The time has come to further challenge biomedical and clinical thinking about dementia, which has for so long underpinned policy and practice. Framing dementia as a disability, this book takes a rights-based approach to expand the debate.
Applying a social constructionist lens, it builds on earlier critical perspectives by bringing together concepts including disability, social inclusion, personhood, equality, participation, dignity, empowerment, autonomy and solidarity. Launching the debate into new and exciting territory, the book argues that people living with dementia come within the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and therefore have full entitlement to all the rights the Convention enshrines.
A human rights-based approach has not to date been fully applied to interrogate the lived experience and policy response to dementia. With the fresh analytical tools provided in this book, policy makers and practitioners will will gain new insights into how this broader perspective can be used to further promote the quality of life and quality of care for all those affected by dementia.
dangers and the necessity to continue the struggle for women’s and girls’ human rights. Two insights propel this on-going activism. First, the assertion that human rights are interdependent and indivisible, that is, that ‘no person’s rights are secure unless all people’s rights are secure’ and that ‘no right is secure unless all rights are secure’ (Ackerly, 2016 : 38). Second, it is the recognition that the figure of the ‘human’, which underpins the concept of human rights, is in fact gendered. Put differently, although human rights propagate the notion of a
2.1 Introduction This chapter outlines the human rights framework for addressing disability harassment. The purpose of the chapter is to explain the legal context in which disability harassment occurs and to highlight the obligations of states to address it, particularly in the EU. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the general human rights framework relevant to both disability harassment at work and intersectional forms of discrimination. These include the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on
69 PART TWO Using a human rights lens to interrogate policy and practice
This chapter explores the meaning of human rights for older people, and for the social workers who work with them, within what is often referred to as a human rights and social justice profession ( International Federation of Social Workers, 2014 ). At the outset, it must be understood that although human rights invoke ‘moral obligation’ ( Townsend, 2006 , p 166) and ‘can provide social workers with a moral basis for their practice’ ( Ife, 2012 , p 1) they are not fixed. Human rights are both dynamic and complex. They pose complicated and difficult questions
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and unalienable Rights; that among these, are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. (United States Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress, 4 July 1776) The history of human rights in the United States has been a paradox. Despite the theoretical adherence to equal human rights in the foundation documents of the country itself, in practice they were not extended to many sections of the population – in particular African
Thousands of children from minority and disadvantaged groups will never cross the threshold of a classroom. What can human rights contribute to the struggle to ensure that every learner is able to access high quality education?
This brilliant interdisciplinary collection explores how a human rights perspective offers new insights and tools into the current obstacles to education. It examines the role of private actors, the need to hold states to account for the quality of education, how to strike a balance between religion, culture and education, the innovative responses needed to guarantee girls’ right to education and the role of courts.
This unique book draws together contributors who have been deeply involved in this field from both developing and developed countries which enriches the understanding and remedial approaches to tackle current obstacles to universal education.
PART III Human rights approaches to social policy development
PART III Human rights platform and ways of belonging
