6 - Innovation at the Crossroads

Summary

One organization, the Association of the Blind, finds a way of blending the norms of the international disability-rights movement with the norm of solidaridad in local civil society. Their founder, who is fully aware of international disability NGOs’ attempts to change the practices of his disabled-persons’ organization, takes a nuanced approach that seeks to link disability rights to the continuation of the association’s history of self-help by providing education and employment services to persons with visual impairments. Using this blended approach, the association is able to generate new interest in a job training and placement services. But, they soon realize they need more resources to keep up with the demand from local employers for more persons with disabilities. The Association of the Blind then turns to international donors in the hope that they will see their program as advancing disability rights in a concrete, material way. This new proposal, however, is universally rejected as not conforming sufficiently with the international norm of DPOs maintaining a singular focus on advocating for disability rights.