An African Path to Disability Justice: Community, Relationships and Obligations

Description

How should disability justice be conceptualised, not by orthodox human rights or capabilities approaches, but by a legal philosophy that mirrors an African relational community ideal? This book develops the first comprehensive answer to this question through the contemporary literature on African philosophy, which is relied upon to construct a legal philosophy of disability justice comprising of ethical ideals of community, human relationships and obligations. From these ideals, an African legal philosophy of disability justice is offered as a criterion for critically evaluating existing laws, legal and political institutions, as well as providing an ethical basis for creating new ones to ensure that they are inclusive to people with disabilities. In taking an alternative perspective on the subject, the book outlines and emphasises the need for a new public culture of obligations owed to people with disabilities, highlighting both the prospects and difficulties of achieving the ideal of disability justice that continues to elude the lived experiences of millions of Africans today. Oche Onazi's An African Path to Disability Justice is the first book-length exploration of disability in the light of African ethics, as contrasted with the human rights and capabilities frameworks. Of particular interest are Onazi's thoughtful reflections on how various conceptions of community salient in African moral philosophy––including group-based, reciprocal and relational––bear on what we owe to the disabled. --Thaddeus Metz, Distinguished Professor, University of Johannesburg Front Matter ....Pages i-xix Introduction (Oche Onazi)....Pages 1-6 Outline of an Alternative Research Agenda on Disability Justice (Oche Onazi)....Pages 7-37 Disability Justice in an African Context: The Human Rights Approach (Oche Onazi)....Pages 39-72 Disability Justice in Legal and Political Philosophy: Is the Concept of Community a Missing Ideal? (Oche Onazi)....Pages 73-102 Disability Justice in an African Legal Philosophical Context (Oche Onazi)....Pages 103-138 Disability Justice in Practice: Instituting a New Public Culture of Obligations (Oche Onazi)....Pages 139-166 Conclusion (Oche Onazi)....Pages 167-176 Back Matter ....Pages 177-179