Disability Protests Around the World Dr. Sharon Barnartt Dept of Sociology Gallaudet University Washington, DC USA

1. Disability Protests Around the World Dr. Sharon Barnartt Dept of SociologyGallaudet UniversityWashington, DC USA With assistance from Jilly Kowalsky and David Stinson

2. Methodology • Accounts of protests from newspaper and other media were identified, collected and analyzed • Protests were related to disability issues and/or carried out by people with impairments • Protests occurred between 1970 and August 10, 2003 • Protests were reported as already happened, not as being planned • N = 257 more details can be found in

4. The largest numbers of protests were in the 1990’s, but the first decade of 2000 is catching up fast

5. Protests are occurring all over the world The Arab Middle East and the Carribean/Central/South American regions had 3 each

6. Many protest demands were cross-disability, but more were impairment-specific

7. The largest group of impairment-specific demands related to deafness The most common demands in US protests related to mobility impairments

8. More demands were related to services than to rights--This is not a Disability RIGHTS Movement “Services” include monetary demands. ”Other” demands relate to portrayals, violence, and including disability measures in census questions.

9. The majority of protest targets were governmental

10. More protests occurred in developed countries than developing countries

11. Protests in developing countries have increased in each decade but in developed countries have decreased since 2000

12. Demands related to blindness and cross disability were more common in developing countries; other demands were more common in developed countries

13. Most protest demands related to rights or services; those in developing countries were more likely to relate to “other” issues

14. More protests in developing countries had governmental targets than in developed countries

15. So far: This is still a work in progress Conclusions Overall, • Protests have been increasing in number since the early 1990’s, especially in the UK, Canada and Western Europe • More protests have been impairment-specific than cross-disability, with the largest group related to deafness • more demands related to services than to rights or other types of issues

16. Protests in developing countries have increasingly faster than in developed countries • Demands related to blindness and cross disability were more common in developing countries • Demands in developed countries were more likely to relate to rights or services but less likely to target governments than in developing countries • The protests overall are quite different and reflect the socio-cultural location in which they occur