“People With Disabilities Have The Right To Co-Design Policies And Programs That Affect Their Daily Lives”

“In the end, it’s the opinion of the people who use the goods and services, that really count”- Melissa Ryan

It is often clear that disability policies have been based on some human consideration, but it is less clear whether people with disabilities have participated, or whether decisions are made by committees that somehow speak for disability (Rieger & Strickfaden, 2016). Either way, there is a fixing that occurs when these policies are completed (Jones, 2014; Rieger & Strickfaden, 2016). De Carlo (2005, p.13) argues that the politics of participation become too settled and unquestioned, which suggests that ‘when we plan “for” people ... we tend, once consensus is reached, to freeze it into permanent fact’.

When policies are taken for granted, they are left unchallenged and kept at a distance, much like disability itself is often marginalised and kept at a distance (Rieger & Strickfaden, 2016). This is not just an issue of access and representation, but a rights and justice issue, as people with disabilities have the right to co-design the policies and programs that will affect their daily lives.

The meaning of co-design lacks a shared understanding, especially in policymaking, where it has become taken for granted and given an influential role as little more than a toolkit (Blomkamp, 2018; Durose et al., 2017). Conversely, understanding co-design as a process and not a product recognises that ‘the process is continuous and ever changing’, which has implications for policy designer whose job is ‘no longer to produce finished and unalterable solutions’ but to continuously co-design and negotiate solutions with people affected by policy issues (Blomkamp, 2018; Sanoff, 1990).