At the margins of society: disability rights and inclusion in 1980s Singapore

Kuansong Victor Zhuang

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    Abstract

    A new era focused on the inclusion of disabled people in society has emerged in recent years around the world. The emergence of this particular discourse of inclusion can be traced to the 1980s, when disabled people worldwide gathered in Singapore to form Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) and adopted a language of the social model of disability to challenge their exclusion in society. This paper examines the responses of disabled people in Singapore in the decade in and around the formation of DPI. As the social model and disability rights took hold in Singapore, disabled people in Singapore began to advocate for their equal participation in society. In mapping some of the contestations in the 1980s, I expose the logics prevailing in society and how disabled people in Singapore argued for their inclusion in society as well as its implications for our understanding of inclusion in Singapore today.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1813-1829
    Number of pages17
    JournalDisability and the Global South
    Volume7
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - May 2020

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s). Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Keywords

    • disability studies
    • Singapore
    • inclusion
    • normalcy

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