This introduction begins by setting up the core question of this book: why is it that disability is still frequently used as a metaphor, despite awareness that this is harmful – and what can we as readers and receivers of classical texts do about it? The role played by spectators, by models of reception, and by ways of understanding vision in this problem are underlined. The chapter introduces the concept of assemblage theory, seeing it as something that arises out of the focus on the reader evident in reception theory’s beginnings. It draws out some of the benefits of an assemblage-thinking model, weighing them against other ways of understanding reception and relation. It closes with some examination of the various activisms and limitations evident throughout the book.

Chapter 2 explains the historical and contemporary policy, legal and human rights contexts for decision-making by, with and for adults with cognitive disability. It describes the dominant narrative in the literature as depicting a journey from paternalism to autonomy, from exclusion to inclusion, and from discrimination to equality, aligned with three widely recognised models of disability – the charity, medical and social models. It explains that the book’s interpretation of Article 12 is founded on the acceptance of a social model of disability that acknowledges the residual impacts of impairment. The chapter explains the limitations of arguments favouring an interpretation of Article 12 as requiring that decision-making by substitutes be abolished. Such arguments privilege autonomy at the expense of other important human rights values and privilege the civil and political right to legal capacity over other civil, economic, political, social and cultural human rights.

Chapter 3 starts with a history of disability discrimination in the workplace and beyond, leading up to the current protections we now have—most notably, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The chapter then turns to the difficulty of defining and conceptualizing disability, both legally and normatively. Courts, legislatures, scholars, and society in general do not agree on how broadly or narrowly to define disability. This chapter then discusses one of the primary reasons courts and employers have leaned toward a narrow definition of disability—the reasonable accommodation mandate in the ADA. I will first provide a conceptual analysis and defense of the accommodation obligation before turning to the law surrounding the reasonable accommodation provision of the ADA, including the employer’s defense to the accommodation mandate—the undue hardship provision.

In this chapter we examine the intersection of drumming and disability by foregrounding the experiences of drummer and co-author Cornel Hrisca-Munn, who describes his disability as multi-limb deficient. Commencing with a discussion of concepts from the field of disability studies, we explain how drumming exposes the inadequacy of either/or medical- and social-model thinking. Nuanced understandings of lived experiences help to make sense of disability theory, and we use examples from Cornel’s life as a drummer to highlight the importance of complexity and context. We proceed with a narrative by Cornel on how he has experienced others’ perceptions of him through his online presence on internet and social media platforms. Cornel’s experiences of being the object of others’ inspiration porn or trolling on social media highlight how difficult it is for him to be regarded solely as a drummer; instead, he is compartmentalized as a ‘disabled drummer’. Following, we provide a detailed description of how Cornel plays the song ‘Everlong’ by Foo Fighters to illustrate that how people see Cornel play drums changes how they hear him play drums. Finally, Cornel details how he is often compared to Rick Allen of Def Leppard, and explains why this comparison is problematic.

Chaapter 5 covers the impact of experience and past behavior on attitude and behavior change. In addition to experience, the influence of past behavior can be due to biased scanning, cognitive dissonance, and self-perception. Biased scanning entails forming attitudes on the basis of thoughts about specific information associated with the behavior. Cognitive dissonance entails a conflict between one’s attitude and one’s behavior and can lead to changing the attitude to resolve the inconsistency. Self-perception theory entails inferring one’s attitude from a past behavior that is salient at the time. These processes and supporting researach are described.

Disability studies has redefined our understanding of the relationships between bodily and mental particularities and their social and physical contexts. In the broad-survey scholarship, four distinct claims continue to be made: (1) that the late eighteenth century is a period of transition from disability being understood as a supernatural sign to disability being regarded as a scientific phenomenon (the prodigy-to-pathology thesis); (2) that multiple ideas of disability circulate and recirculate at the same time and across time (the recirculation thesis); (3) that the modern sense of ‘disability’ emerges during the early nineteenth century as a product of changes in government administration (the administration thesis); and (4) that the modern sense of ‘disability’ emerged out of a number of disciplinary practices, including the development of statistics as a way of measuring norms (the normalcy thesis). This book challenges these paradigms, arguing for the development of historically appropriate concepts of disability, and demonstrating the benefits of abandoning the anachronistic term ‘disability’.

This chapter’s purpose is to summarize and analyze current states of the rights of persons with disabilities and the nexus of these rights with mental health and psychosocial well-being, particularly focusing on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It describes the key rights in CRPD and analyzes the interrelationship between CRPD and SDGs. The chapter also presents the history of global efforts to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities as well as recent and current developments. Persons with disabilities, including persons with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities, have faced numerous barriers and violations of human rights for a long time. The adoption of CRPD, coupled with SDGs and other key global agreements, provides great momentum for realizing their rights. The chapter concludes that respecting diversity, eliminating social barriers (including attitudinal ones), being attentive to the silent majority and minorities and reaching out to unheard voices, enabling supportive environment where individuals support each other based on needs instead of their attributes, and establishing and incorporating indicators pertaining to mental health and well-being into the monitoring efforts of sustainable development, peace and security, and overall human rights together with mental health perspectives are critical.

The social model of disability was implemented in the United States partially through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and most notably through certain universal accommodations for physical disabilities. The social model has also been applied to mental health, but the ADA did not provide for universal accommodations in mental health. In this Chapter, the authors conduct a systematic review of PubMed and PsycARTICLES to identify evidence for potential universal accommodations in mental health and discuss the policy and ethical considerations of implementing universal accommodations in mental health.

Chapter 1 explores the various theoretical models of disability that have been delineated by scholars in the field. The chapter traces the evolution from the medical model of disability, which focused on the individual’s impairment, to the social and social-contextual models of disability. The United Nations Convention on the Rights or Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) endorses a social-contextual model of disability, which lays emphasis on the interaction between impairment and environmental, legislative and attitudinal barriers. In addition, the chapter analyses the key features of the human rights model of disability that underpins the CRPD. The chapter also explores the core and cross-cutting themes that have become the cornerstone of current disability law at the international and European levels, and it demonstrates the role of the CRPD as the roadmap of global disability policy.

Chapter 1 explores the various theoretical models of disability that have been delineated by scholars in the field. The chapter traces the evolution from the medical model of disability, which focused on the individual’s impairment, to the social and social-contextual models of disability. The United Nations Convention on the Rights or Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) endorses a social-contextual model of disability, which lays emphasis on the interaction between impairment and environmental, legislative and attitudinal barriers. In addition, the chapter analyses the key features of the human rights model of disability that underpins the CRPD. The chapter also explores the core and cross-cutting themes that have become the cornerstone of current disability law at the international and European levels, and it demonstrates the role of the CRPD as the roadmap of global disability policy.