Disability and International Law: Promise and Limits

To what extent has international law helped to construe notions of 'impairment' and 'disability', and with what impact? Is international law capable of remedying the social conditions that result in discrimination experienced by persons with disabilities? Or should disability scholars and activists seeking disability justice focus their efforts on other tools of social change? Disability and International Law: Promise and Limits grapples with these questions and more in an authoritative exploration of a range of important themes and issues in contemporary disability law and policy.

This volume contains expert and cutting-edge reflections on the introduction and impact of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and its possibilities and limitations to address the social injustice faced by people who have or are considered to have a 'disability' which renders their lives more complex and challenging than others.

The essays in the volume are both theoretically sophisticated as well as practically relevant. They probe important areas of disability law, in particular international human rights frameworks. They examine key issues in disability law and practice including accessibility, reasonable accommodation, mobility and inclusion, and explore the many complexities surrounding the language that is used to describe the barriers and challenges faced by people with disabilities, including the terms 'disability' and 'disabled' themselves.

Integrating human rights, regional, and international legal perspectives, this volume explores both theoretical and practical challenges in the field to consider a better future for disability law.