ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the particular case of the Southern African country, Zimbabwe, where international legislation has seemingly done little for persons with disabilities. It discusses some of the barriers that are faced in an effort to access rights by persons with disabilities and why advocacy is important. Eilstrup-Sangiovanni and Bondaroff found that confrontational advocacy strategies were used internationally especially by trans-border activists in the environmental sector. Advocacy sometimes requires an individual to be selfish, and this is why activists are often viewed as single-minded people. The most well-known of the is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The world has acknowledged discrimination of persons with disabilities and a number of conventions and legal initiatives have followed at regional and global levels to raise awareness and improve disability rights. Accusations of witchcraft by parents or relatives particularly affect women and people are blamed for their disabilities as ‘cursed’ and targeted because they have disabilities.
