Research Handbook on Disability Policy

Book excerpt: Examining how policy affects the human rights of people with disabilities, this topical Handbook presents diverse empirical experiences of disability policy and identifies the changes that are necessary to achieve social justice. Expansive in scope, the Handbook illustrates how language, law and concepts about human rights impact the way that disability policy is framed and implemented. Chapters use the lenses of human rights, welfare, health and economic inclusion to address contemporary policy questions such as globalisation and technology. Grounded in lived experiences, the Handbook interweaves personal narratives from people with disabilities which provide important insights into how policy impacts opportunity and point to future possibilities for the influence of human rights on policy change. As narrative author Karla Garcia Luiz reflects, 'We often share situations that make us feel lonely, exhausted, insecure, questioning ourselves.... When we share, we realize that these feelings are collective and, [in]naming them we re-signify them and, thus, we strengthen ourselves for political action'. Informed by international, comparative experiences, this Handbook will be an engaging and perceptive resource for students and scholars of sociology and social policy, health and welfare studies and disability policy. With diverse examples from across the global north and south, it will also appeal to people working in social policy who are looking to develop and reform policies to be more inclusive, accessible and progressive towards people with disabilities.