ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores and analyses the disabled child's participation rights in decisions affecting various aspects of life, how they are safeguarded in law and in policy as well as how these rights are implemented in practice through various programmes, initiatives and measures. The book mainly draws on European documents and research literature, in particular that from the member states of the European Union and the European Free Trade Area. This focus is especially useful in the light of the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the European Union as a bloc. The CRPD is the first international legislative instrument to describe disability not only in terms of impairment but also in terms of the interaction between that impairment and the environment in which the disabled person is living.
