Link between citizenship, disability

26 Nov, 2017 - 00:11 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Dr Christine Peta
The purpose of this article is to articulate the link between citizenship and disability. I, therefore, start by defining the two concepts as the major notions that interact to frame the discussion in this article.

What is citizenship?

Citizenship includes the ways in which people belong to society, a nation-state, political society and local community. The dynamics of citizenship are forever changing, hence the objectives of citizenship can either include people or it may exclude people. Whichever way, citizenship is grounded in communities and society.

What is disability?

Disability is a forever changing concept, which is highly contested and, therefore, difficult to define. Different societies have different ways of understanding disability, and in some cases such understanding includes cultural belief systems.

Some Asian countries believe in rebirth and they regard disability as a temporary phase of the recreation process.

In this article I draw on the definition of disability from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (2006) which states that: “Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

The link between disability and citizenship lies in the fact that citizenship is rooted in communities and societies in which both disabled and non-disabled persons live. However, disabled people are commonly excluded from opportunities that enable them to enjoy equal citizenship with their non-disabled counterparts, within communities.

So what then is a community?

A community is not just a place where people live, but it is a place in which people do things, and where there are other people, and where one can get to know other people, and a place where people experience a feeling of belonging.

For disabled persons, community participation does not mean the practice of just doing things with other disabled people, but it means doing things with non-disabled persons as well. Community participation, therefore, means practical involvement in different areas such as sports, leisure, work, friendships and helping other people.

I draw an example from New Zealand to buttress my explanation of the concept of community participation.

Historically, disabled people institutions were set up and persons who needed help and were regarded as “problems” were sent to live in those institutions, some of the places were in fact jails (Bray and Gates, 2003). However, almost all such institutions have now been shut down and the persons who once lived in the institutions have now moved to live in mainstream communities. However, the practice of moving disabled people from institutions and enabling them to live in mainstream communities does not represent community participation.

It is not automatic that communities will always be welcoming. The reality is that persons with disabilities may find themselves being lonely due to the isolation they experience in communities, they may be teased or they may not even know how to act in particular situations.

The practice of defining community as if it simply represents the opposite of living in disability institutions is, therefore, erroneous.

If disabled people are ever going to realise their full citizenship rights, then communities themselves have to change.

Some people may argue that it is not possible for any person to be fully embraced by a community and to comfortably participate in community activities. Yes! But the point is we should deliberately strive to welcome persons with disabilities in communities and ensure that we create an environment in which they actively participate in all facets of life. In other words, we should make thoughtful efforts so as not to exclude persons with disability on the grounds that they are disabled.

Way forward

A starting point could be to go back to TH Marshall’s 1950 definition of citizenship so we know what to aim for, if we are going to promote the realisation of full citizenship rights of disabled persons. Marshall points at three types of rights — civil rights, political rights and social rights and states that, “Civil rights are those that represent a person’s ability to have individual freedom, such as freedom of speech, thought, faith and the right to justice.

Political rights include active participation in the political affairs of a nation, and social rights include the whole broad spectrum of issues such as economic welfare, security, the right to share in social heritage and to live as civilised human beings according to the standards that prevail in a given society.”

Disabled persons should not just be regarded as persons who are receivers of charitable services and opportunities, but they should also be positively expected to make a contribution towards the development of the nation. In other words, disabled persons have citizenship duties and responsibilities.

We, therefore, need to shift from the historical perspective where persons with disability have been regarded as worthless people, who cannot be expected to have any kind of future.

If disabled individuals are met with positive expectations, it becomes easier to include equal citizenship rights for disabled people in political discussions. Other than that, the politics of citizenship is likely to exclude disability and to ignore the real lives of disabled people.

The question of whether a life is valuable or not depends upon the opportunities that are available for the person to live a good and meaningful life.

The politics of inclusion, therefore, includes both the concrete life opportunities that people with disabilities experience and laws that regulate who is valued as worthy to live.

Imagining a future of equal status and social justice is paramount in the continuous work of building democratic societies.

 

Dr Christine Peta is a public health care practitioner who, among other qualifications, holds a PhD in Disability Studies. Be part of international debate on how best to nurture a society which is more accessible, supportive and inclusive of disabled people on [email protected]

 

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