Using the Capability Approach to Review the National Legislative Frameworks for Support Services for Persons with Disabilities in Four Countries in Asia

Shivani Gupta (), Agnes Meershoek and Luc P. de Witte
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Shivani Gupta: CBM Christoffel-Blindenmission Christian Blind Mission e.V. Stubenwald-Allee 5, 64625 Bensheim, Germany
Agnes Meershoek: School CAPHRI, Care and Public Health Research Institute, University of Maastricht, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
Luc P. de Witte: Centre of Expertise Health Innovation, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, 2521 EN The Hague, The Netherlands

Societies, 2022, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (UN CRPD) requires countries to harmonise their legislative frameworks with it. This paper investigates the national legislative frameworks of four Asian countries to see the extent to which they provide support services in accordance with Article 19 of the UN CRPD. The UN CRPD requires persons with disabilities to have access to and choice and control over support services. To analyse the policy alignment with the UN CRPD, an analytical framework based on the Capability Approach (CA) was developed. The results show that most countries address support services, including assistive devices, only from the perspective of a social security measure for persons with disabilities living in poverty, failing to uphold the rights of those not meeting those eligibility criteria. However, while support services are inseparably linked to social security, they also are a right for persons with disabilities. Therefore, a paradigm shift is required in the approach of support services and the distributive systems of countries, from one that addresses persons with disabilities as those requiring care considered a burden , to one that considers them rights holders with equal opportunities, for which, support services are a pre-requisite.

Keywords: capability approach; support services; choice and control; eligibility; role of the family; agency; disability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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