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Unlocking Ability: Democracy and Disabled People’s Campaign for Recognition

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The Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Citizenship in the Global South
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Abstract

The central challenge facing campaigners for the rights of disabled people can be summed up in an easily misunderstood question: how do ‘problems’ become citizens? People are, of course, not ‘problems’ but are commonly viewed as such by governments and planners. In this respect, disabled people have much in common with slum dwellers and people excluded through stigmatised health conditions like HIV/AIDS. This chapter considers the complex politics of engagement by and on behalf of excluded groups and suggests ways of reaching a more inclusive polity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For the centrality of recognition in the concerns of ‘subaltern’ groups see Charles Taylor (1994, pp. 25–73).

  2. 2.

    See the case studies in John Gaventa and Rosemary McGee (Eds.) (2010).

  3. 3.

    On attitudes to voting and its usefulness see Human Sciences Research Council (2014).

  4. 4.

    For an overview of the framing literature see Robert A. Benford and David A. Snow (2000, pp. 611–639).

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Friedman, S. (2019). Unlocking Ability: Democracy and Disabled People’s Campaign for Recognition. In: Watermeyer, B., McKenzie, J., Swartz, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Citizenship in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74675-3_4

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