Global Perspectives on Disability Activism and Advocacy

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.

Karen Soldatic is an Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences & Institute Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. She was awarded a Fogarty Foundation Excellence in Education Fellowship for 2006-2009, a British Academy International Fellowship in 2012, a fellowship at The Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University (2011-2012), where she remains an Adjunct Fellow, and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2016-2019). Her research on global welfare regimes builds on her 20 years of experience as an international, national and state-based senior policy analyst, researcher and practitioner. She obtained her PhD (Distinction) in 2010 from the University of Western Australia. Kelley Johnson holds honorary professorial appointments at Deakin University and University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. She is an internationally known scholar who has been a researcher and advocate with disabled people for more than 20 years in Australia and internationally. Her recent previously held positions include Director, Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW, and Director of the Norah Fry Research Centre in Bristol, UK. Kelley has an ongoing commitment to inclusive research which involves disabled people undertaking research on issues that are important in their lives. Her research interests include deinstitutionalization, community participation of disabled people, sexuality and relationships, and rights with a particular focus on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

List of contributors; 1 Introduction Karen Soldatic and Kelley Johnson; Part 1 Remembering and Remembrance; 2 'We're being treated as second-class citizens': community, family and learning disability activists campaigning for dignity in death Nigel Ingham; 3 'Madhouse': performance artists with learning disabilities sharing the history of institutions Sue Ledger and Jan Walmsley with members of Access All Areas; 4 The importance of disabled people being seen on our screens Sarah Barton; 5 Advocacy from within Moira Rayner; Part 2 Movement Organizations and Leadership; 6 Action makes a difference: creating inclusive spaces through advocacy work in Samoa Juliann Anesi; 7 Kamalawathie: gender, disability and leadership in Sri Lanka Niroshini Kandasamy and Karen Soldatic; 8 Research, advocacy and activism: a necessary interaction? Kelley Johnson, Rob Hopkins and Gerard Minogue; 9 Peer education: a platform for sexuality rights advocacy for women with intellectual disabilities Patsie Frawley and Amie O'Shea; Part 3 Activism across multiple identities; 10 Our lives, our story: the journey of the voiceless towards advocacy in Nepal Pratima Gurung; 11 Sex trafficking, activism and disability Mark Sherry; 12 The onset of austerity in the United Kingdom and start of a disability activism Eleanor Lisney; 13 Queer-crip.blog: a virtual ethnographic comparison of social media movement-building techniques used by queer and disabled activists Zahari Richter; Part 4 Agitating the State; 14 Disability masked avengers: the Bolshy Divas Katie Ellis; 15 Advocacy in Jordan: a paradigm shift from the medical model to the rights-based approach Muhannad Alazzeh; 16 Transforming disability law and policy in Peru: the role of civil society Alberto Vásquez Encalada; 17 The fight to be steadfast: Bolivian disability activists Marianne Hedlund Part 5 Working Transnationally; 18 Advocating for independent living in the European Union: where there's money, there's a way? Ines Bulic Cojocariu; 19 Towards an Afrocentric disability activism: opportunities and challenges of transnationalizing disability advocacy in Africa Privilege Haang'andu; 20 Troubling activisms: Canada and transnational disability activism Deborah Stienstra; 21 When academia meets activism: The place of research in struggles for disability rights Paula Campos Pinto; 22 Conclusion Kelley Johnson and Karen Soldatic; Index