IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v5y2013i10p4152-4182d29049.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disabled People and the Post-2015 Development Goal Agenda through a Disability Studies Lens

Author

Listed:
  • Gregor Wolbring

    (Stream of Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Department Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada)

  • Rachel Mackay

    (Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Theresa Rybchinski

    (Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Jacqueline Noga

    (Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role and visibility of disabled people in the discourses of various global policy processes related to sustainable development and the Post-2015 development agenda. This article makes several recommendations for strengthening the role of disabled people in these discourses. The research addresses the question of how the disability community and sustainable development community relate to each other in these discourses. This study provides quantitative and qualitative data on three aspects of the relationship. One set of data highlights who is seen as a stakeholder in general and the visibility of disabled people in the social sustainability, sustainable consumption, Rio+20 and Post-2015 development agenda proposals discourses and what participants of the online consultation for a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond had to say about the issues of visibility of disabled people in development discourses. A second set of data illuminates the attitudes towards disabled people evident in the SD discourses including through the eyes of the participant of the online consultation for a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond. The final set of data compares the goals and actions seen as desirable for the advancement of SD evident in the SD literature covered and the online consultation for a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond. This study interpreted the data through a disability studies lens. The study found that disabled people were barely visible to invisible in the SD literature covered, that the goals and actions proposed in the SD discourses are of high relevance to disabled people but that these discussions have generally not been explicitly linked to disabled people. It found further that disabled people have clear ideas why they are invisible, what the problems with development policies are and what needs to happen to rectify the problems. It found also that there was a lack of visibility of various SD areas and goals within the disability discourse. This paper provides empirical data that can be used to further the goal of mainstreaming of disabled people into the SD and Post-2015 development discourses as asked for in various high-level UN documents. However, we posit that the utility of our paper goes beyond the disability angle. Our quantitative data also highlights other forms of social group visibility unevenness in the literature and as such, we argue that the data we present in this paper is also of use for other stakeholders such as youth, women and indigenous people and also for NGOs and policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregor Wolbring & Rachel Mackay & Theresa Rybchinski & Jacqueline Noga, 2013. "Disabled People and the Post-2015 Development Goal Agenda through a Disability Studies Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(10), pages 1-31, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:10:p:4152-4182:d:29049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/10/4152/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/10/4152/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:ilo:ilowps:447563 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    3. Gregor Wolbring & Brigid Burke, 2013. "Reflecting on Education for Sustainable Development through Two Lenses: Ability Studies and Disability Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(6), pages 1-16, May.
    4. AfDB AfDB, 2013. "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2013 - Executive Summary," MDG Report 471, African Development Bank.
    5. Jacqueline Noga & Gregor Wolbring, 2012. "The Economic and Social Benefits and the Barriers of Providing People with Disabilities Accessible Clean Water and Sanitation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-19, November.
    6. Gregor Wolbring, 2012. "Expanding Ableism: Taking down the Ghettoization of Impact of Disability Studies Scholars," Societies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-9, July.
    7. Buckup, Sebastian., 2009. "The price of exclusion : the economic consequences of excluding people with disabilities from the world of work," ILO Working Papers 994475633402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. Yeo, Rebecca & Moore, Karen, 2003. "Including Disabled People in Poverty Reduction Work: "Nothing About Us, Without Us"," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 571-590, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lusha Huang & Newman Lau, 2020. "Enhancing the Smart Tourism Experience for People with Visual Impairments by Gamified Application Approach through Needs Analysis in Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-27, August.
    2. Aryn Lisitza & Gregor Wolbring, 2016. "Sustainability within the Academic EcoHealth Literature: Existing Engagement and Future Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Gregor Wolbring & Aspen Lillywhite, 2021. "Equity/Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in Universities: The Case of Disabled People," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-34, May.
    4. Gregor Wolbring & Lucy Diep, 2016. "The Discussions around Precision Genetic Engineering: Role of and Impact on Disabled People," Laws, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-23, September.
    5. Marco Antonio Cruz-Morato & Josefa García-Mestanza & Carmen Dueñas-Zambrana, 2021. "Special Employment Centres, Time Factor and Sustainable Human Resources Management in Spanish Hotel Industry: Can Corporate Social Marketing Improve the Labour Situation of People with Disabilities?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Aspen Lillywhite & Gregor Wolbring, 2020. "Coverage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within Academic Literature, Canadian Newspapers, and Twitter Tweets: The Case of Disabled People," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-27, February.
    7. Chiara Salvatore & Gregor Wolbring, 2021. "Children and Youth Environmental Action: The Case of Children and Youth with Disabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-27, September.
    8. Gregor Wolbring & Fatima Jamal Al-Deen, 2021. "Social Role Narrative of Disabled Artists and Both Their Work in General and in Relation to Science and Technology," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, August.
    9. Virgilio Gilart-Iglesias & Higinio Mora & Raquel Pérez-delHoyo & Clara García-Mayor, 2015. "A Computational Method based on Radio Frequency Technologies for the Analysis of Accessibility of Disabled People in Sustainable Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-29, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gregor Wolbring & Theresa Rybchinski, 2013. "Social Sustainability and Its Indicators through a Disability Studies and an Ability Studies Lens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Gregor Wolbring & Brigid Burke, 2013. "Reflecting on Education for Sustainable Development through Two Lenses: Ability Studies and Disability Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(6), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Radosław Wolniak & Bożena Skotnicka-Zasadzień, 2021. "Improvement of Services for People with Disabilities by Public Administration in Silesian Province Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Stefan Zagelmeyer & Rudolf R. Sinkovics, . "MNEs, human rights and the SDGs – the moderating role of business and human rights governance," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    5. Paul Watts & Benjamin Custer & Zhuang‐Fang Yi & Enoch Ontiri & Marivic Pajaro, 2015. "A Yin‐Yang approach to education policy regarding health and the environment: early‐careerists' image of the future and priority programmes," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(3-4), pages 202-213, August.
    6. Chiara Salvatore & Gregor Wolbring, 2021. "Children and Youth Environmental Action: The Case of Children and Youth with Disabilities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-27, September.
    7. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    8. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    9. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.
    10. Jim Butcher, 2006. "The United Nations International Year of Ecotourism: a critical analysis of development implications," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(2), pages 146-156, April.
    11. Denise Ravet, 2011. "Lean production: the link between supply chain and sustainable development in an international environment," Post-Print hal-00691666, HAL.
    12. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    13. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    14. Rigby, Dan & Woodhouse, Phil & Young, Trevor & Burton, Michael, 2001. "Constructing a farm level indicator of sustainable agricultural practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 463-478, December.
    15. Michael Howes & Liana Wortley & Ruth Potts & Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Julie Davidson & Timothy Smith & Patrick Nunn, 2017. "Environmental Sustainability: A Case of Policy Implementation Failure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, January.
    16. Shiferaw, Bekele & Holden, Stein, 1999. "Soil Erosion and Smallholders' Conservation Decisions in the Highlands of Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 739-752, April.
    17. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    18. Parnphumeesup, Piya & Kerr, Sandy A., 2011. "Stakeholder preferences towards the sustainable development of CDM projects: Lessons from biomass (rice husk) CDM project in Thailand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3591-3601, June.
    19. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    20. Christoph M. Schmidt & Nils aus dem Moore, 2014. "Wie geht es uns? Die W3-Indikatoren für eine neue Wohlstandsmessung," RWI Positionen, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, pages 16, 03.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:10:p:4152-4182:d:29049. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.