Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and EmpowermentJames Charlton has produced a ringing indictment of disability oppression, which, he says, is rooted in degradation, dependency, and powerlessness and is experienced in some form by five hundred million persons throughout the world who have physical, sensory, cognitive, or developmental disabilities. Nothing About Us Without Us is the first book in the literature on disability to provide a theoretical overview of disability oppression that shows its similarities to, and differences from, racism, sexism, and colonialism. Charlton's analysis is illuminated by interviews he conducted over a ten-year period with disability rights activists throughout the Third World, Europe, and the United States. Charlton finds an antidote for dependency and powerlessness in the resistance to disability oppression that is emerging worldwide. His interviews contain striking stories of self-reliance and empowerment evoking the new consciousness of disability rights activists. As a latecomer among the world's liberation movements, the disability rights movement will gain visibility and momentum from Charlton's elucidation of its history and its political philosophy of self-determination, which is captured in the title of his book. Nothing About Us Without Us expresses the conviction of people with disabilities that they know what is best for them. Charlton's combination of personal involvement and theoretical awareness assures greater understanding of the disability rights movement. |
Contents
Nothing About Us Without Us | 3 |
The Dimensions of Disability Oppression An Overview | 19 |
Political Economy and the World System | 35 |
Cultures and Belief Systems | 49 |
Consciousness and Alienation | 67 |
Observations on Everyday Life | 81 |
Empowered Consciousness and the Philosophy of Empowerment | 113 |
The Organization of Empowerment | 128 |
The Dialectics of Oppression and Empowerment | 151 |
NOTES | 167 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 177 |
INDEX | 193 |
Other editions - View all
Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment James I. Charlton Limited preview - 1998 |
Nothing about Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment James I. Charlton Limited preview - 1998 |
Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment James I. Charlton Limited preview - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
ability activities advocacy alienation Asia attitudes about disability Bangkok believe blind body Brazil Bulawayo capital chairperson charities CILs cities countries Danilo Delfin deaf disability oppression disability rights activists disability rights movement disability-related Disabled Persons dominant culture economic Ed Roberts empowerment Europe everyday example false consciousness groups handicapped hegemony human rights ideas ideology images important independent living individual Indonesia influence institutions integration International isolation issues Istvan Meszaros Jauros Jiri Joshua Malinga land mines language Latin America liberation mentally ill Mexico million Ndebele Oaxaca organization paternalism percent personal assistance phenomenology pity political economy political-economic poverty powerless programs question raised consciousness Rehabilitation role Rosangela Berman Bieler rural areas SAFOD segregated self-help social society South Africa Soweto structures struggle survive Thailand Third World tion United wheelchair workers York Zimbabwe