Disability and Human Rights

Abstract

Abstract Using a sociological perspective, this chapter examines the social and political conditions that have enabled the emergence and wide dissemination of the human rights model of disability. Taking the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as the hallmark of this paradigm shift, it provides an overview of the treaty and discusses the meaning and scope of the changes involved in the human rights model of disability, enshrined in this convention. Next, it highlights epistemological, theoretical, and methodological tools of the sociology of human rights and consider their potential for understanding disability rights struggles and achievements worldwide. In the final section, drawing on the experience gathered from the implementation of Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI), a global initiative to monitor disability rights worldwide, the chapter discusses the opportunities and challenges facing a sociologist from the Global North conducting research on disability rights in the Global South.