ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the ways in which most people with disabilities remain disadvantaged, and highlights a few of the signs of hope that the situation may change for the better in future. On 3 May 2008 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities finally came into force, marking perhaps the end of the first phase of the global disability rights movement, which can be said to have begun in 1981, with the formation of Disabled Peoples’ International. The social model of disability approach has sometimes been interpreted as meaning that rather than preventing impairment, the emphasis should only be on removing barriers to disabled people. The priority is therefore to foster research collaborations between developed and developing countries, and to contribute to the training of researchers in low-income settings, particularly researchers with disabilities. Disabled people are particularly disadvantaged due to environmental barriers in low-income countries.
