disability exclusion
Whereas issues of race, gender, gender identity & expression, and sexual orientation are widely accepted by virtually everyone concerned with human rights today, disability discrimination is still mostly ignored, even though disability rights are protected by the Charter, Human Rights Codes, and in the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and optional protocol.
Ignoring a Whole Social Movement
The notions of disabled people and disability rights are largely unknown among progressives and yet are a living, breathing part of contemporary Canadian society. These notions are founded on the very simple concept that it is the structural and attitudinal barriers of society, not medical impairments, that prevent people with disabilities from achieving their human rights. In other words, disability is largely a social construct determined by the cost-cutting constraints of an increasingly neoliberal capitalism. An entire social movement is out there fighting discrimination daily, but is ignored by both progressives and the mainstream media.
This is no small problem. In virtually every area of social life, people with disabilities face systemic discrimination from employment to transportation to income levels to education and even in expressing their sexuality and their right to have relationships.. It should give pause that at least with respect to services, the Americans, with a militant, grassroots disability-rights movement and a strong Americans with Disabilities Act in place, have arguably removed more barriers more systematically than here in Canada. This is, in part, a result of direct-action tactics undertaken by the American disability-rights activists like ADAPT, that has engaged in confrontational in-your-face demonstrations to get their message heard.
Universities, colleges and public schools are another area where barriers, both physical and attitudinal, are systemic across Canada. It is not surprising that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities remains enormous, even with a robust economy over the last several years.
A Disability Agenda
What, then, is to be done? Clearly the broad Left needs to pay more attention to disability issues and disability oppression. Disability is arguably the least well-theorized of the "new social movements," yet astonishingly, most activists on the Left, whether they are feminists, Greens or anti-poverty activists, show little or no interest in the topic. Publications on the Left rarely write about it. While even the most sectarian of far-Left organizations have been forced to at least reconsider their approach to race, gender and sexual identity, few on any part of the Left have anything to say about disability politics and disability oppression. On a practical level, progressive meetings, be they about globalization or feminism, the environment or gay rights, are often held at notoriously inaccessible locations, with embarrassed apologies issued after the fact. Material in alternative formats for those with visual impairments is often only available late or not at all.
There is so much work to be done, theoretical and practical, that only the most tentative of projects can be outlined here. However, one crucial item that merits consideration is attendant-care and medical support services. In order to function as full and equal citizens, people with disabilities need access to affordable, quality attendant care and medical support services Yet, as the debate is currently framed, the voices of people with disabilities are rarely included.
Their needs are often subsumed or conflated with government funded service providers (such as the large disability charities) or parents. There is no reason why progressives (other than fear and disinterests) cannot form a cohesive, long-term alliance with disability-rights advocates to campaign for programs and services, employing well-paid, unionized staff that would allow people with disabilities to live independently and with dignity. And that's just a single example of transformations that are needed for disability empowerment.
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Thus, social movements of all stripes need to support disability-rights activists in their day-to-day struggles and systematically incorporate disability oppression analysis into their own agendas. An example in the first category is the campaign by disability-rights activists to enact a BC & Canadians with Disabilities Act, which would, to a modest degree, empower people with disabilities.
Whatever the structural limitations of the proposal, progressives need to be actively involved in the struggle before critiquing it. And emulating it across the country, particularly in provinces with NDP governments, would be a great step forward. An example of the second category is explicitly making disability oppression a fundamental part of the growing anti-globalization movement. Feminist and anti-racist militants expect no less and neither should disability-rights activists.
PLEASE NOTE: The above was taken from an article written in the early 90s (with some edits) to highlight how little progress disabled activists have had in convincing governments & activists on the Left, (I.e. feminists, greens, anti-poverty, labour, anti-racist, & LGBTQI activists, etc) to develop & show solidarity with the disabled. The disabled include representatives from all identity groups as all identity groups marginalize their disabled members. Let that be a source of strength in our growing grassroots disability rights movement.
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virtually everyone concerned with social justice today ignores disability discrimination and oppression this is far from being something new. https://preview.tinyurl.com/y3hksq2h