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Disabled People’s Mobilization Around a Human Rights Approach to Enhance Their Participation in Law and Policy Making in Iceland

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Handbook of Disability

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Abstract

The right to have a say in decisions that affect one’s life is a core human right and a key emphasis of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Securing this right serves to empower disabled people and establish their position as “experts” in matters that affect their lives. This chapter examines how the CRPD and the human rights approach to disability that it embodies have served as a catalyst for the adoption of a new approach by disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) to putting pressure on the authorities to engage in a more robust way with DPOs in the development of laws and policies, as called for by the Convention. It draws on the example of the process leading up to the adoption of new core disability service legislation in Iceland, which saw the emergence of the DPOs’ use of the CRPD, as well as the General Comments by the CRPD Committee, as a tool to effectively advance the rights of persons with disabilities. This new strategy resulted in key changes to the legislation at the last stages of consultation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education and Diversity, School of Education, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Laufey E. Löve

  2. Center for Disability Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Rannveig Traustadóttir

Authors
  1. Laufey E. Löve
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  2. Rannveig Traustadóttir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laufey E. Löve .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marcia H. Rioux

  2. Head Office, World Blind Union, Toronto, Canada

    José Viera

  3. School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Alexis Buettgen

  4. Department of Anthropology, University at Buffalo, State University, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Ezra Zubrow

Section Editor information

  1. Disability, MagWaz Physiotherapy & Wellness Services, Lilongwe, Malawi

    Margaret Wazakili

  2. School of Law and Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK

    Anna Lawson

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Löve, L.E., Traustadóttir, R. (2022). Disabled People’s Mobilization Around a Human Rights Approach to Enhance Their Participation in Law and Policy Making in Iceland. In: Rioux, M.H., Viera, J., Buettgen, A., Zubrow, E. (eds) Handbook of Disability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1278-7_7-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1278-7_7-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-16-1278-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-1278-7

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