Disability and social change: a South African agenda

Abstract

This powerful volume represents the broadest engagement with disability issues in South Africa yet. Themes include theoretical approaches to and representations of disability, governmental and civil society responses to disability, aspects of education as these pertain to the oppression / liberation of disabled people, social security for disabled people, the complex politics permeating service provision relationships, and consideration of disability in relation to human spaces - physical, economic and philosophical.

Noteworthy is the inclusivity of its nearly fifty contributors, many of whom write both as disabled South Africans and as educators, parents, linguists, psychologists, human rights activists, entrepreneurs, mental health practitioners, academics, and NGO and government officials. Equally stimulating is the range of writing styles, including interviews, a provocatively stark contrasting of voices in a chapter on Psychiatric Disability and Social Change, various well crafted articles on theoretical issues and the autobiographical style of many of the contributions.

Firmly located within the social model of disability, this collection will resonate powerfully with contemporary thinking and research in the disability field and will set the benchmark for cutting-edge debates in a transforming South Africa.