This book explores the diverse ways in which disability activism and advocacy are experienced and practised by people with disabilities and their allies. Contributors to the book explore the very different strategies and campaigns they have used to have their demands for respect, dignity and rights heard and acted upon by their communities, by national governments and the international community. The book, with its contemporary global focus, makes a significant contribution to the field of disability and social justice studies, particularly at a time of major social, political and cultural upheaval. Global Perspectives on Disability Activism and Advocacy offers a significant intervention within the field of disability at a time of major social upheaval where actors, advocates and activists are seeking to hold onto existing claims for rights, equality and disability justice.

This book takes as its starting point the concept of 'the good life' and the challenge of ensuring people with intellectual disabilities are included in 'the good life.' The book explores the values underpinning current discourses of disability, analyzes their strengths and limitations, and proposes some alternative approaches to theory and practice. It deconstructs key concepts, theories, and practices within the learning disability field in the post institution era, and it identifies the values, strengths, and limits of these approaches. The book explores the boundaries around those included in the category 'disabled,' those on its margins, and those who move in and out of this category. It also proposes some alternative formulations to existing theories and practices, and explores their practical implications for the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. Using evidence from the UK, Australia, Bangladesh, and the Republic of Ireland, People with Intellectual Disabilities bu

This book explores the diverse ways in which disability activism and advocacy are experienced and practised by people with disabilities and their allies. Contributors to the book explore the very different strategies and campaigns they have used to have their demands for respect, dignity and rights heard and acted upon by their communities, by national governments and the international community. The book, with its contemporary global focus, makes a significant contribution to the field of disability and social justice studies, particularly at a time of major social, political and cultural upheaval. Global Perspectives on Disability Activism and Advocacy offers a significant intervention within the field of disability at a time of major social upheaval where actors, advocates and activists are seeking to hold onto existing claims for rights, equality and disability justice.

This is the first book to explore how far disability challenges dominant understandings of rurality, identity, gender and belonging within the rural literature. The book focuses particularly on the ways disabled people give, and are given, meaning and value in relation to ethical rural considerations of place, physical strength, productivity and social reciprocity. A range of different perspectives to the issues of living rurally with a disability inform this work. It includes the lived experience of people with disabilities through the use of life history methodologies, rich qualitative accounts and theoretical perspectives. It goes beyond conventional notions of rurality, grounding its analysis in a range of disability spaces and places and including the work of disability sociologists, geographers, cultural theorists and policy analysts. This interdisciplinary focus reveals the contradictory and competing relations of rurality for disabled people and the resultant impacts and effects upon disabled people and their communities materially, discursively and symbolically. Of interest to all scholars of disability, rural studies, social work and welfare, this book provides a critical intervention into the growing scholarship of rurality that has bypassed the pivotal role of disability in understanding the lived experience of rural landscapes.

This book explores the journey of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as it is interpreted and translated from International Human Rights Law into domestic law and policy in different cultural contexts. Beginning with reflections on 'culture', 'disability' and 'human rights' from different disciplinary perspectives, the work is then organised as 'snapshots' of the journey of the CRPD from the international level to the domestic; the process of ratification, the process of implementation, and then the process of monitoring the CRPD's implementation in States Parties cultural contexts. Leading global contributors provide cutting-edge accounts of the interactions between the CRPD and diverse cultures, revealing variations in the way that the concept of 'culture' is defined. This collection will appeal to academics and students in Law and Socio-Legal Studies, Disability Studies, Policy Studies and Social Work, Sociology, Anthropology; and those training to be service providers with persons with disabilities.

This book explores the journey of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as it is interpreted and translated from International Human Rights Law into domestic law and policy in different cultural contexts. Beginning with reflections on 'culture', 'disability' and 'human rights' from different disciplinary perspectives, the work is then organised as 'snapshots' of the journey of the CRPD from the international level to the domestic; the process of ratification, the process of implementation, and then the process of monitoring the CRPD's implementation in States Parties cultural contexts. Leading global contributors provide cutting-edge accounts of the interactions between the CRPD and diverse cultures, revealing variations in the way that the concept of 'culture' is defined. This collection will appeal to academics and students in Law and Socio-Legal Studies, Disability Studies, Policy Studies and Social Work, Sociology, Anthropology; and those training to be service providers with persons with disabilities.

This ethnographic study of deinstitutionalization explores the lives of women living in a locked ward within an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Johnson describes in rich and carefully-observed detail the lives of the women in the institution largely through their own stories and experiences. The closure of this institution gave her a unique opportunity to closely examine the impact of deinstitutionalization on these women, and the book explores the paradoxical discourse of rights and management that is part of this process.

This is the first book to explore how far disability challenges dominant understandings of rurality, identity, gender and belonging within the rural literature. The book focuses particularly on the ways disabled people give, and are given, meaning and value in relation to ethical rural considerations of place, physical strength, productivity and social reciprocity. A range of different perspectives to the issues of living rurally with a disability inform this work. It includes the lived experience of people with disabilities through the use of life history methodologies, rich qualitative accounts and theoretical perspectives. It goes beyond conventional notions of rurality, grounding its analysis in a range of disability spaces and places and including the work of disability sociologists, geographers, cultural theorists and policy analysts. This interdisciplinary focus reveals the contradictory and competing relations of rurality for disabled people and the resultant impacts and effects upon disabled people and their communities materially, discursively and symbolically. Of interest to all scholars of disability, rural studies, social work and welfare, this book provides a critical intervention into the growing scholarship of rurality that has bypassed the pivotal role of disability in understanding the lived experience of rural landscapes.

This book takes as its starting point the concept of 'the good life' and the challenge of ensuring people with intellectual disabilities are included in 'the good life.' The book explores the values underpinning current discourses of disability, analyzes their strengths and limitations, and proposes some alternative approaches to theory and practice. It deconstructs key concepts, theories, and practices within the learning disability field in the post institution era, and it identifies the values, strengths, and limits of these approaches. The book explores the boundaries around those included in the category 'disabled,' those on its margins, and those who move in and out of this category. It also proposes some alternative formulations to existing theories and practices, and explores their practical implications for the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. Using evidence from the UK, Australia, Bangladesh, and the Republic of Ireland, People with Intellectual Disabilities bu

In this thought-provoking book, Jan Walmsley and Kelley Johnson discuss participative approaches to research and provide an up-to-date account of inclusive practice with individuals with learning disabilities. Drawing on evidence from two major studies, they explain how lessons learnt from inclusive research in the learning disability field are applicable to others working with marginalized groups. The authors examine the origins and the process of inclusive research, describing: * how and why it takes place * who carries it out * who funds it * how it is designed * how it relates to policy and practice. They look at the challenges inherent in this work, such as balancing the voice of the researcher with that of disabled participants and clarifying roles within research projects, and explore how it can become more inclusive and empowering. Providing valuable information and advice to researchers, policy makers and students as well as other health and social care professionals, this book presents a comprehensive examination of participative research in social care.

A comprehensive exploration of issues affecting the lives of women with intellectual disabilities, this book examines how they have found a place for themselves in families, in relationships, at work and in communities. It consists of their stories, written by themselves or by those close to them, and of qualitative research on particular areas of their lives. It takes an international perspective, including contributions from women living in Europe, Australia, India and the US.

Women with intellectual disabilities face specific problems in writing about their lives. Some of these problems relate to their disability, others to the way they are perceived by the broader communities in which they live. These stories challenge the prevailing stereotypes about women with intellectual disabilities as a homogeneous group in need of care and protection. Throughout the book, women's experiences from different countries and cultures are represented. Their personal stories and feminist scholarship are linked together, to provide new and important perspectives on issues of gender and disability. This book will be particularly important for policy workers and practitioners in the disability field, as well as to sociologists and psychologists.