Extended Abstract

1. Introduction

The recognition of the equal rights of persons with disabilities, as embodied in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006, has come a long and winding path. Since the latter half of the 20th century, people with disabilities and their non-disabled allies have fought for disability rights. The reinterpretation of disability by disability activists during the 1970s had a significant impact on the understanding and analysis of disability. Until then, academic interest in disability in the social sciences had been limited almost exclusively to conventional individualistic explanations that were somehow linked to medicine and medical concerns. “Impairment” was considered a deviation from the "normal" state of existence and, as a result, a threat to economic and social activity or functioning. Medical and rehabilitation specialists had to be consulted to remedy this unacceptable situation, so that the disabled person became as normal as possible. With the development of disability studies, especially since the 1980s and 1990s, and the formation of a critical approach in disability studies, traditional methods of understanding and recognizing disability changed in the case of people with disabilities and the focus shifted from an individual and biomedical understanding to a socio-contextual view of disability. In fact, disability studies with a socially-oriented approach helped identify many of the issues that people with disabilities faced in their daily lives, including the segregation of children in special schools, prejudicial media portrayals, derogatory terms, physical inaccessibility, inaccessible information, employment discrimination, forced incarceration, charity, and labeling. Disability studies have had a significant impact in various ways on the process of legal developments in favor of persons with disabilities and, to varying degrees, have provided a basis for improving the lives of persons with disabilities by transforming the concept of disability, promoting social inclusion, and removing barriers that affect them. United Nations documents, especially the "United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities," gradually developed a social and rights-based understanding of disability. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how disability studies affect the shifting paradigm of support for persons with disabilities within the framework of the 2006 Convention. It is assumed that disability studies have had a significant impact on the process of legal developments for the benefit of persons with disabilities by helping to re-conceptualize disability and promoting a social and rights-based understanding and the drafters of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, often influenced by this approach, have sought to normalize the enjoyment of human rights "on an equal basis" for persons with disabilities and non-disabled persons.



2. Research Gap and Objective

A study of the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in examining the majority of periodic reports of States parties to the Convention shows that the Committee repeatedly calls on States parties to adapt their laws and policies to the human rights model of disability in accordance with the Convention and pay attention to the social and relational dimension of disability in understanding and defining disability and the obligations of the Convention. An examination of the content of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities shows that various obligations have been stipulated in it that cannot be implemented with a purely traditional and medical approach. Understanding the social context of disability, the accumulated experiences of persons with disabilities, and the growing expectations of the disabled community to be equal to others to give existence to their own existence, and to restore the right to life in its transcendent meaning, which is clearly evident in the preparatory negotiations of the Convention, can be understood and recognized in the context of developments in disability studies. It seems that without such a support, it will be very difficult to implement obligations, identify challenges, and find solutions to address them.



3. Methodology

Three major approaches to social studies of disability, including the British social model of disability, the Northern European normalization approach, and the North American minority group approach, have had a significant impact on the normative content of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and have provided the main context for changing the approach to the rights of persons with disabilities. This research, utilizing interdisciplinary studies in the field of disability, examines the paradigm shift in the protection of persons with disabilities within the framework of the rights stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities using a descriptive-analytical method.



4. Key Findings

The findings of this study highlight two issues. First, without a recognition and understanding of the shifting paradigm of disability protection, as embodied in the CRPD, it will be difficult to implement the rights enshrined in the Convention. Second, it seems that implementing the rights of the Convention requires strengthening and deepening disability studies with an interdisciplinary approach.



5. Contribution to the Field

This research seeks to create a study stream in the country about the rights of persons with disabilities, considering the rights stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities requires effective support from research and academic centers. The authors hope that the present study can reduce the isolation of studies in the field of rights of persons with disabilities in the country and provide more study platforms with an interdisciplinary approach.





6. Conclusion

Disability studies since the 1970s have provided a suitable platform for understanding the suppressed or ignored aspects of the rights of persons with disabilities. The research and conceptual work carried out under disability studies has contributed significantly to the restoration of the rights of persons with disabilities within the framework of a binding instrument.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with a rights-based approach, seeks to promote a transcendent view of the abilities and capacities of persons with disabilities for a life based on human dignity. The drafters of the Convention, without much regard to the biological status of persons with disabilities, integrally assume that all human rights in the realm of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights are granted to them without exception, and the disability characteristic is only taken into account when the goal is to provide appropriate and proportionate support to facilitate the exercise of the right. The drafters of the Convention deliberately refrained from including exceptions, referring to the type or severity of disability, or limiting rights using qualifications such as "to the extent possible," which are frequently found in non-binding United Nations instruments, in order to ensure that there is no leverage to limit or ignore the rights of persons with disabilities. This normalization of the enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and non-disabled persons "on an equal basis" carries an important message for member states and places significant obligations on them, obligations whose implementation, as a first step, requires an understanding of the changing attitudes towards persons with disabilities and their rights.

Keys words: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Disability Studies, Shifting the support paradigm, Persons with disabilities