A Restrictive Humanitarian Policy and the Wellbeing of the Disabled in Disasters in Kisumu County

This paper explores how PWD's well-being is realized in disaster situations in Kisumu County of Kenya. There is a significant population of 15,760 persons with disability across Kisumu County. Their well-being is protected by the international humanitarian policy. At the national level, the well-being of persons with disability is taken care of in the Disability Act 2003 and the National Disability Policy. Despite existence of a humanitarian policy framework, the well-being of the disabled is compromised in disaster situations within Kisumu County. The humanitarian policy framework limits humanitarian action to response, which compromises the well-being of PWD. The study employed semi-structured questionnaire instruments to gather information on humanitarian policies applicable to PWD in disaster context. From the key findings, the study concludes that the international humanitarian policies as well as national humanitarian policies are restrictive in nature. The policy lacks enforcement and implementation mechanisms to support the wellbeing of persons with disability in disasters.

The Bangladeshi Rights and Protection of Persons With Disability Act of 2013: A Policy Analysis

The government of Bangladesh enacted the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act of 2013 (the Act) in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This article sheds light on the Act with particular emphasis on (a) support offered to children with disabilities (CWDs) and their families to address their needs; and (b) the extent to which the Act is in line with the international disability policy analysis framework. We compared the Act with the 18 core concepts of disability policy developed by Turnbull et al. The results affirm the government’s effort toward Sustainable Development Goals in providing support to CWDs and their families. They indicate a high degree of congruency of the Act with the core concepts. The findings also highlight the need to embrace the concept of autonomy, confidentiality, and family-centeredness in great detail in any policy initiatives pertaining to CWDs. Furthermore, the finding shows that collaboration and coordination among ministries are imperative to achieve the goal of policies related to disability. In addition, the results highlight the need for more budgetary allocation and robust monitoring systems to track the progress of policy initiatives. As policy implementation is affected by changes in global contexts such as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, policymakers in Bangladesh and other low-and middle-income countries should ensure that emergency responses are disability-inclusive and appropriate for CWDs. To ensure a disability-inclusive response, it is critical to engage individuals with disabilities and their families in meaningful consultations to identify their needs.

International legal regulation of the rights of persons with disabilities: problems of formation and development

At the level of international legal regulation disability policy is currently one of the priority areas. However, such attention to the international legal protection of the rights of persons with disabilities has not always been the case, as the problems of persons with disabilities have long remained unnoticed by the international community. Rare attempts to improve the situation with persons with disabilities were usually limited to medical protection and integration into the labor market, while the task of their full and actual involvement in public life was not even set. The article analyzes the preconditions, reasons and features of the evolution of the system of international legal protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as examines the transformation of approaches to defining the concept of "disability" at the level of international law. The article defines the main stages of the formation of international cooperation in the field of protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. The article presents the results of the analysis of international legal documents on disability policy for the period from the beginning of the twentieth century to 2020.

Activation, Non-Take-Up, and the Sense of Entitlement: A Swiss Case Study of Disability Policy Reforms

Based on the case of the Swiss disability insurance (DI), the article questions the impact of activation on the (non-)take-up of social policies. It investigates the aim and content of activation policies (as found in official texts and discourses) and their subjective perception among recipients. Inspired by Kerr’s model and Hobson’s notion of “sense of entitlement”, analysis reveals the paradoxical outcomes of DI reforms. It underlines the importance of the subjective dimension of entitlements in the sociological understanding of non-take-up.

Narrowed Lives: Meaning, Moral Value, and Profound Intellectual Disability

What is day-to-day life like for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities who live in group homes? How do they express their desires and wishes? How do care workers think about them and treat them? Do they have basic rights to activities most of us take for granted: activities like sociability, sexuality, and moral affirmation? Narrowed Lives is an illuminating portrait of what life is like in Finnish group homes where adults who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities live their lives. Based upon ethnographic data, it documents how care workers strive to guarantee individuality and dignity against a backdrop of scarce resources and misguided policies. This book argues that the lives of people with profound disabilities need not be determined by their impairments. It calls for a re-evaluation of disability policy so that its underlying conviction of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities as equally valuable fellow humans would materialise in practice. This novel and accessible book combines ethnography and philosophy, and will be of interest to researchers and students in disability studies, special education and philosophy, as well as parents, professionals and policy makers.

Bridging yesterday and tomorrow: Responses to the new disability rights paradigm in the post-socialist region

In the post-socialist region, both disability NGOs and disability research have been hostages of the medical model. The last decades mark the end of this dependence, however, a question remains over whether disability activism and research have become allies, implementing human rights-based disability policy. The goal of this paper is to reveal the relationship between academic disability research and disability activism and their influence on disability policy in the post-socialist region. The objectives of the research are to analyze the peculiarities of academic disability discourse and disability activism, their intersection points as well as their actual impact on disability policy. As a reference point for this analysis, we will take the trends of disability discourse and the rise of disability activism in the Global North countries. Thus, this paper contributes to the „careful dialogue" (Rassel, Iarskaia-Smirnova, 2013) between the post-socialist and Western understandings of disability. Authors overview the emergence of civil society and disability activism in post-socialist countries, discuss the changing role of researchers in the disability field, present and compare findings from experts' research, and quantitative content analysis of disability-related academic texts.