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Political Representation and the Human Rights Model of Disability : A Bulgarian Case
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Editors
Keywords
human rights
illiberalism
Democratic backsliding
participation
postsocialism
Disability movement
General Social Sciences
illiberalism
Democratic backsliding
participation
postsocialism
Disability movement
General Social Sciences
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27288
Abstract
Bulgaria ratified the UNCRPD in 2012 but what can be observed locally is a chronic failure to embrace and implement its fundamental principles. This article explores the current state and the future of the human rights model of disability in Bulgaria. It focuses on a fundamental pillar of the human rights model, namely the participation of disabled people in all decision making that affects them. We expose how the local definition of political “representation” diverges from what the human rights model envisages, and we argue that the organisations that are expected to “represent” disabled people remain stuck into needs-based attitudes and models. This makes them agents not of change but of further affirmation and cementing of practices and solutions that turn disabled people into “objects” of care, lock them into paternalist forms of dependency, and strongly depoliticise disability issues in the country.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2024
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.16993/sjdr.1052