Vulnerable Rights: The Incomplete Realization of Disability Social Rights in France

Abstract

While disabled people embody a classical figure of vulnerability, this paper shifts the focus of attention to the vulnerability of their social rights. I address this question normatively and empirically. From a normative point of view, a common framing of disability rights as civil rights, under the influence of the Americans with disabilities Act (ADA), has tended to impede the discussion on disability social rights. By reasserting that social rights are fundamental human rights, the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) contributes to bringing them back to the forefront of disability research. However, the realization of disability social rights also needs to be empirically assessed. Based on theories of social rights as well as on Weberian sociology of law, I point to two major ideal-typical characteristics of social rights: they are expected to reduce uncertainty, especially regarding the evolution of one's autonomy, and to foster a sense of citizenship. I then study the reception of two types of disability benefits in France, the Adult disability benefit (AAH) and the Disability compensation benefit (PCH), to assess to what extent these promises of social rights translate into the experiences of disabled citizens. My analysis is based on 30 biographical interviews with people with either visual or mobility impairments, conducted between 2014 and 2016. The results show the persistent vulnerability of disability social rights in France, pointing to the importance of the procedural dimension of rights realization.

Activation, Non-Take-Up, and the Sense of Entitlement: A Swiss Case Study of Disability Policy Reforms

“…In this sense, our study reveals that some core objectives and values of DI active reforms (like reducing social expenditures or fighting against fraud) refrain part of potential claimants from applying for DI. Moreover, questioning the impact of social policies through the lens of people's sense of entitlement highlights the procedural aspects of the realisation of rights (Revillard 2018), especially when combined with qualitative methods. It allows to avoid a certain naivety that consists in tackling NTU as solely an instrumental issue or a pure mechanical mismatch between supply and demand of social benefits and services.…”

“…This paper draws on a mixed-methods research design, applied to the Swiss Disability insurance (DI). A few studies have already focused on the NTU of disability benefits and services (for example Craig and Greenslade 1998 Berrat et al 2011 on France;or Grees 2019 in Sweden) pointing out the many obstacles to the realisation of disability social rights (Revillard 2018). So far, the literature has shown that disabled people are particularly exposed to the risk of NTU.…”

Disability, Justice and Freedom as Non-Domination

“…They are therefore 'vulnerable rights'. 3 According to Bagenstos, 4 disability rights are particularly vulnerable to criticism and backlash because they are not underpinned by a discourse of justice. It appears indeed that solid arguments are wanting when it comes to the question: Why should International Journal of DISABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 2.1 June 2022 society guarantee the rights of disabled people?…”