Implementing Policy and Law from a Rights Perspective: Introduction

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) offers critical and fundamental guidance to understanding and interpreting international human rights through a disability rights lens. The CRPD is a foundational tool for lawmakers and advocacy groups in advancing disability rights agendas, and in guiding the understanding of rights in a manner meaningful to persons with disabilities. This introduction provides a brief overview of the objectives of this section and of each of the chapters found within it. In this section, we aim to emphasize the foundational role that the CRPD should have in lawmaking and policymaking and in advancing needed reforms. Grounded in examples from various jurisdictions, the chapters in this section aim to offer approaches to advancing disability rights agendas that draw from the CRPD and further the realization of inclusion and equality for persons with disabilities.