Disability as a human rights issue: global and national perspectives

Persons with disabilities are frequently marginalized in society and face numerous challenges in the enjoyment of their human rights. In the past such challenges were seen as an unavoidable consequence of their impairments. More recently, the introduction of a human rights-based model of disability has contributed to a shift in perceptions and attitudes.

Viewing disability from a human rights standpoint implicates a change in the way States and all sectors of society consider persons with disabilities: no longer as recipients of medical care and charity or objects of others’ decisions, but holders of rights.

This free and open to all MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) provides participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively approach disability from a human rights perspective. Drawing from expertise and examples at the global and national level, it offers a multidisciplinary and multifaceted overview of historical developments, main standards, key issues, and current challenges in this area of human rights protection.

Module 1: This Module focuses on how disability has been gradually linked with human rights discourses. It also explains how the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reinforced a key paradigm shift with the move from the medical model to the social and rights-based model. The second part of the Module then looks at the application of the Convention to specific areas of implementation such as education and independent living.

Module 2: This Module looks at some fundamental issues of implementation but enriches overall knowledge with regional and national perspectives. Aspects of laws, policies, monitoring and advocacy on the rights of persons with disabilities are first framed in general terms and then considered through the lens of case studies, examples and local practice (Kenya, Argentina, Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thailand…).