The disability rights movements in the EU and Europe

Abstract

The study of the social movement, specifically on the marginalized or minority group is an important tool to gain insight into the social and cultural evolution of any given society or culture. A study on the disability rights movement is a growing field in social science, especially in the backdrop of the ever-growing awareness of social and cultural change of the 21st Century. Generally speaking, there are a wide gap in the prior research as it failed in one way or the another, ranging from inability to account for the multifaceted nature of disability, overemphasis on a specific aspect at the expense of the demographic group, lack of literature in a specific region, and failure to engage with the targeted population themselves in a meaningful manner and thus has ironically removed the input from the actual persons with disability (PWD). Therefore, this research’s aim is to scrutinize the relatively “unique” nature of disability rights movement in the European Union from its background to the current characteristics, which is arguably unique in a sense that it is a supranational union which utilized legal and political mechanisms to function as an organization. The research utilized a wide array of primary and secondary sources, legal documents, and official policies to analyze the facilitation of disability rights via the rule-of-law mode of governance. Furthermore, an online survey is also utilized to gauge the reception of the policy among the people with disabilities themselves. In contrast to what the public and the state have often assumed, the initiatives undertaken by the EU and its institutions are still in their infancy and the measures are often deemed inadequate and long overdue by the PWDs and disability rights NGOs. The findings also indicated that PWDs in the EU are quite dissatisfied and felt unaffected by the current policies or a lack thereof, which could have become a major concern for the EU particularly about human rights issues. A policy review might be necessary should the EU wish to celebrate itself as a champion of human rights and social liberation.