ABSTRACT
It is largely due to the actions of disabled people themselves, in articulating their own experiences and challenging society to be more accommodating, that disability rights are now widely recognised in international law. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in particular, with its emphasis on the removal of disabling barriers and promotion of full participation, represents a major shift in thinking from an individual model perspective, in which disabled people are required to adapt to the norms of a society that is not designed to include them, to an approach which values and respects disabled people as citizens with equal rights. This rights-based approach to disability can bring benefits to the whole of society, as reflected in the following statement from the CRPD:
