ABSTRACT
As a person who has been living with a disability, since birth, I have worked throughout my life within the area of disability and human rights, to create awareness of impairment and implement social changes. This work has primarily taken place in activism and academia, mainly emerging from the barriers and stereotypical perspectives I have encountered. This chapter draws on these dualistic lived experiences of activism and academia, to argue that it is legislative changes such as: The Disability Discrimination Act, (DDA) (DDA,1995); the signing and ratification of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (UN, 2006); and the UK Equality Act (2010), coupled with a drive for independent living that have made the most advances within society.
