ABSTRACT
By juxtaposing the ideas of universality and particularity, the article studies vulnerability as a particularising tool within human rights with a comparative approach to the influential vulnerability theory by Martha Fineman. By outlining the similarities and the differences between the two approaches, the article sheds light on how the particular protection needs of persons with disabilities play out in the logic of vulnerability. The article argues that both universal and particular obligations of responsive states – and responsive humans – are needed as a way of materialising substantive equality for persons with disabilities. Such obligations cannot be codified in full detail, but each right is to be interpreted in context and with regard to the particular individual vulnerabilities and resilience of each person. In operationalising the obligations, the rights project and the vulnerability theory complement each other in specifying the rationale and the benchmarks for state action.
