A human rights perspective on disability-inclusive development

The emergence of a disability and development narrative in international law and policy was triggered by the adoption in 2006 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its now near universal ratification. Its explicit mandate of a disability inclusion into international cooperation programs in language that is more elaborate and expansive than any other human rights convention is bringing about tangible shifts in the way persons with disabilities are accounted for as actors in and as beneficiaries of development. The CRPD narrative resonates in a significant way with the inclusion mandate in the Declaration on the Right to Development (DRD). These two instruments can be understood as mutually reinforcing and while they each bring to the fore particular yet complementary notions of fair and equitable distribution for developing countries and people living in poverty, their promise is far from realization. This chapter reviews the emergence of a disability and development narrative in international law and policy. Second, it examines the conceptualization of disability in the context of international human rights law and development cooperation. Third, it considers development policies insofar as they address disability inclusion and the participation of persons with disabilities within development. Finally, it considers the mutually reinforcing narratives of the CRPD and the DRD and provides concluding observations of a way forward for disability rights-inclusive development.