Building the Inclusive City

Front matter

@© Open Access

_palgraverpivot Building the Inclusive City

Victor Santiago Pineda palgrave macmillan

Preface

As planners, our theories, concepts, and teachings define the ways in which an architect designs a home, a transportation engineer understands streets, a social worker provides community services, and politicians shape policies and laws. In my course “Building the Inclusive City” I like to remind my impressionable students that cities are not fixed; they are evolving systems of systems. These systems transform over time. They shape and are shaped by our values. The ideas shared in this book shape the way cities, nations, and regional institutions work.

In the coming pages, we will explore equity, justice, and access as fundamental values and as catalysts for innovations in sustainable urban development. The rapidly urbanizing city-state of Dubai is the stage where our story unfolds. The story of Dubai, as with any living city, continues to be written day by day. The book covers a range of events that shape the story of disability in Dubai, starting with the founding of the first specialized school for children with disabilities in the 1980s through 2013, when the city’s legal, institutional, physical, and social reforms led to the passage of Dubai Law No. 2 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Now more than ever, cities around the world need to focus on access and inclusion. Poor planning excludes and devalues large swathes of people. Ineffective plans limit economic productivity. The estimated 1 billion people who live with disabilities throughout the world deserve better.

My lived experience as a person with a disability drew me to equitybased planning research and equips me with a perspective that uncovers gaps in current research methodologies. This perspective helps me identify fresh approaches to building more equitable and sustainable cities.

vii vill | PREFACE

Although this book focuses on Dubai, a wealthy city-state in the United Arab Emirates, it is not simply about this specific city. This book is about institutions and the role of access and equity in responding to the forces of globalization and urbanization. By studying the urban experience of disability outside the US, Europe, or Australia, this manuscript contributes a more nuanced perspective on the global discourse on the right to the city.

Three insights inform my approach herein. First, disability research, much like other urban or social issues, must be situated in a particular time and place. Second, access and inclusion form part of both local and global planning issues. Third, a twenty-first-century planning education should take access and inclusion into consideration by applying a disability lens to the empirical, methodological, and theoretical advances in the field. This book should be read as part of a larger struggle to define and assert access; it’s a story of how equity and justice are central themes in building the cities of the future and of today.

I provide a contemporary history of disability in city planning from a non-Western perspective and provide cultural context for its positioning. This book is an anthropological and urban study of the Emirate of Dubai, its institutions and their revolution, their successes and its failures. I hope this research can help inspire other cities to do more. I am pleased that this book will be available as open access and will help scholars and practitioners reconceptualize disability as a capability deprivation, not simply a medical condition.

By framing disability as a capability deprivation we can build more inclusive and accessible cities. I hope readers like you will use this book to inform their work on metropolitan planning, comparative social development, and urban equity. By bridging theory and practice, I hope to take you on a journey of hopes, dreams, and mostly untapped human potential of persons with disabilities, older persons, children, women, migrants, and anyone else who can benefit from and contribute to the building of an inclusive, innovative, rights-based, barrier-free city.

Berkeley, CA, USA Victor Santiago Pineda

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book was a journey, and the journey continues. From my first visit to my last, I continue to be amazed by the generous people and the innovative spirit that characterizes the United Arab Emirates. This book would not have been possible without the support of hundreds of people who have touched these pages and helped give birth to a set of new ideas. These ideas were shaped and continue to shape a global dialogue on human rights and the manner in which dignity and fundamental freedoms are to be guaranteed to persons like me, and many of my most esteemed colleagues, who live with disabilities.

I would first like to extend my sincere gratitude to those that supported me on the journey. My wife and family who patiently and silently waited while I wrote during long hours, sitting by the computer. I also could not have developed this manuscript without the support and constructive criticism of my doctoral committee at the University of California, Los Angeles, that included Vinit Mukhija, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, and Leobardo Estrada. Intellectual influences also include Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Evans, Kozue Kay Nagata, and Manuel Castells. The basis of this research was born during my time at the University of California, Berkeley and matured further at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Additional scholars that inspire me include Ingrid Robeyns, Marion Iris Young, Edward Soja, John Rawls. This research would not have been possible without the generous support of the US Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship and xX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sheikh Saud Al Qassimi Public Policy Fellowship. More importantly, research support from His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States of America, helped offset the costs of editing and making this manuscript accessible to the world through an open access license.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (formerly the Dubai School of Government) and particularly Dr Tarik Yousef provided me an institutional and intellectual home. Local disability rights scholars like Dr Eman Gaad, and advocates like Nada Bustami and Majid Osaimi, among others, assisted in facilitating a focus group and recruiting sign language interpretation services.

Local government agencies such as the Dubai Executive Council and Dubai’s Community Development Authority actively engaged in discussions. Local special needs centers also welcomed me and provided me with tours of their facilities. In total, over 100 experts or knowledgeable individuals in the field of disability were interviewed and 3 special needs centers were visited. Lola Lopez from Volunteer Dubai provided logistical and administrative support in recruiting and executing the attitudes survey and provided contacts for permission to distribute the instrument at the Dubai Festival City Mall. Marlon Weir and Miriam Rahali provided research and administrative support during the fieldwork phase. Scott Belkin, Sandra Willis, Serida Catalano, Dagnachew Wakene, John Paul Cruz, and most notably Sylvan Doyle patiently edited and revised various versions of the manuscript. I would like to thank my family including, Dr. Sandra Willis, Lizandra Montes, Nada Purkarevic, Maria Pineda, Francisco Pineda, Patrick Pineda, Zachary Kerschberg, and Luis Miguel Gonzalez, among others who patiently spent long hours and late nights supporting and carrying me each step of the way. I would also like to thank my personal heroes Judith Heumann, Ed Roberts, and Dr. Larry Lopez, who eliminated insurmountable barriers and showed me that anything is possible.

There is much that I wish I could have added, and much of this important story still has to be told. Specifically, the story of the rapid progress that had taken place since the launch of the Dubai Disability Strategy in 2015. The past five years have seen tremendous progress, thanks to effective leadership of Aisha Miran at the Executive Council and her capacity to turn a vision into effective and coordinated governance. This is only the beginning of a long journey, and a journey that deserves to be documented, and shared with the broader world. I am excited to see its unfolding in the years ahead as the Dubai Future Foundation, the Centre for the

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi

Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the Dubai Expo 2020 prepare to adopt new paradigms for inclusive urban innovation, and help shape the future of cities.

As a wise colleague told me, “this book is not your last word on a subject but your first.” What seemed like a leap of faith turned out to be a twelve-year odyssey. Dubai is and will continue to be a laboratory where the limits of physical infrastructure and social progress are tested. Concepts I developed through this research have already shaped global institutions and helped set targets for the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, and the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I intend to support the social development efforts of cities around the world through the Global Compact and Campaign on Inclusive and Accessible Cities (www.cities4all.org), and hope to see the work of the United Arab Emirates offer a path from which social inclusion can be studied not only in the pages of a manuscript but through the realization of a vision for a more equitable and inclusive urban future for all.

Contents

Introduction Why Study Dubai? Seeds in the Desert References

Understanding Disability in Theory, Justice, and Planning Introduction

What Makes a City Accessible and Inclusive?

Introduction

Historical and Cultural Dimensions of Disability in Dubai from 1980 to 2012

71 79 xiv

CONTENTS

Exploring Functionings and Freedoms in Dubai Dubai Forms a Foundation for Access and Inclusion Benchmarking Basic Functionings in Dubai Benchmarking Basic Freedoms in Dubai

Conclusion on Basic Functioning and Freedoms References

Introduction: From Theory to Global Framing

Legalities and Access to Justice

The Lived Experience of Disability in the Context of Basic Functionings

The Lived Experience of Disability in the Context of Basic Freedoms

Laws Are Not Enough: Unlocking Capabilities Through Innovations in Governance

Why Laws Are Not Enough

Leadership, Modernization, Social Protection, and Human Rights

Institutional Capabilities i in the Context of Basic Functionings Institutional Capability in the Context of Basic Freedoms Conclusion

Charting Access and Inclusion in Future Cities Smart City Dubai Conclusion

Index

LIST OF FIGURES

A holistic and integrated approach to disability policy requires a coordinated and concerted effort by various agencies and institutions. Identifying and resolving inequality and gaps in outcomes is key to improving the lived experience of persons with disabilities. (Modified figure. Source: Navtej Dhillon and Tarik Yousef. Inclusion: Meeting the 100 Million Youth Challenge, p. 24)

“Iceberg of Inequality” features basic functionings and basic freedoms as org ng domains and as policy areas of interest Sheikh Mohammed during a 2009 Ramadan prayer in his majlis with young persons with disabilities as his guests

Proposed changes as stipulated in the RTA’s comprehensive Strategy for People of determination; examples from Jumeirah Beach Road, Dubai

Proposed changes as stipulated in RTA’s comprehensive Strategy for People of Determination; examples show improved markings and delineations

Proposed changes as stipulated in RTA’s comprehensive Strategy for People of Determination; examples of wider air-conditioned bus stops

Two of the five accessible vehicles owned and operated by the RTA

Diagram showing duty bearers fulfilling responsibilities to rights holders through regulatory policy, knowledge and awareness, program interventions, and dialogue. Through these steps rights holders can claim their rights

54 60

Table 1.1

Table 3.1

Table 3.2

Table 7.1

LIST OF TABLES

Common misconceptions in the area of disability rights and

policy 8 Contrasting beliefs, values, and practices developed by the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Health and Human Services (as cited in Hanson et al. 1998) 51I Comparison of Sen’s, Nagata’s, and Pineda’s approaches to the key evaluative aspects 58

Key objectives of Dubai Law No. 2 of 2014 show a rights-based framework taking place in the Emirate of Dubai; this indicates a shift from a medical to social model of disability framing policy 149 xvii

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Abstract Cities around the world are failing people with disabilities, who represent 15-20% of the world’s population. These failures exist across every sector of life. Historically, people with disabilities have been treated as objects of charity in need of custodial care. However, urban planners who are well positioned to help usher in a new wave of urban reforms and cities around the world like Dubai are experimenting with more inclusive and equitable policies. These new approaches are fundamentally restructuring urban planning and design. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and UAE Federal Law No. 29 challenge normative approaches to spatial justice and policy. This chapter explores how these innovations seek to remove obstacles for people with disabilities. The case of the United Arab Emirates may at first glance appear to be an atypical case of disability-related development, but its unique position illustrates broader structural challenges and tensions inherent to the process of broad-based, cross-sectoral reforms. Building upon an original innovative framework, this book assesses the transformation of disability rights in Dubai and adds an urban dimension to the Capability Model of Disability by addressing the theoretical gaps that impede social inclusion of people with disabilities in cities.

Keywords Governance ¢ Access ¢ Dubai ° Capability approach e Urban theory ¢ Social inclusion ¢ People with disabilities e United Arab Emirates e Urban design

© The Author(s) 2020 1 V. S. Pineda, Building the Inclusive City, https: //doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32988-4_1

Why STUDY DUBAI? SEEDS IN THE DESERT

Dubai is one of the most talked about but least understood cities of our time. In 1999, His Highness (H.H.) Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler at the time, declared against all odds that Dubai would build man-made islands to rival Manhattan and construct unmatched retail centers that would unite the world in cultural diversity and commercial exchange. With conviction, the Ruler publicly declared that his emirate would become one of the world’s most innovative global cities (Al Maktoum 2009). His government labored feverishly to execute his vision and, in record time, Dubai had grown from its humble beginnings as a cluster of fishing villages into a respected regional hub for tourism, commerce, and finance. By 2005, with a reported 25% of the world’s cranes and over $300 billion in development projects, Dubai commanded the world’s attention. During the subsequent three years, the Financial Times and the BBC dubbed “Dubai Inc.” as “the world’s fastest-growing city.” However, the situation changed rapidly in 2009. Under the weight of a massive real estate bubble and global financial crisis, Dubai Inc.’s debts imploded. Some building continued, but mostly through the force of inertia. But the opportunity to rethink “Dubai Inc.” had come.

I first became interested in the Persian Gulf and the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) in 1993 while living in Kuwait with my father, a diplomat, university professor, and journalist. His post as Ambassador of Venezuela to Kuwait also included maintaining relations between my family’s homeland of Venezuela and the relatively young federation of the UAE.

My older brother Francisco, who was on the junior varsity basketball team, traveled from Kuwait to Dubai for a match against one of the local high-school teams. He came back with stories that sparked the imagination of his impressionable younger brother, me. Twelve years later in 2005, as the region and nation’s expansive urban and economic growth reached record highs, I was engaging in research that documented the formation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons

1! The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation comprising seven emirates located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. These seven states, termed emirates, are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah, and Fujairah. According to the 2017 World Bank population estimate, the total population of the United Arab Emirates is around 9.4 million.

with Disabilities (CRPD). I began to wonder if the city was real or simply a mirage. Any city with such dynamism would provide a fertile base from which to build in accessibility; it would provide a tabula rasa with the potential to become the world’s most accessible city.

In 2007, as part of my commitment to documenting, assessing, and supporting the practice of inclusive development, I was invited by a colleague to visit Dubai. This gave me the opportunity to engage with a relatively young and visionary team of experts, government officials, and disability advocates who were charged with the ultimate task—to make Dubai one of the most accessible and inclusive cities in the world. It was exciting, but I was unsure how they were going to pull it off. Could solving accessibility be as simple as simply allocating sufficient funds?

The UAE has substantial resources. It holds the seventh-largest proven reserves of both crude oil and natural gas in the world. Since its independence from the UK in 1971, the UAE has relied on its large hydrocarbon endowments to support its economy, but through concerted efforts over the past several decades, that has begun to change. The UAE is becoming one of the world’s most important financial centers and a major trading center in the Middle East. Would this economic advantage prove sufficient in building the world’s most accessible city? Three years after my first visit I would move to Dubai to find out.

The Federal Structure of Government

Arabic is the official language of the UAE and serves as the main language for government programs and strategy at the federal level. The country’s political system is governed by the UAE Constitution, which splits authority between federal and local authorities. Federal authority is exercised through legislation and execution of federal strategies, laws, and mandates (UAE Constitution, Article 120). The individual member emirates have authority in specific areas related to local management and governance such as the provision of roads, commerce, infrastructure, education, health, and employment, among others. At present, the federal system of government includes the Supreme Council, the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), a parliamentary body in the form of the Federal National Council (FNC), and the Federal Supreme Court, which is representative of an independent judiciary.

Access Through the Lens of Planning

As an urban planner living in the UAE, I was surprised that my profession had not yet explored this dynamic city-state to a greater extent. But more importantly as a disability studies researcher, I was concerned that urban planners had not developed inclusive conceptual approaches to accessibility; the field had practically ignored disability as a fundamental and central experience of the human condition. A multitude of disciplines such as philosophy, public policy, social welfare, and human development have explored disability as a lens through which to understand social exclusion. Why have urban planners left people with disabilities behind??

Due to its breadth and flexibility, I see planning as one of the few fields that can address and harness the human potential of persons with disabilities,’ older persons, and all those who may encounter barriers in the built environment. The field of planning encourages scholars to act and shape new approaches to social justice, access, and community development. It has the potential to help bring millions of people out of the shadows and into the light. It has the power to create a radical transformation in the way a city thinks about and acts on two fundamental values for our time: access and inclusion. I thus set out to explore a relatively new phenomenon in urban planning—disability—across various sectors and scales using an intellectual toolkit housed in the fields of policy planning and urban development.

Most disability rights activists I have spoken to in both developed and developing countries have made remarks along the lines of “We’re not as advanced on disability rights as the US or Europe” or “You’ve seen more progress in this field than we have.” Through my work, I have had to think a lot about what constitutes progress for people with disabilities. Is progress linked to development? If so, then how? What are the values we are advancing? Peter Hall (2002) argues that development is dependent on changing ideas and norms and is also culturally relative and context specific.

It was disappointing to discover that scholars in urban planning, social policy, and international development have by and large failed to address disability as a natural component of the human condition. As such, the three fields are also rather silent on the issue from historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives. Debates around these topics raise questions on the outdated models of disability as well as on government and private sector responsibilities toward the social inclusion of the disabled population. As a result, urban planners are challenged to meaningfully contribute to disability rights and policies.

3 The term “persons” is used in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities rather than “people,” although both can be used interchangeably.

Throughout the world, persons with disabilities are often excluded from mainstream society and denied basic rights (Lindqvist 2000). Pejorative approaches are oftentimes entrenched in social welfare systems that perpetuate dependency and stigma or conflict with new technological, political, or social realities. From my frequent visits to the Middle East, I have personally witnessed and experienced various forms of discrimination against persons with disabilities. These range from physical, emotional, psychological abuse to social exclusion and malign neglect. This abuse and neglect is virtually universal and is present in some form even in advanced economies with decades of experience in enforcing disability rights laws. Throughout the book I describe in detail the evolution of urban and disability theory. I also describe in detail the transformation of disability rights in Dubai, and although I highlight early experiences of neglect, discrimination, and exclusion, I also demonstrate areas of more contemporary approaches that have made rapid progress.

According to Nagata (2008), a disability rights scholar and United Nations expert, effects of disability-based discrimination in the Middle East are particularly severe in fields such as education, employment, housing, transport, cultural life, and access to public places and services. Nagata (2008) cites distinction, exclusion, restriction of preference, or denial of reasonable accommodation based on disablement as social realities that effectively nullify or impair the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities. Urban planners have not adequately addressed such issues and have left the disability question unanswered for too long. Advocates with disabilities living in different parts of the world echoed a similar sentiment.

Contemporary research shows compelling evidence that the diminishment of function does not have to equate to a diminishment of agency (Francis and Silvers 2000; Silverstein 2000; Robeyns 2006; Kittay and Carlson 2010). Disability advocates from the Middle East I have spoken with echo existing research (Poortman 2005; Nagata 2008) and say with a sense of urgency that business as usual has not worked for persons with disabilities. In governments across the Middle East public institutions are marred by funding inequalities, duplication of effort, lack of capacity, power, or mandate to meet all of the necessary social outcomes and objectives of equality and employment (social inclusion) that they are mandated to achieve (Humphreys et al. 2003; Caiderwood 2009; Demarco 2009). It really seemed that a new more flexible and more holistic paradigm was needed—one that could be operationalized, modified, and customized to the diverse conditions, customs, and governments that signed onto the Convention. The amount of change required to address these challenges however left me wondering whether solving the disability question in planning and development was too difficult, too costly, or merely an excuse for not embarking upon the path toward justice and greater freedoms as set out by the CRPD.

In the UAE, as in the majority of the world, unnecessary obstacles prevent persons with disabilities from exercising their rights and from being able to fully participate in the range of activities possible in their society. According to the CRPD and UAE Federal Law No. 29 of 2006 Concerning the Rights of People of Determination, federal and local governments in the UAE are required to actively remove physical, social, legal, and other barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from participating equally in public life. Additionally, the CRPD states that persons with disabilities and their organizations should play an active role as partners in this process. However in the first nine years since the passage of Federal Law No. 29, they seldom did, but this has also begun to change. As I will describe later in the book the UAE Constitution defines the basic public goods and services that need to be afforded to persons with disabilities. It also stipulates that these should not be contingent upon nationality (see UAE Constitution 1996, Appendix A; Al-Muhairi 1996).*

In 2007, during one of my first trips to the UAE, a real estate developer confided that there was no need for accessibility standards in the Emirates because according to him, “there are no persons with disabilities in the UAE, and if there are, they are too few to matter.” As such he argued that “no drastic measures should be taken by the government.” According to him, the number of persons with disabilities was exaggerated. He was likely referring to a 2006 government report that stated the “unofficial

*Under the general provisions of Article 1, individuals with disabilities will be granted by the Ministry of Social Affairs an official document indicating that “its holder is a person with special needs.” This Article is problematic to the equal enjoyment of rights. Requiring that persons with disabilities carry a card issued from the Ministry of Social Affairs would restrict most provisions of the law to nationals and scale down the universal status of rights limiting them to a selected group of “card-carrying” beneficiaries. Additionally, such schemes usually work against doubly marginalized groups (in violation of Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, and 33 of the CRPD). Women, children, the elderly, the poor, migrant workers, Bedouin people, and religious /ethnic minorities who live with disabilities would be at a disadvantage and would, under this scheme, not be able to equally realize their rights. The equalization of opportunities for all persons with disabilities in the UAE is an essential contribution in the general and global effort to effectively develop and mobilize untapped human resources.

number” of persons with disabilities in the UAE was estimated to be 3300 people. This figure however only counted the number of disabled individuals who were receiving services for disability through one of the 47 centers regulated by the Ministry of Social Affairs. But in reality, if the UAE has the prevalence of disability equal to international averages, then the UAE has somewhere between 200,000 and 450,000 persons with disabilities® (Staff 2005; Salama 2006). According to figures published in the local press, this number is growing due, in part, to the prevalence of consanguinity and maintaining one of the world’s highest rates of traffic accidents (Smadi and Sartawi 1998; El-Sadig et al. 2002; Reini 2009; Chung 2010; Shaheen 2010). A wide spectrum of causes beyond the two examples exist and the consequences of disability vary according to the specific socio-economic circumstances and different social services available at the local level. Due to the relative heterogeneity, tolerance, openness, and basic freedoms in the press, negative social factors like neglect, ignorance, superstition, and fear are not as dominant in Dubai or in the UAE as they are in neighboring countries. Dubai, in particular, serves as an ideal case study in understanding the public response to developing and implementing disability rights programs and policies. This is not because Dubai is an atypical case, but because it counters dominant thinking in the area of disability rights. Some of the most common misconceptions in the area of disability rights and policies are summarized in Table 1.1.

Challenging and Changing Norms

Toward the end of the 1960s, organizations of persons with disabilities in the US and a handful of other countries started to formulate a new concept of disability (Stiker 1999; Longmore and Umansky 2001; Switzer 2003; Shakespeare 2008). That new concept indicated the close connection between the limitations experienced by individuals with disabilities, the design and structure of their environments, and the attitude of the general population (Batavia and Schriner 2001; Davis 2006; Stewart 2006; Byrne and McLaughlin 2007). As such, the new concepts of disability were closely linked to urban planning, public affairs, and the development of social policies (Hahn 1985, 1986, 1988; Imrie 1996a, 2000; Gleeson 1999; Hall and Kearns 2001). The disability imperative thus

5 This can be referred to as “administrative prevalence.” Since 90% of the population is expatriate, there is a lower population prevalence for expatriate adults.

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Aoyod pur syy311 Alqiqesip Jo vase dy] ul suondasuodstu UOWTWIOD) T'I QLL became a planning imperative. The debilitating aspects of disability under the new concepts being developed in the 1970s and 1980s could be partially eliminated with concerted effort and inclusive planning, design, and implementation (Imrie and Wells 1993; Imrie 1996a, 1999; Hall and Imrie 1999; Imrie and Hall 2001).

Laying a Foundation for Spatial Justice

The social, political, and historical conditions are substantively different in the UAE from those in the US, Japan, or Europe. Dubai does however provide globally relevant lessons that highlight the pitfalls and shortcomings of what oftentimes were well-intentioned policies and well-meaning efforts by sympathetic government officials. The global disability rights movement and the CRPD brought forth a massive reconceptualization of justice for persons with disabilities on a global level. Evaluating inclusion involves questioning normative approaches to justice. It also helps planners see the critical social and cultural factors, including those based on beliefs and customs, that enable and/or disable people in a given environment.

The UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman) can avoid the mistakes of the US and, at the same time, develop their own approaches to disability theory, policy, and social development faster. They can choose to adapt their own cultural notion of disability or build from existing knowledge in charting their own path for realizing the most tangible rights and norms. The questions that remain are not if and why, but how and when. And this must occur with the knowledge that even in the most developed countries, discriminatory attitudes and social stigma are still prevalent.