2001 as the year of disability protests: Diffusion of the “Arab Spring,” political opportunity, or the UN convention?

The year 2011, in addition to being the year of “Arab Spring,” appears to be the year of disability protests. Data from news reports of protests show that, outside of the US, more disability-related protests have occurred than in any previous year. This is true in developing countries in general, in countries which have had democratization protests, such as Egypt, as well as in developing countries without such movements.  In some developing countries where disability protests had occurred in the past, they became more prevalent.

 Why did this change?  Was it related to the Arab Spring protests and their success?  Was it because of the ‘revolution of rising expectations’ formed by democratization protests and their short term successes?   Was it related to the “Occupy Wall Street” and other economically based protests such as the ones occurring in Spain?

 Many of the protests were related to local issues such as accessibility, sign language recognition or discrimination against guide dogs.  While some protest demands were economic in nature, most were not.  [Disability protests in the US in 2011, however, were overwhelmingly related to economic issues.]  The Arab Spring and the economics protests seem unlikely to explain more than a few of the non-US protests. 

 However, it is also clear that the political opportunity structure for disability protest expanded in some places.  The 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities produced political opportunities at the local and national level in some countries.  It may have produced cultural shifts towards recognition of disability rights in some.  In others, political opportunities such as a new government, in Egypt, or a new country, in South Sudan, produced new opportunities.

Overall, this paper analyzes instances of disability protest in 2011 and attempts to classify their causes.