Disability

This textbook conceptualises disability law as a comprehensive body of rules that has matured as a coherent discipline. Specifically, this book addresses international and European disability law and policy, a discipline which has been influenced by disability studies, the disability rights movements and disabled peoples’ organisations (DPOs). The textbook highlights, in a comparative fashion, the interaction between different sources of law and legal systems. It examines the most recent disability-related developments at the international, European Union (EU) and regional levels, with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or the ‘Convention’) serving as the global standard on disability rights. This textbook maintains a balance between theory and practice and focuses on the relevant legal frameworks, their interpretation and application, as well as on current challenges in the realm of international and regional policymaking in the disability context. This chapter introduces the reader to the textbook itself and to the novelties and intricacies inherent in international and European disability law and policy. In that regard, the chapter begins with an overview of the developments that led to the emergence of disability law as an academic discipline. Thereafter, the chapter briefly discusses how the language of disability has changed over time. It then goes on to provide an account of the aims and objectives of this textbook, and it outlines the guiding perspective and the methodological approach adopted in the book. Finally, the chapter ends with an outline of the structure of the textbook as a whole.