Introduction
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) ushered in a new era of disability research – one that is not focused just on law or on social theory. Instead, the CRPD has provided a new legal framework for researchers to engage in disability inquiry that necessitates engagement across a range of disciplines. For example, looking at architecture and accessibility laws; social support and exercising legal capacity; among others. It has also brought together the previously quite disparate fields of disability studies and disability rights and provided a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration towards disability justice goals.
Defining the Interdisciplinary Field of ‘Disability Human Rights Research’
To begin, we believe it is essential to provide a definition of this innovative new line of inquiry known as ‘disability human rights research’. We argue that disability human rights research is research that interprets the text and principles of the CRPD engaging with theory and/or methodology developed in the dynamic field of disability research. That being said, we do not think that it is necessary for researchers to be explicit in their intention to undertake disability human rights research for their research to fall under the category of disability human rights research. It may be that researchers are even unintentionally carrying out disability human rights research by, for example, engaging human rights law and social theory related to disability. It may also be that researchers were engaging in what we would define as disability human rights research before the term was widely being used. We are providing this explanation because we want to enumerate an expansive definition of disability human rights research that encompasses all research that is engaging in theoretical and/or empirical research and seeks to explore the challenges of disabled people and their community while also seeking to respect, fulfil, and protect the rights of disabled people.
Emergence of the Disability Human Rights Research Field
Disability Human Rights research draws directly on disability studies scholarship which demands community leadership, participation, and reciprocity which also draw on the social-relational model of disability. The CRPD as a comprehensive framework requires a focus on the ‘rights’ of disabled people. The CRPD incorporates the social-relational perspective throughout its text and is therefore a fundamental approach for disability human rights research to ensure that relational principles are incorporated.
This special collection brings together interdisciplinary researchers across law, social science, disability studies, and other fields to explore social justice issues facing disabled people using human rights law and theory and methodology from disability studies. Following these exceptional interdisciplinary articles, we – the guest editors of this special collection – provide a concluding article examining the exceptional reasons behind the emergence of this new interdisciplinary field – as well as its potential to have significant impact on the wider field of social justice research, including those beyond the scope of disability research.
Competing Interests
The authors have no competing interests to declare.