Disability Studies – Fertilizer for Cultivating Local Democracy
Myroslava Tataryn
March 1, 2008
Local democracy may be less about structured democracy and more about things that happen at the community level that connect people and cultivate sharing. Yet, even within this movement dedicated to inclusive community, people with disabilities are typically left out. What assumptions allow for the continued systemic marginalization of people excluded from generalized public considerations of “all people”? What ideas and principles of local democracy can help us to move away from this cycle of discrimination? How can Disability Studies deepen our understanding of concepts such as dependence, interdependence and reciprocity? And how can a social model of disability inform the development of democratic communities?
