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Book Reviews
Title: Disability Rights and Wrongs, by Tom Shakespeare, 2006
Publisher: Routledge, 2006
ISBN-10: 0415347181; ISBN: 9780415347181
Price: $125 US
Description: 240 pp.
Shakespeare takes a look at the disability movement in Britain to explain why, as he argues, it suffers from an impasse: a lack in clarity about future priorities and worse still, in achieving progress in the furtherance of the disability rights agenda. The author challenges the appropriateness of the social model that has been the leading - and pivotal - approach for the disability revolution. He argues that this model presents a too simplistic expectation: one-sided change in social, environmental and other barriers that persons with disabilities face. Drawing on his experience as a person with disability (dwarfism), as a well-established bio-ethicist and as "the son, father, husband and friend of disabled people" (p. 1), however, he maintains that reality demands observing disability as a highly complex form of interaction that necessitates mutual adjustments.
The book is organized in three parts (fourteen chapters overall). Part one examines conceptual aspects. Shakespeare reviews the "family of social approaches" to disability, breaks it into parts and provides a well-developed critique of it. Among the questions raised: the definition of disability, labeling, "disability pride," and the representativeness of the disability movement.
Part two examines several cases in bioethics concerning disability: prenatal diagnosis, gene therapy, and euthanasia. Although the debates are not new, being combined in one study is worthy. Shakespeare overviews the arguments the disability movement raises and reconsiders them both as a scholar and as a person with a disability, allowing the reader to closely follow the discussion. He uses similar conceptual tools as the mainstream disability movement - yet to draw different - and equally valid - conclusions.
Part three explores the social interaction of persons with disabilities on both personal and institutional levels. Particularly interesting here is Shakespeare's discussion on the concepts of care, support and assistance versus fear of dependency and on the tense relations between disability activists and charity organizations. Shakespeare also offers some measures to foster healthy relations of and with persons with disabilities. This discussion is somewhat repetitive, yet provides an important tool for raising awareness of the issue among persons with disabilities and others who are engaged with them.
Overall, the book is a valuable, interesting and courageous addition to the literature on the theory and practice of disability. It is fluently written, supported by examples, and includes interdisciplinary scholarship. It conveys a different voice-- one that is often silenced within mainstream disability circles and dismissed as oppressive when expressed by non-disabled persons (whatever that means). Finally, the analysis may well apply to the broader disability activism scene, shed a light on the internal politics of this movement and give a constructive lesson to its future work. Thus, many disciplines, professionals and also the "lay person" are likely to find it interesting, including policy-makers, NGOs' representatives, social science scholars, philosophers, and medical practitioners.
Review by
Dr. Maya Sabatello, L.L.B.
Maya Sabatello is an Adjunct Professor at the Center for Global Affairs, NYU. As a lawyer and a representative for a nongovernmental organization at the United Nations, she participated in the UN's sessions on the formulation of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Dr. Sabatello has lectured and published on subjects concerning international law, comparative human rights, politics of identity, disability, terrorism and bioethics.
Email: msabatello@nyu.edu
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