Activism, Inclusion, and Social Justice

This chapter considers the relations between disability and the political in contemporary societies. This includes a discussion of possibilities of human agency and social movement capacities in the disability field. The analysis discusses several models of disability and statuses of bodies, which are evident in theory, movement advocacy, and public policy. These are the personal tragedy and worthy poor model, the biomedical model, the social model, the human rights model, and the psychoemotional model of disability. The chapter then examines activism as a repertoire of activities and roles taking place in various jurisdictional spaces and territorial scales of mobilization. The chapter next analyzes three forms of social injustices and advocacy strategies pursued by contemporary disability rights movements: activism centered on recognition, redistribution, and representation. Concluding observations call on the need to examine disability and the struggle for social justice in relation to a politics of cultural recognition and identity, a politics of socioeconomic redistribution of material goods and services, and a politics of democratic representation that combines conventional and alternative modes of decision-making. Over time, the mix and style of activism may shift at the level of the individual or family, the agency or movement organization, or the national and international sectors. This gives disability activism and the struggle for social justice dynamic qualities enacted through symbolic, materialist, and political concerns in interaction with public and private authorities.