Disability rights in Europe. From theory to practice

Abstract:

This work arises from a conference organised by the editors in September 2003 with sponsorship from the UK Disability Rights Commission. The aim was to stimulate discussion, exchange experiences and to consider strategies to effect meaningful equality and to ease the route to full inclusion of disabled people in the lives of their communities.

The work is organised in four parts. The first part is by way of introduction. Part two addresses issues of the human rights of disabled people, and opens with an exploration of the attempts to establish a UN convention providing protection specifically to disabled people. Chapter three seeks to explain why so few cases are brought by disabled people under the European Convention on Human Rights, concluding that it is probably due to the difficulties of access; continuing in that vein chapter four examines the relevance of the European Convention on Human Rights to disabled people. Chapter five considers the problem of hate speech to which disabled persons are frequently subjected and looks for possible sources of protection for the victims.

Part three offers a comparative analysis of the laws of forty-five countries, from all regions of the world, which provide explicit protection from discrimination to disabled people. Chapter seven examines the Framework Employment Directive requiring Member States to implement anti-discrimination legislation for disabled people in the area of employment and the variety of ways which different countries have chosen to implement it. Chapter eight looks at the legislative protection from discrimination by providers of goods and services offered to disabled people in four EU countries. Chapter nine examines the legislative strategies to promote the inclusion of disabled children in mainstream education. Chapter ten closes part three with an overview of the current battle for disability rights in Europe.

Part four opens with a piece drawing attention to parallels between claims for, and responses to, disability rights, and those arising in the context of sex and race. Chapter thirteen develops that theme with an examination as to how, in practice, a positive legal duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people might operate. The final chapter asserts the importance of disabled people being valued in the same way as others and as citizens with useful contributions to make, and argues that at times the disability law itself can undermine that principle.

The work will interest campaigners, academics and practitioners engaged in the fields of disability and equality.

Anna Lawson is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Leeds. Caroline Gooding is the Special Adviser to the Disability Rights Commission.