ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter sets out the main purpose and themes of the book. It outlines the importance of cultural participation as an essential dimension of life with the potential to promote the full enjoyment of human rights. It highlights the importance of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as a normative framework and lays out the conceptual scope of the book, delineating the meaning of disability as well as the meaning of culture and cultural life for the purpose of the analysis. This introductory chapter also succinctly presents the human rights model of disability as the theoretical framework of the book, which will then be further discussed in Part I. It also outlines the socio-legal approach and the methodology underpinning the book and its structure.
