2011/10/21 by Mary Kemple, Farooq Ahmad, Suraj Girijashanker · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Disability Rights and Representation #Canadian Identity and History #Human rights #Political science #Disability studies #Movement (music) #Law #Sociology #Media studies #Art #Aesthetics
paper · doi:10.1093/jhuman/hur019
openalex publication_date 2011/10/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
An estimated one billion people worldwide live with a disability, comprising 15 per cent of the global population and forming the ‘world's largest minority’ (UN ENABLE, 2011). People with disabilities are more likely to have poorer health outcomes, lower educational achievements, higher rates of poverty, and less economic activity than people without disabilities (World Health Organization (WHO), 2011: xi). This is largely as a consequence of the environmental, institutional and attitudinal barriers they face that range from a lack of accessibility and safety in general infrastructure to social stigma and paternalistic attitudes surrounding disability. Such barriers are challenged by a wealth of disability-centric organizations, most focused in the Global North. These organizations have become increasingly likely to adopt a judicial route to achieving their policy objectives, in addition to more traditional mechanisms such as lobbying or exerting political pressure. Specifically, strategic litigation through test cases has been increasingly utilized, whereby gaps in the law are addressed in order to trigger broader social change for a class of people.