The Paradigm Shift from Welfare to Rights

THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION, THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: A COMMENTARY, Gerard Quinn et al. eds., 2011

William & Mary Law School Research Paper No. 09-26

Posted: 13 Jan 2010 Last revised: 9 Jun 2010

See all articles by Michael Ashley Stein

Michael Ashley Stein

Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School; University of Pretoria Faculty of Law, Centre for Human Rights

Date Written: January 11, 2010

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first international human rights instrument that is both applicable to, and legally enforceable by, individuals on the basis of their disability status. Its adoption by the General Assembly culminates a dramatic paradigm shift over the past thirty years regarding the equal place of persons with disabilities in global society, and also advances those principles.

Disability rights advocates and their representative organizations have successfully transformed the theoretical underpinnings of international law relating to disabled persons from a medical model to a social model perspective. The CRPD’s adoption cements into place the precepts of the social model of disability, while also advancing a holistic human rights framework. This latter scheme combines civil and political rights as provided by the social model, with social, economic, and cultural rights typically contained in equality measures and development schemes. By providing both types of these interdependent rights, the CRPD endeavors to ensure the equality of persons with disabilities.

This chapter briefly recounts the overall shift from notions of welfare towards that of human rights for persons with disabilities in international legal instruments, and discusses some implications of that extraordinary sea change. Further to publisher request only an abstract is furnished.

Keywords: disability, human rights, united nations, jurisprudence, treaties, public international law

Suggested Citation

Stein, Michael Ashley, The Paradigm Shift from Welfare to Rights (January 11, 2010). THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION, THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: A COMMENTARY, Gerard Quinn et al. eds., 2011, William & Mary Law School Research Paper No. 09-26, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1534940

Michael Ashley Stein (Contact Author)

Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School ( email )

1585 Massachussetts Avenue
Austin Hall 305
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-495-1726 (Phone)

University of Pretoria Faculty of Law, Centre for Human Rights ( email )

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Hatfield 0028
Pretoria
South Africa

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