Handbook of Disability, 2024
Critical Thought and Social Change in a Globalizing World

This important reference work maps the terrain of disability across the world by providing an overview of issues, concerns and developments in the domains of society, culture, medicine, law, policy, justice, education, economics, and science and technology. It is a truly inclusive volume bringing together perspectives from researchers, activists, professionals, service providers, international development experts and policymakers based in the global North and South, and it particularly focuses on the voices of the principal stakeholders---disabled persons themselves.

 
Working from an interdisciplinary matrix, this book reviews historical developments, contemporary practices and policies . It addresses hitherto unchartered areas in the disability discourse that will be significant in the years to come. In the modern world, the social and medical responses to disability have been separation, segregation and incarceration of disabled people. These responses are reflected in practices of special education, building of asylums, medical classifications and sheltered employment. Current thinking on disability is based on the need to overcome such segregation through the enactment of human rights and socially just programmes, policies and laws such as inclusive education, affirmative action, reasonable accommodation, and supported decision-making.
This book explores:

·  The evolution of the concept of disability over space and time and identifies approaches to disability, debility, equality and equity;

·  Broad trends in research on disability across the world;

·  New directions in work on disability;

·  Intersections of disability with other demographic variables like gender, race, caste, and age; and

·  Historical and socio-economic interfaces with colonialism, globalization, and social development.

Marcia Hampton Rioux was a Distinguished Research Professor and Professor Emerita in the School of Health Policy and Management in York University’s Faculty of Health. Nationally and internationally, Professor Rioux was regarded as a leading legal scholar and pioneer in the field of human rights and equity. She held a PhD in jurisprudence and social policy from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to being named a Distinguished Research Professor by York University, Professor Rioux was the director at York University’s Institute for Health Research. She was the co-founder and first Chair of the School of Health Policy & Management as well as the Critical Disabilities Studies program. She was a driving force in the promotion of disability rights and the enhancement of opportunities for marginalized people. She played a leadership role in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and published widely in the area of disability and human rights. She was a co-founder of Disability Rights Promotion International, which now monitors rights for people with disabilities in more than 62 countries. She was a Fellow of the Institutes of Advanced Studies in the U.K. and Australia.

Professor Rioux was the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Award in recognition of her contributions to Ontario communities. In 2014, she was invested into the Order of Canada for her scholarship in the field of social justice and for her advancement of the rights of persons with disabilities. Professor Rioux lectured throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. She was a visiting scholar and professor at a number of international institutions, including the University of Zagreb, Croatia and LaTrobe University in Australia. She edited a number of collected volumes and more than 70 book chapters and articles on human rights. Marcia died in September 2021. Her most recent project was this Handbook.