Abstract
Since the 1970s the prevailing discourse around disability in North America, Britain and much of western Europe has focused on the ‘social model’, which at its simplest asserts that people are disabled because of their social, political, cultural and physical environments and not as a result of physical, sensory or mental impairment. In Britain, in particular, many in the disability movement have asserted a rather sharp dichotomy between ‘social’ and ‘medical’ models of disability, and since the 1980s this has translated into a raft of policy reforms in the fields of education, employment and social welfare, which have attempted to remove barriers and foster equality and social inclusion. At the heart of this discourse is the slogan ‘NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US’, which expresses ‘the attempt by disabled people to take back control over their lives. Rather than non-disabled people taking decisions, speaking for, or otherwise dominating them, disabled people are asserting their ability and right to be independent.’1
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Tom Shakespeare (2006) Disability Rights and Wrongs (Abingdon: Routledge) p.185.
Matthew Kohrman (2005) Bodies of Difference (Oakland, CA: University of California Press) p. 99.
Eleanor E. Holroyd (2003) ‘Chinese Family Obligations Toward Chronically Ill Elderly Members: Comparing Caregivers in Beijing and Hong Kong’ Qualitative Health Research, vol. 3, no 3, pp. 302–18.
Ann Chao (2009) ‘”Through Massage We Can be Useful”: The Institutionalization of Blind Massage in China’ Harvard B.A. thesis, p. 48.
Yu Keping (2009) Democracy is a Good Thing: Essays on Politics, Society and Culture in Contemporary China (Washinton: The Brooking Institution) p. 58.
Ma Qiusha (2013) Non-governmental Organizations in Contemporary China: Paving the Way to Civil Society? (Abingdon: Routledge) p.49.
A. I. Batavia (2001) ‘Are People with Disabilities an Oppressed Minority, and why does this Matter?’, Journal of Disability Policy Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 66–67.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Stephen Hallett
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hallett, S. (2015). ‘Enabling the Disabled’: The Growing Role of Civil Society in Disability Rights Advocacy. In: Fulda, A. (eds) Civil Society Contributions to Policy Innovation in the PR China. The Nottingham China Policy Institute Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137518644_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137518644_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-50650-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-51864-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)