Citizenship: reflections on a relevant but ambivalent concept for persons with disabilities

Abstract

This article examines the significance of citizenship with respect to disability. The article first highlights the idea of citizenship as ‘social contract’. This means the possession of civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights as well as the exercise of duties in society. Due to societal barriers, many disabled persons have difficulties fulfilling citizenship roles. Further, this article draws on citizenship theories; it examines three types of citizenship participation – the social citizen, the autonomous citizen and the political citizen – and discusses their promises and ableist implications. To counterbalance the exclusionary aspects of citizenship, we argue that human rights prove important. At the same time, human rights are more easily proclaimed than enforced and citizenship remains a precondition for effectively implementing human rights. The article concludes that citizenship is a relevant but also ambivalent concept when it comes to disability; it calls for a critical understanding of citizenship in Disability Studies.

Keywords:

• citizenship
• political theory
• disability policy
• human rights
• nationality

Acknowledgements

This article owes much to the authors’ involvement in the research consortium ‘DISCIT – Making Persons with Disabilities Full Citizens – New Knowledge for an Inclusive and Sustainable Social Model’ (2013–2016), funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement number 320079. The authors are grateful to the project partners from nine European countries. Thanks also go to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive remarks on the first version of this text. Special thanks go to Curie L. Lee, Cologne.

Notes

1 There are many attempts to conceptualize ‘disability’ as an analytical category (for example, Grue 2017). In this article we apply the working definition of the UN Convention (United Nations General Assembly 2006, preamble item e). Regarding vocabulary we use both the terms ‘persons with disabilities’, which is UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities language, and ‘disabled persons’, which is preferred in some critical Disability Studies communities.