International Journal of Disability and Social Justice
Dados do Periódico
| Tipo | JOURNAL |
|---|---|
| Editora | Pluto Journals (GB) |
| ISSN | 2732-4036 / 2732-4044 |
| Scopus | 21101218126 |
| OpenAlex | S4210236504 |
| MAG | 4210236504 |
| Site | https://api.elsevier.com/content/serial/title/issn/2732-4036 |
| Total de publicações | 63 |
| Período coberto | 2021 - 2026 |
| País | GB |
| Idioma | EN |
| Acesso | Open Access • OA Diamante |
| Indexação | DOAJ • Scopus |
| Citada por | 33 |
| Fator de impacto | 0.576 |
| SJR | 0.397 (Q2) |
| SNIP | 1.282 |
| CiteScore | 2 |
| Índice h | 3 |
| Participação feminina na autoria | 73.2% |
This journal focuses on disability studies and social justice, which are highly relevant to social anthropology, particularly medical anthropology, critical theory, and studies of inequality. It frequently publishes work that engages with ethnographic methods and theoretical perspectives shared with anthropology
Education · Social Sciences (miscellaneous) · Sociology and Political Science · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child Welfare and Adoption · Children's Rights and Participation · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Disability Education and Employment
“This Is Not What I Thought Life Would Be Like”
This article explores participation in the disability movement from the perspective of individuals with acquired impairments, with empirical focus on Sweden’s high civil society engagement. Based on interviews with members and non-members of a disability organization, the study applies the civic voluntarism model to analyse engagement. Findings show that the model’s core questions of willingness, capacity, and recruitment require reframing: parti…
Development of the People or Props Tool
Representations of disability in media often perpetuate stereotypes that reinforce prejudice and lead to the marginalisation and oppression of disabled people. Many conventions for representing disabled people in film have not changed since the dawn of cinema, which was also a time of mainstream popularisation of the eugenics movement. Several approaches are necessary to dismantle and replace these problematic conventions, and this paper develops…
The Deinstitutionalisation of Children with Disabilities in Times of Armed Conflict
This article investigates the deinstitutionalisation of children with disabilities in times of armed conflict, taking the situation in Ukraine as a case study. It argues that a proper implementation of the right to independent living involves adopting a human rights-based approach that considers all the socio-economic rights of children with disabilities with due regard for the knowledge and expertise existing within families. It highlights the i…
Intersectionality of Disability and Climate Change Threats
This exploratory study of 104 persons with disabilities (PWDs) investigates the specific climate change challenges they experience in a developing country, covering the three senatorial districts in Abia State, Nigeria. Eight impairment categories across age range, gender, and location are considered. A subgroup chart technique and two-way analysis of variance test are applied. We further use the psychometric paradigm and cultural theory of risk …
Disability as a Determinant of Diabetes Self-Management
In this current issues piece we present a case study comparing two patients from rural south India and highlight the complex interaction between disability and other social determinants in influencing diabetes self-management and control. The first patient is a 70-year-old man practicing the Hindu religion, belonging to a dominant caste, living in an affluent part of the village, a landowner belonging to an upper socio-economic class with good so…
The Paradox of Progress and Accessibility
In the rapidly evolving world of technology, it is crucial to keep track of the progress of digital transformation and its impact on marginalized communities. This study examines Icelandic governmental digital policies through historical discourse analysis, exploring the ways in which digital transformation initiatives are conceptualized within a neoliberal rationality that emphasizes efficiency, competitiveness, and individuality and how this al…
Mason-Bish, H. (2025). Disability, gender, bodies and boundaries
Positive Visibility
There has been a marked lack of international attention toward lived experiences of albinism in Sierra Leone, which is one of the poorest countries in the world. Albinism is a relatively rare recessive genetic condition that has profound implications in a context in which access to healthcare and practical support is limited. We draw on the findings of fieldwork interviews undertaken as part of our recent study “Demystifying Albinism in Sierra Le…
Online Gaming and Emancipation
This article seeks to understand whether playing online video games can potentially emancipate people with physical disabilities (PwPD). As the principal author (Hastas), my personal experience is that the confidence I have gained through online gaming transcended into the offline world and has made a difference in my life. It is important to understand how this potential emancipation is experienced in the online and offline worlds and how one wo…
The Limits of the Reasonable Accommodation Duty under Zambian Law
This article examines the legal framework governing reasonable accommodation and the defences of undue burden and inherent requirements of a job in Zambian employment law, drawing on comparative jurisprudence from South Africa, the US, Canada, the UK, and CRPD Committee interpretations. It identifies a lack of clear guidance on these concepts in Zambia’s Persons with Disabilities Act 2012 and Employment Code Act 2019, posing challenges for employ…
Turning Theory into Practice
This article analyzes health justice for adults with intellectual disabilities in developed nations. It integrates insights of political philosophy, international covenants, and empirical data from the health sciences. First, it specifies what health justice for disabled adults requires: adequate and equitable habilitation into health. Second, it describes, and third, explains, how the inadequate and inequitable health of disabled adults falls sh…
Exploring the Touch Encounters of Individuals with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD) at School
The touch encounters of individuals with PMLD are an under-researched area. The limited and dated research from nursing and social care acknowledges that people with PMLD are likely to encounter high levels of touch throughout their lives. Of these touches, a greater amount will be “procedural” or “functional” (task-oriented) touches than “expressive”. An exploratory case study approach was used. In-person and video observations generated quantit…
Choices and Support on the Maternity Journey in the UK
Introduction: The number of disabled women, including those with cerebral palsy (CP), experiencing pregnancy and motherhood globally is increasing. This could be attributed to equality legislation, medical advancements (including assistive reproductive technologies), and strong activism and support networks of disabled women raising awareness of their rights and choices. These women, however, continue to face disadvantages and discrimination. Met…
Tired of Spinning Plates
Family carers of adults with learning disabilities provide support that is not only valuable to the person they love and care for but is critical care labour for society in the UK. This care fills gaps in health and social care provision, is lifelong, and often entails longer hours of caring in comparison to other groups of carers. Despite this phenomenal and often invisible care work, how this group of carers experience their roles in relation t…
Social research and disability
Human Rights Bulletin
The Supreme Court of Japan struck down the Eugenics Protection Law (1948–1996) as unconstitutional and ordered the government to pay compensation on 3 July 2024. 1 This was a historic and ground-breaking ruling on one of the most serious human rights violation cases in Japan. This bulletin covers the background and significance of a ruling that led to the establishment of the government Action Plan Against Ableism in December 2024 and to the Comp…
Introducing “Energy Limiting Conditions”
The terms “energy limiting condition” (ELC) and “energy impairment”locate the embodied experience of chronic illness into a category of impairment for the purposes of social policy and administration of disability. This article discusses the origins of these concepts in the UK-based Chronic Illness Inclusion Project (CIIP). Selected findings from the CIIP’s mixed-methods participatory research demonstrate how energy impairment, and related terms,…
Current Issues Bulletin
This commentary discusses contemporary developments in disability studies, discussed in the context of the key themes emerging during the Centre for Disability Studies Postgraduate Conference, held at the University of Leeds, UK in 2023, the first year of the “post-pandemic era”. Crucial key themes discussed include the current “disability anxious moment” facing us as activists and scholars, Global South perspectives and epistemic justice, higher…
Mapping the government of disability in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome have historically been conceptualised in health and social policy as “undeserving” of societal support, largely via a variant of biopsychosocial model charged with promoting multifaceted harms. Whilst scientific literature has been preoccupied by paradigm conflicts pertaining to (bio)psychosocial and biomedical models of disability, the socio-cultural and biopolitical context driving …
Stepping into Who I Fully Am
Research suggests that perimenopause can compound existing struggles for some Autistic people, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Barriers to self-expression due to communication differences are also well-documented. Acknowledging this, our neurodiverse research team invited creative submissions themed around Autistic experiences of menopause, receiving works from six Autistic participants including paintings, poetry, and graphic works. …
That Says, For Me, You Are a Second-Class Citizen”
Accessibility is useful to consider conceptually to contribute to the discussion about why its societal benefits are under-recognised. We sought to propose a conceptualisation of accessibility that draws together prior scholarly work on accessibility as it relates to disability from across disciplines and knowledge of stakeholders with lived experience of disability. Data sources included a literature review, focus group and interview discussions…
Discursive Discrimination
Swedish Sign Language [ svenskt teckenspråk , STS] has often been described as being the first officially recognised sign language in the world, passed into law in 1981. This was a parliamentary decision that later led to the provision of bimodal-bilingual education and the keeping of a separate school system for deaf students. However, today, STS is not granted the same rights as the five declared minority languages and not all deaf children in …
Who Owns Our History? Archiving the Disabled People’s Movement
This article examines how disabled people can achieve meaningful control over archival collections that document their history and struggles. Using Manchester’s Disabled People’s Archive as a case study, it demonstrates how democratic governance structures and comprehensive accessibility strategies can ensure archives serve disabled communities rather than simply describing them. The authors argue for extending such community-controlled approache…
Neoliberal Affirmations, Local Distinctions
This article examines how disability experiences and neoliberal policies in India differ substantially from Global North contexts, challenging universal conceptualisations of both phenomena. Through analysis of post-independence socioeconomic policies, it illustrates how India’s distinct integration of disability reflects complex intersections of local traditions, colonial legacies, and market reforms. The study develops into three key sections: …
I Just Didn’t Fit into the Way That They Did Church”
Disabled people have rights to practise their religions under equality and human rights laws. However, access to religious institutions has received little attention in disability studies. This qualitative, participatory study with 30 disabled Christians in the UK explored barriers to accessing church buildings and participating in worship and community life. Disabled people misfit in churches designed for normative bodyminds. In a number of chur…
Listening to People with Intellectual Disability about Institutions
Despite the ongoing impacts worldwide of institutionalisation on people with intellectual disability, the public knows little about large-scale disability institutions that have been the focus during the late 20th century of deinstitutionalisation efforts (historic institutions) and the people who lived there. An interdisciplinary team of researchers (including those with intellectual disability) undertook research with people with intellectual d…
The Role of Community-Based Rehabilitation and Community-Based Inclusive Development in Facilitating Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities Globally
Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a multi-sectoral strategy that addresses the human rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Justice is a core component within the social pillar of the CBR Matrix, however, there is limited understanding of how CBR and Community-Based Inclusive Development (CBID) programs are implementing this component globally. The CBR Global Network and partners facilitated five online dialogues in different re…
Weighing In
Neurodiversity as a concept, identity, and movement has radically challenged pre-existing ideas of human difference and value. First proposed by Judy Singer (1998) and largely developed through the work of community activists, neurodiversity posits an alternative to pathologizing and medicalized understandings of human differences. This article explores the ways neurodiversity is being used, defined, and deployed based on a corpus of 94 academic …
Residential Care Controversy
Conflicting interpretations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) send mixed messages on the safety and legitimacy of residential care, resulting in the replacement of large institutions with smaller ones, often called ‘residential care’ or 'group homes.' The CRPD requires governments to create protections and supports to allow all people with disabilities to live in th…
Beyond the Single Story of Climate Vulnerability
Health. Disability. Vulnerability. These words are often used when discussing the risks of climate disruption. These discussions warn of the potential for climate impacts to “undermine 50 years of gains in public health” (as stated by the Lancet Countdown on Climate Change). Increasingly, such discussions also acknowledge climate injustice, examining who will benefit or lose out from climate change, how and why. The embodied vulnerability of disa…
Crip Solidarity
Despite solidarity being a central term in discussions about political struggle and allyship, the concept is rarely connected to disability in the scholarly literature. Historically, solidarity has often been theorised with respect to ideas of contribution through work, whereas disabled people have been presumed to be unable to contribute to the common good. Hence, there is a need to crip our understanding of the concept. Drawing on feminist and …
Everyday Hate and Affective Possibility
Although a universal conceptualisation of disability hate crime does not exist, it is widely agreed that hate ‘hurts’ more than other types of crime. This paper explores the diverse affects of hate crime and the various ways that these experiences can harm those who are targeted. Moving beyond this, this article attends to the diverse ways that the affects of hate can come to shape disabled people's everyday navigations of their surrounding socia…
International Journal of Disability and Social Justice
Growing Up Queer with a Disability in Canada’s Bible Belt
Background : This exploratory study examines the role of religion in the romantic and sexual lives of 2SLGBTQ+ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual, the plus reflects individuals who are self-identifying as part of the community) people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Method : Based on 31 semi-structured interviews conducted in Alberta, Canada, 13 participants shared how r…
Between Global North and South
This study explores the social movements of people with psychosocial disabilities in East Asia. Comparisons are drawn between the East Asian movements and those in other parts of the world – namely, the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (movement from the Global North), and Transforming Communities for Inclusion Global (movement from the Global South). Contextual factors that shape the character of the East Asian movements are co…
Working with Autistic Transgender and Non-Binary People
Theorising Disablement through the Collective-Materialist Approach to Disabling Capitalism
This article offers a theory of disablement within contemporary capitalism by complementing and building on the UPIAS-inspired social model of disability. It first explores a variety of divergences between different models of disability, to then propose five tenets for the collective-materialist approach to disablement . These tenets are: considering disablement as both oppression and exploitation; using the “subjects of disablement” 1 as a colle…
Breaking Down Barriers
The UK faces a significant disability education gap, with disabled students twice as likely to leave higher education early compared to their non-disabled peers (Pearson et al., 2021, 1293). This disparity arises from the extra time and energy required for disabled students to navigate ableist barriers within administrative, healthcare, institutional, and social systems (Stodden & Roberts, 2014, 5). In response, we co-designed Breaking Down Barri…
Disability Rights and Cultural Contexts
Disability studies and its theories were mostly developed in European and North American contexts and expanded to the world along with the process of globalisation, especially the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).It is not new to say that whilst disability studies scholars see disability as a global issue, they nevertheless recognise that differing trajectories of economic and political development …
Can You Tell Me What Ethics Means?’
Accounts of doing ‘inclusive research’ – in which people with learning disabilities are considered as major stakeholders in the research agenda – have proliferated in recent years. These largely focus on the process of such pursuits, including project planning, research design, data collection, and disseminating results. Yet, whilst scholars have identified the challenges of doing inclusive research, they rarely sketch out the more messy, and eve…
The Intersectional Disadvantages for Disabled Women Students in UK Higher Education
In a recent systemic review of research on Disabled*1 students in Higher Education (HE), Kutscher and Tuckwiller (2019) highlighted the lack of any intersectional examination of disability and argued that research examining the intersections of disability and gender, race, sexuality, et cetera. are urgently needed. In the UK, a House of Lords Committee released a report that highlighted the many disadvantages still faced by Disabled students in U…
Problematising the Problem
Employment inequality is recognised as a problem for deaf people. What is rarely understood is that what often lies behind that inequality is less a “deaf-centered” problem, but rather the issue of “hearing privilege”. Hearing privilege refers to the unearned advantage granted to hearing people on the basis of their hearing identity in a society characterised by ableism. Despite a proliferation of research on the employment disadvantage experienc…
A New-Materialist Reading of Disability, Senescence, and the Life-Course
The purpose of this article is to provide a new-materialist theoretical commentary on disability, senescence, and the life-course. A critical literature review with deductive thematic analysis was undertaken using an electronic database search strategy. For analysis, theoretical conventions of new-materialism were deductively applied to literature. New-materialism offers an approach taken by disability studies scholars within critical disability …
Listening to People with Intellectual Disability about Institutions
Despite the ongoing impacts worldwide of institutionalisation on people with intellectual disability, the public knows little about large-scale disability institutions that have been the focus during the late 20th century of deinstitutionalisation efforts (historic institutions) and the people who lived there. An interdisciplinary team of researchers (including those with intellectual disability) undertook research with people with intellectual d…
Proposing an Academic Space of “Autism and Profound Learning Disability”
This article makes a practical suggestion to addressing the acute marginalisation of people with complex needs within academia. To do this, it first explores how the academic use of the terms “autism” and “severe/profound learning disabilities” leads to exclusionary practices where people with complex needs cannot represent themselves in research about their lives. These practices, this article contends, are epistemically and ethically unjustifie…
Current Issues Bulletin
Universities in the UK are currently inaccessible to students with intellectual disabilities, although alternative non-matriculating programs for these students are growing throughout the rest of the world. The UK is far behind in this international movement although leading in the field of inclusive research. Incorporating student voices, this article explores the many benefits of inclusion in universities for these students as well as consequen…
Growing Up Queer with a Disability in Canada’s Bible Belt
Background : This exploratory study examines the role of religion in the romantic and sexual lives of 2SLGBTQ+ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual, the plus reflects individuals who are self-identifying as part of the community) people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Method : Based on 31 semi-structured interviews conducted in Alberta, Canada, 13 participants shared how r…
Between Global North and South
This study explores the social movements of people with psychosocial disabilities in East Asia. Comparisons are drawn between the East Asian movements and those in other parts of the world – namely, the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (movement from the Global North), and Transforming Communities for Inclusion Global (movement from the Global South). Contextual factors that shape the character of the East Asian movements are co…
Elementary School Staff Perspectives on Bullying Involvement among Students with Disabilities
Research indicates that students with disabilities (SWD) are more likely to be involved in bullying; therefore, the development of effective bullying prevention strategies need to consider the experiences of this population. Educators need the knowledge and skills to identify and intervene appropriately in bullying incidents involving SWD. Focus groups included 17 elementary school general and special education teachers, and counselors on their p…
The Implementation of CRPD Article 13 Access to Justice in Hong Kong
China ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008. Hong Kong, as a Special Administrative Region of China is thus also obligated to implement this treaty. CRPD Article 13 protects the right to access to justice for people with disabilities, including Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) individuals. In Hong Kong, research exploring the implementation of CRPD Article 13 in practice is lacking. This study utilizes in…
Reproductive Justice Narratives of People with Disabilities
In this narrative analysis, we explored accounts of individuals with disabilities who were parents, who wished to become parents, or who did not have intentions of becoming parents, to shed light on their concerns related to reproductive rights. In 1973, the United States Supreme Court declared abortion to be legal nationwide via the Roe v. Wade decision. Access to abortions provided significant and distinct healthcare services for people with di…
Working with Autistic Transgender and Non-Binary People
Which Way to Turn
The author is autistic. Autism is an attribute that brings univariable focus, along with unusual mannerisms and humour. These characteristics have led to the author suffering psychological and physical abuse in the past. The author now works as an advocate to help bring justice to victims of such disability hate crimes. This article uses academic evidence and recent testimony from anonymised victims to argue that whichever course of action is tak…
Theorising Disablement through the Collective-Materialist Approach to Disabling Capitalism
This article offers a theory of disablement within contemporary capitalism by complementing and building on the UPIAS-inspired social model of disability. It first explores a variety of divergences between different models of disability, to then propose five tenets for the collective-materialist approach to disablement . These tenets are: considering disablement as both oppression and exploitation; using the “subjects of disablement” 1 as a colle…
Contesting Ableist Ideology
Family–school collaborative practice is protected by legislation: the Individual with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) identifies parents as equal members of a multidisciplinary team. However, the discourse of parent involvement , defined by IDEIA (2004) policy, positions Latinx families of dis/abled children and upholds injustices by ignoring systematic racism, linguicism, and socioeconomic inequities. The current expectations for …
Breaking Down Barriers
The UK faces a significant disability education gap, with disabled students twice as likely to leave higher education early compared to their non-disabled peers (Pearson et al., 2021, 1293). This disparity arises from the extra time and energy required for disabled students to navigate ableist barriers within administrative, healthcare, institutional, and social systems (Stodden & Roberts, 2014, 5). In response, we co-designed Breaking Down Barri…
We Will Remember
Disability Rights and Cultural Contexts
Disability studies and its theories were mostly developed in European and North American contexts and expanded to the world along with the process of globalisation, especially the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).It is not new to say that whilst disability studies scholars see disability as a global issue, they nevertheless recognise that differing trajectories of economic and political development …
Beyond the Single Story of Climate Vulnerability
Health. Disability. Vulnerability. These words are often used when discussing the risks of climate disruption. These discussions warn of the potential for climate impacts to “undermine 50 years of gains in public health” (as stated by the Lancet Countdown on Climate Change). Increasingly, such discussions also acknowledge climate injustice, examining who will benefit or lose out from climate change, how and why. The embodied vulnerability of disa…
Realising Disability Rights in Non-Liberal Contexts
A key innovation of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is its recognition of the critical importance of the principle of meaningful participation in realising the rights enshrined in the treaty document. Hence, the CRPD is the first human rights treaty to mandate the participation of civil society in the implementation and monitoring of the treaty. What happens, however, in a non-liberal society w…
Exploring Indigenous Disability Experiences in Taiwan
The inclusion of CRPD principles in Taiwan’s Disabilities Rights Act in 2007 highlighted the need for culturally sensitive disability services for Indigenous communities. However, there’s a gap in understanding how these communities perceive and address disability within their unique cultural contexts. Traditional approaches to disability in Taiwan’s Indigenous communities have evolved differently from mainstream society, influenced by varying de…
Can You Tell Me What Ethics Means?’
Accounts of doing ‘inclusive research’ – in which people with learning disabilities are considered as major stakeholders in the research agenda – have proliferated in recent years. These largely focus on the process of such pursuits, including project planning, research design, data collection, and disseminating results. Yet, whilst scholars have identified the challenges of doing inclusive research, they rarely sketch out the more messy, and eve…
Safeguarding Families and Rights of Parents with Intellectual Disability Involved in Child Protection
The focus of this contribution is on how rights protection officers (RPOs) experience supporting parents with intellectual disabilities involved in child protection investigations. We situate the role of the RPOs within disability human rights framework as well as the institutional justice capital perspective to comprehend how RPOs function as a resource for parents and professionals. We identified four overlapping themes: Altering power relation…
Six Spectrums of Allyship
In the last decade, #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and other social justice campaigns have increased awareness of the decades-long work of activists to address the structural exclusion of D/deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse, First Nations, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse, and LGBTIQA+ artists, in the arts industry, and the institutions that train for it. Increased commitment to individual, institutional, and industry-wide allyship is a sign of t…
From exclusion to inclusion
Efforts to enhance the political participation of persons with disabilities have gained momentum in Nigeria, leading to significant legal and policy reforms intended to make elections more inclusive. Yet, the extent to which these reforms have translated into practical accessibility and genuine participation remains unclear. Drawing on the 2023 general elections as a case study, this paper examines how disability-inclusive provisions were impleme…
It’s Not OK To Talk To Anyone This Way”
Psychological research has highlighted national differences in responses to disability-based hate crime. However, there has been limited systematic exploration of the type of disability that is represented in hate crime scenarios, and of responses of disabled people. 1 We surveyed N = 467 adults online, presenting them with disability-based hate crime scenarios. We systematically changed the disability of the hate crime target (deaf person or whe…
Neurodiversity, Social Work, and Social Justice
Neurodiversity is concerned with the spectrum of differences in human minds. Owing to the neurodiversity movement, from the 1980s onwards, social work has been challenged to reconcile its traditional social justice mandate, with ever-increasing sociopolitical attention to neurodiversity inclusion. If “respect for diversities”, as inscribed in the International Federation of Social Workers’ global definition of social work, is anything to go by, t…
Mobility Justice for Persons With Disability
This article addresses a major source of inequality and exclusion in contemporary transport, namely the mobility injustices faced by persons with diverse forms of disability. Our focus is on one aspect, the potential for velomobility – using a range of adaptive cycles – to increase mobility and, therefore, access to education, work, recreation, social encounters, and to enjoy freedom. We pursue this topic by, first, advancing the notion of episte…