Ableism’s New Clothes: Achievements and Challenges for Disability Rights in Canada

Abstract

This article offers a critical examination of disability rights in Canada in four policy domains: (a) the concept of disability; (b) non-discrimination and equality; (c) accessibility and inclusion; and (d) income support. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and scholarship from disability legal studies and the applied philosophy of disability provide normative benchmarks for the inquiry. The article identifies several shortcomings within political arrangements, policies, laws, and judicial decisions and traces them back to outdated but enduring conceptions of disability – namely, the ‘medical model,’ the ‘charity model,’ as well as other impacts of an ableist ideology, such as the normalization and disenfranchisement of persons with disabilities.