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Politically disabled: barriers and facilitating factors affecting people with disabilities in political life within the European Union

WALTZ, Mitzi
SCHIPPERS, Alice
2020

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Diversity is a current buzzword in politics, but in the EU, people with disabilities are not achieving the gains made by women and ethnic minorities. This research examined barriers and facilitating factors through a literature review and interviews with politicians and political activists in five European countries. Six categories of barriers and facilitating factors were found: networks, recruitment and mentoring, resources (money, time and energy), the “hierarchy of impairments,” accessibility of political spaces and activities, and laws and policies. Key recommendations include removing access barriers to political participation, from voting to holding office, including physical and procedural barriers in political spaces; ensuring that equalities legislation covers politicians; eliminating barriers imposed by benefits systems; promoting direct support for political activists, candidates and office-holders with disabilities, including access to necessary services and supports; encouraging parties to recruit and mentor disabled people with leadership potential; and considering quotas and job-sharing.

  • Not many disabled people are active in politics. In the EU, about 15% of people have an impairment, but only around 1% of politicians do.
  • Inclusion at school and in social groups makes it easier to get into political jobs or to try to get elected.
  • Some disabled political activists, volunteers, candidates and office-holders don’t get the support they need.
  • Political parties can help by finding disabled people, supporting them, and helping them get involved in politics.
  • Our article provides several ideas about how to make it easier for disabled people to run for office and work in politics.

Guidelines on promoting the political participation of persons with disabilities

ORGANISATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE (OSCE). OFFICE FOR DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
September 2019

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Based on standards established in international commitments, these Guidelines to Promote the Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities are a practical resource for OSCE participating States to strengthen the ability of democratic institutions – namely, political parties and parliaments – to engage and empower persons with disabilities in political processes.

Reimagining the workplace: disability and inclusive employment

LEONARD CHESHIRE
February 2019

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This UK based report examines the challenges and barriers facing disabled people throughout their working journey, as well as considering solutions to some of the key issues. Through our own research survey and interviews we look at the impact on disabled people where they cannot access adequate support as well as what works in improving their employment prospects

 

Topics discussed include: conditions of employment; preparing for work; falling out of work; and the performance of government based programmes.

 

ComRes interviewed in 2018 online 1,647 disabled adults in the UK, aged between 18 and 65, and in 2017 they interviewed 1,609 disabled adults. ComRes interviewed 503 UK line managers responsible for or involved in the recruitment process in 2018 and in 2017.  Between 1 December 2018 – 20 January 2019, Leonard Cheshire conducted in-depth telephone interviews with seven disabled people of working age about their experiences of employment. 

 

Recommendations are made throughout.

Governmentality of disability in the context of lifelong learning in European Union policy

KAUPPILA, Aarno
KINNARI, Heikki
NIEMI, Anna-Maija
2018

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The possibility to participate in education and lifelong learning has been introduced in EU disability policy in recent decades as one of the key means to improve the socioeconomic position of disabled persons. Simultaneously, lifelong learning has been developed as the defining concept of EU education policy to increase social cohesion and economic competitiveness. However, the education, employment rate and socioeconomic status of disabled persons have remained far below the EU average. In this article, we theo- rize governmentality to explore (1) how EU lifelong learning and disability policy discourses constitute and govern disabled persons and (2) how disabled persons are positioned in the policy dis- courses. The data consist of the most relevant EU policy documents concerning lifelong learning and disability policy in the twenty-first century. We argue that the policies constitute and govern disabled persons as a group who do not fulfil the premises set for the lifelong learner, and that consequently, policy dis- courses marginalize disabled persons instead.

Tensions and unity in the struggle for citizenship: Swedish disability rights activists claim ‘Full Participation! Now!’

SÉPULCHRE, Marie
2018

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This article analyses the claims of contemporary disability rights activists mobilising in a context where de facto second- class citizenship co-exists with legal and political declarations about the rights of disabled people. As an empirical case, it focuses on the blog ‘Full Participation.Now’, which was initiated by disability rights activists in Sweden. Drawing upon citizenship research, the article points to the tensions and dilemmas featuring the bloggers’ demand for participation and equality, as well as the challenges relative to their struggle. Although the bloggers formulate contrasting arguments, the article highlights that the activists share a common aspiration for ‘full citizenship’.

The nation’s body: disability and deviance in the writings of Adolf Hitler

BENGTSSON, Staffan
2018

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This article takes its starting point in the Nazi ideology as it appears in the writings of Adolf Hitler, and discusses how disability and the body can be understood in the context of Mein Kampf. The article underlines how disability and bodily infirmities, alongside race, featured significantly in Hitler’s demagogic message. Although the overall image of disability was related to a sense of threat – and a culture gone wrong – Mein Kampf also contains a mixed interpretation of disability as a phenomenon, in which different and opposing disability narratives took part in the construction and the image of the body as a national property.

Smarter, greener, more inclusive? Indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy. 2017 edition

EUROSTAT
July 2017

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The focus of this publication is on showing progress of the EU and its Member States towards the goals and targets defined in the Europe 2020 strategy. The analysis of long-term trends, as described by the strategy’s headline indicators, is accompanied by additional contextual information, which improves understanding of the driving forces behind the developments that these indicators show. The current edition builds upon and updates the previous releases. The publication provides analyses based on the most recent statistics in the five thematic areas of employment, R&D and innovation, climate change and energy, education, and poverty and social exclusion. Each area is analysed in a dedicated chapter. An executive summary outlines the main statistical trends observed in the indicators. Additional country profiles describe the progress of each Member State towards its national Europe 2020 targets

DOI: 10.2785/760192

Precarious lives and resistant possibilities: the labour of people with learning disabilities in times of austerity

BATES, Keith
GOODLEY, Dan
RUNSWICK-COLE, Katherine
2017

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This paper draws on feminist and queer philosophers? discussions of precarity and employment, too often absent from disability studies, to explore the working lives of people with learning disabilities in England in a time of austerity. Recent policy shifts from welfare to work welcome more disabled people into the job market. The reality is that disabled people remain under-represented in labour statistics and are conspicuously absent in cultures of work. We live in neoliberal- able times where we all find ourselves precarious. But, people with learning disabilities experience high levels of uncertainty in every aspect of their lives, including work, relationships and community living. Our research reveals an important analytical finding: that when people with learning disabilities are supported in imaginative and novel ways they are able to work effectively and cohesively participate in their local communities (even in a time of cuts to welfare). We conclude by acknowledging that we are witnessing a global politics of precarity and austerity. Our urgent task is to redress the unequal spread of precaritization across our society that risks leaving people with learning disabilities experiencing disproportionately perilous lives. One of our key recommendations is that it makes no economic sense (never mind moral sense) to pull funding from organisations that support people with intellectual disabilities to work.

The role of Germany’s National CRPD Monitoring Body in implementing Article 29

PALLEIT, Leander
March 2013

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"This article aims to briefly describe the actions taken by the National CRPD monitoring body in Germany (Monitoring-Stelle zur UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention) in order to promote the implementation of Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)"
IDA Human Rights Publication Series, Issue 1, The Right to Vote and to Stand for Election

Good governance handbook

BULLIVANT, Dr. John
et al
March 2012

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"This document has been designed to provide some key principles of good governance that can aid decision making at board level in healthcare providers. The guide builds on previous best practice guidance whilst recognising the major impact of the current changes to the NHS architecture. It is intended to be of interest to existing NHS boards, emerging Clinical Commissioning Groups and Health and Wellbeing Boards and those responsible for managing governance systems and processes within healthcare"

Electoral participation of electors with disabilities : Canadian practices in a comparative context

PRINCE, Michael J
March 2012

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"This report addresses three main research questions: What barriers do people with disabilities, physical and/or mental, face when trying to vote? What reforms have countries and, in the case of Canada, provinces introduced since 2000 to reduce or eliminate barriers to voting for people with disabilities? More specifically, what services, supports and laws or standards have governments introduced to ensure better access to voting by electors with disabilities The specific focus of this report is on the right to vote, rather than on the right to freely associate as an activist or to run as a candidate and to hold elected office. Five national jurisdictions are reviewed in this report, specifically Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and New Zealand. On Canada, attention is given to developments and practices at the federal, and provincial and territorial levels of government"

Disability rights or disabling rights? CRPD alternative report

HUNGARIAN DISABILITY CAUCUS
August 2010

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This report, prepared by a collaborative network of disabled peoples organizations and their allies, is the parallel civil society report submitted along with the governments report as specified by article 35 of the CRPD. The civil society organisations provide an analysis of the present situation of people with disabilities according to the articles of the CRPD and make recommendations to the Hungarian government to enable evidence based legislative and policy planning. This resource is useful for people interested in the situation of people with disabilities in Hungary

Case of Alajos Kiss v Hungary

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
May 2010

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This document is a transcript of the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Alajos Kiss v Hungary. The applicant, diagnosed with manic depression, found that his name was removed from the electoral register because he was subject to partial guardianship. The court found that this action breached Article 4 of Protocol No 1 to the CRPD
Note: there is a language versions tab at the top of the page which enables access to official translations of this document in English and French and to unofficial translations in the Russian, Serbian and Turkish languages

Voices from the ground : landmine and explosive remnants of war survivors speak out on victim assistance

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
September 2009

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This report surveys landmine survivors’ opinions on assistance. The survey includes questionnaires and data from 1,645 survivors in 25 affected countries. The report finds that survivors are rarely included in decisions and activities destined to benefit them and subsequently more than two-thirds think that their needs are not taken into account when their governments makes plans to assist them. This document is useful for people interested in landmine survivor's opinions about governments supporting and reintegrating landmine survivors into society

Creating successful campaigns for community living : an advocacy manual for disability organisations and service providers

EUROPEAN COALITION FOR COMMUNITY LIVING (ECCL)
November 2008

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The aim of this resource is to aid individuals and organisations who advocate for the changes that are required to ensure that people with disabilities are included in community life activities as equal citizens. It provides information and advice on how to conduct campaigns and other activities to attain inclusion for all people with disabilities

Bosnia's political landmines : a call for socially responsible and conflict-sensitive mine action

BOLTON, Matthew
GRIFFITH, Hugh
Eds
September 2006

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This report addresses key questions related to the landmine removal process. They include: who carries out demining and what was their record during the conflict? Who benefits politically from the aid given to support mine action? Who act as ‘middlemen’ between international donors and the local deminers and to what uses do they put their profit?

Globalisation and privatisation : the impact on childcare policy and practice

VANDENBROECK, Michel
January 2006

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This paper explores the impact of globalisation and neo-liberalism policies on child care provision, with a special focus on Belgium. It provides an overview of the historical context, and shows how even in Belgium social democratic welfare state globalisation has stimulated privatisation and decentralisation of services, and forced parents to take direct responsibility for the care of their children. The paper suggests that policy makers need to balance competing demands: government responsibility versus autonomy; standardisation versus diversity; inclusion versus exclusion

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