This paper examines the process under way in Iceland to align national law with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, focusing on the Convention's call for the active involvement of disabled people and their representative organizations in policy and decision making on matters that affect them. The paper draws on comments submitted by Icelandic DPOs on draft legislation intended to replace the existing law on services for disabled people, focusing on comments relating to their ability to participate in and affect the policymaking process. Furthermore, it draws on interviews with leaders of representative organizations of disabled people that solicited their views on the issue. The findings indicate that there is a reluctance on behalf of Icelandic authorities to make changes to the established process, which limits the active participation of disabled people and their representative organizations. The draft legislation has neither been revised to include provisions for expanding the participation of DPOs in policy and decision making, nor to ensure that disabled people themselves participate in the process.

Achieving disability equality calls for transformative changes to society's structures and norms. Recognizing the central role of disabled people and their organizations in this restructuring, and the call of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) for their full inclusion in all legal and policy decisions relating to their rights, this article focuses on how disability groups and organizations regard their ability to effect changes in line with the CRPD. The article draws on qualitative interviews with leaders of disability organizations and activist groups in Iceland in 2016 and 2017. The findings reflect frustration among the leaders with what they perceive to be a lack of sustained progress in the decade since the country signed the CRPD. In their view, this period has been characterized by a lack of meaningful involvement of disabled people in policymaking, and a lack of political will and interest in disability affairs, which has resulted in stagnation. As a result, leaders of disabled people's organizations have begun to change their strategies and are taking steps to redefine their approaches, and reframe the issues and dialogue with authorities in a more progressive manner, demanding to have more say in the process of change.

The article highlights how the strategic use of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) in Iceland has produced a shift in the balance of power with regard to how, and by whom, disability legislation and policy in Iceland is developed. The article draws on a study examining the last stages of a consultative process between representatives of DPOs and policymakers in Iceland leading up to the adoption, in May of 2018, of core disability legislation, Laws pertaining to services for disabled people with long-term support needs (No. 38/2018). It examines the process from the perspective of representatives of DPOs through in-depth interviews and document analysis. This article draws on critical theory and the human rights approach in its analysis, with a particular emphasis on the roadmap to the coproduction of policy provided by the CRPD and the UN CRPD Committee through the issuance of guidance to States Parties to the Convention. It draws attention to the DPOs’ ongoing refocusing of their strategies, and their emphasis on harnessing the rights contained in the CRPD to gain recognition of their right to participation in the coproduction of policy and in changing process norms.

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This article critically examines the application of an innovative project aimed at developing a mechanism for people with intellectual disabilities to provide input to the Icelandic government’s report on its implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD). The project was undertaken to comply with the CRPD’s obligation to ensure the participation of disabled people in the review process and to respond to the recognized need for changes to consultation processes to accommodate the needs of people with intellectual disabilities. The project was successful in producing its intended outcome, to facilitate meaningful input by people with intellectual disabilities to the national review process. However, the research reveals that effective use of the outcome report by the authorities, which had both funded the project and praised its work, was lacking. These findings draw attention to the need to address unspoken norms and biases, and to take assertive steps to institutionalize a more structured and transparent process of co‐creation to ensure that the voices of marginalized groups are in fact heard and effectively taken into account in outcome processes. The research this article draws on is qualitative, comprised of data gathered through document analysis, as well as in‐depth interviews with representatives of disabled people’s organizations and the authorities.