ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the independent living movement in the United States, an example of disabled people coming together to articulate their concerns and campaign for greater freedoms within mainstream society, before describing the growth of the democratic and coordinated international disability rights movement that exists today. It focuses on the critical role of disabled people's organisations within the movement, and some of the challenges that they currently face. The chapter explores the disability mainstreaming approach, a strategy designed to operationalise the rights-based approach by ensuring that mainstream development planning takes full account of disability. The opportunity for Life Haven to influence government policy making and planning at the highest levels came about through its willingness to form an alliance with poverty-focused organisations within civil society. The international disability movement really took off with the birth of Disabled People's International in 1981, which was designated by the United Nations as the 'International Year of Disabled People'.
