Disability at the Crossroads: Asserting Rights and Empowerment in an Unequal World

The concept of social justice has a lengthy history in terms of its development, understanding, and application to human relationships It connects to parallel concerns around equal opportunity, equity, and recognition Social justice has also been contested insofar as powerful vested interests have either denied its relevance or actively resisted its demands In this article, social justice is placed in a global framework where different issues at different times are connected by common concerns and a shared humanity One of the central questions informing emerging dimensions of service provision in international contexts is how we work with needs of specific communities to create a new matrix of opportunities for inclusion, mutual benefit, and intercultural encounter Over the past three decades, processes involved in globalization have come to not only shape but determine that matrix in evermore significant ways The globalization process is also at the core of labor market change in all countries This has specific implications for learning specialists and rehabilitation educators in terms of their professional training, understanding of best practice, and standards in approaching the diversity emerging within many communities shaped by globalizing imperatives The powerful resonance of exclusion linked to the experience of disability impacts many social approaches and policies, not least of which is access to the labor market For those with disabilities, particularly in the context of the significant advances made by the Independent Living movement and the parallel focus on civil rights, these traditional models of work have been seen as problematic