, No.3, pp. 337-340

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2017.1275077

Precarious lives and resistant possibilities: the labour of people with learning disabilities in times of austerity

BATES, Keith
GOODLEY, Dan
RUNSWICK-COLE, Katherine
2017

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This paper draws on feminist and queer philosophers? discussions of precarity and employment, too often absent from disability studies, to explore the working lives of people with learning disabilities in England in a time of austerity. Recent policy shifts from welfare to work welcome more disabled people into the job market. The reality is that disabled people remain under-represented in labour statistics and are conspicuously absent in cultures of work. We live in neoliberal- able times where we all find ourselves precarious. But, people with learning disabilities experience high levels of uncertainty in every aspect of their lives, including work, relationships and community living. Our research reveals an important analytical finding: that when people with learning disabilities are supported in imaginative and novel ways they are able to work effectively and cohesively participate in their local communities (even in a time of cuts to welfare). We conclude by acknowledging that we are witnessing a global politics of precarity and austerity. Our urgent task is to redress the unequal spread of precaritization across our society that risks leaving people with learning disabilities experiencing disproportionately perilous lives. One of our key recommendations is that it makes no economic sense (never mind moral sense) to pull funding from organisations that support people with intellectual disabilities to work.

Disability and social justice

MLADENOV, Teodor
2016

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This article explores the significance of disability for social justice, using Nancy Fraser’s theory of justice as a guideline. The article argues that the disability perspective is essential for understanding and promoting social justice, although it is often disregarded by critical thinkers and social activists. The article looks at three prominent strategies for achieving social justice under conditions of capitalism: economically, by decommodifying labour; culturally, by deconstructing self-sufficiency; and politically, by transnationalising democracy. The disability perspective reveals that decommodification of labour requires enhancement of disability support, deconstruction of self-sufficiency requires valorisation of disability-illuminated interdependence, and transnationalisation of democracy requires scrutiny of the transnational production of impairments. The article discusses each of these strategies in theoretical and practical terms by drawing on disability studies and Fraser’s analyses.

Participation of persons with disabilities in political activities in Cameroon

OPOKUA, Maxwell Peprah
MPRAH, Wisdom Kwadwo
SAKA, Bernard Nsaidzedze
2016

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The right to participate in political activities is a fundamental human right for every citizen in a country, but this right is often not available to persons with disabilities. This study investigated the level of and barriers to political participation of persons with disabilities in the Buea municipality in Cameroon. A qualitative data collection method, consisting of three focus group discussions with 36 persons with disabilities was conducted. Participants were selected from three categories of persons with disabilities- visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically impaired- who were residing in the Buea municipality. The study found that the involvement of persons with disabilities in politics in the area was minimal as socio-economic, cultural and physical barriers hindered their participation in political activities at both local and national levels. The study concludes that there should be conscious efforts though affirmative actions to promote and respect the rights of persons with disabilities and make the political environment more accessible to persons with disabilities in Cameroon.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 2

The Americans with disabilities act at 25 years : lessons to learn from the convention on the rights of people with disabilities

KANTER, Arlene S
2015

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“In this Article, the Author argues that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the subsequent ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), have not realized the goal of ensuring equality for people with disabilities. The Author suggests that the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

(CRPD), adopted in 2006 by the United Nations, offers a new approach to realizing the right to equality for people with disabilities”

Drake Law Review, Vol. 63

Disability Inclusion in Primary Health Care in Nepal: An Explorative Study of Perceived Barriers to Access Governmental Health Services

VAN HEES, S
CORNIELJE, H
WAGLE, P
VELDMAN, E
2015

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Purpose: Persons with disabilities face additional barriers in accessing primary healthcare services, especially in developing countries. Consequently the prevalence of secondary health conditions is higher among this population. This study aims to explore the perceived barriers to access primary healthcare services by persons with disabilities in the Western region of Nepal.

 

Methods: 10 primary healthcare providers and 11 persons with disabilities (physically or visually impaired) were selected by non-governmental organisations from the hilly and lower areas. Based on the International Classification of Functioning and the health accessibility model of Institute of Medicine, semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using analytical induction.

 

Results: In general, healthcare providers and persons with disabilities reported similar barriers. Transportation and the attitude of family members and the community were the main environmental barriers. Even with assistive devices, people still depend on their families. Financial barriers were lack of funds for health expenses, problems in generating an income by persons with disabilities themselves, and the low socio-economic status of their families. Personal barriers, which affect help-seeking behaviour in a major way, were most often mentioned in relation to financial and socio-environmental barriers. Low self-esteem of the person with disability determines the family’s attitude and the motivation to seek out healthcare. Lastly, poor public awareness about the needs of persons with disabilities was reported.

 

Conclusions: Besides the known physical environmental barriers, this study found several environmental, financial and personal barriers that also affect access to primary healthcare. In particular, the attitudes of families and poor financial conditions seem to be interrelated and greatly influence help-seeking behaviour.

Development process in Africa: Poverty, politics and indigenous knowledge

EIDE, Arne H
KHUPE, Watson
MANNAN, Hasheem
2014

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Background: Persons with disability run the danger of not profiting from the development process due to exclusion from basic services and opportunities. Still, the knowledge base on exclusion mechanisms is relatively weak and there is a danger that important aspects are not addressed as they are hidden behind established understandings that are not critically scrutinised.

 

Objectives: The main purpose of this article was to highlight critical thoughts on prevailing knowledge of the relationship between disability and poverty, the policy base for addressing the rights of persons with disability, and culture as a key component in continued discrimination.

 

Method: This article aimed at integrating three papers on the above topics presented at the 2011 African Network for Evidence-to-Action on Disability (AfriNEAD) Symposium. The researchers have therefore thoroughly examined and questioned the relationship between disability and poverty, the influence of policy on action, and the role of culture in reproducing injustice.

 

Results: The article firstly claims that there are limitations in current data collection practice with regards to analysing the relationship between poverty and disability. Secondly, ambitions regarding inclusion of persons with disability in policy processes as well as in implementation of policies are not necessarily implemented in an optimal way. Thirdly, negative aspects of culture in discrimination and bad treatment of disabled need to be highlighted to balance the discussion on disability and culture.

 

Conclusion: A critical view of prevailing understandings of disability and development is key to producing the knowledge necessary to eradicate poverty amongst persons with disability and other vulnerable groups. Not only do we need research that is actually designed to reveal the mechanisms behind the disability–poverty relationship, we need research that is less tied up with broad political agreements that is not necessarily reflecting the realities at ground level.

Dis/ability and austerity: beyond work and slow death

GOODLEY, Dan
LAWTHOM, Rebecca
RUNSWICK-COLE, Katherine
2014

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The forthcoming book Dis/ability Studies: Theorising Disablism and Ableism argues that we are living in an historical epoch which might be described as neoliberal-ableism, in which we are all subjected to slow death, increased preca- rity and growing debility. In this paper we apply this analysis to a consideration of austerity with further reference to disability studies and politics.

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