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Introduction

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Abstract

This chapter introduces key themes and theoretical ideas relevant to issues of citizenship and disability inequality in the Global South. The question of “full membership” of one’s society has immense relevance to disability, at both material and abstract levels, considering realities which extend from economic exclusion to the very questioning of the humanity of members of this group. The upsurge in writing on global issues of citizenship over recent years reflects the impact of increases in migration and refugee populations but often fails to consider how disabled people are positioned and often excluded. Finally, the chapter provides a synopsis of each of the book’s chapter contributions, identifying key thematic threads.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As editors of this book, we choose to use the term “disabled people” in line with the view of the social model of disability that people with impairments are disabled by society. We recognise, however, the arguments in favour of the “people first” terminology “people with disabilities”. We have allowed authors in this volume to follow their own preferred usage.

  2. 2.

    There are in fact more men than women on Earth; we use “minority” here in the sense of a group having less political power than the more powerful or “majority” group.

  3. 3.

    See https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution-republic-south-africa-1996

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Correspondence to Brian Watermeyer .

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Watermeyer, B., McKenzie, J., Swartz, L. (2019). Introduction. In: Watermeyer, B., McKenzie, J., Swartz, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Disability and Citizenship in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74675-3_1

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