Disability, human rights and the limits of humanitarianism /

What is human? What are rights? Are people with disabilities human? If so, do they have rights, or are rights an entitlement granted to some? The disenfranchisement of people with disabilities is deeply entrenched in most cultures around the globe, including in the US. Revealing the perils of charity and humanitarianism, these essays focus on the suffering and pathos of the disability experience. This muddies and obscures the notion that simply to live and to have access to all the benefits and rights of citizenship is a basic human right. This collection looks at, among other things, the manipulation of disability rights laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The 13 essays examine the distortion of the lived experience of disability through the lenses of poverty, media, disaster management, vulnerability, intersexuality, HIV/AIDS, special education, and a great deal more. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Patricia A. Murphy, University of Toledo