Emancipating the lives of persons with disabilities: potential for contributions by disability studies

Majority of persons with disabilities are disenfranchised and experience profound exclusion globally as well as in India. Persons with disabilities are barred from obtaining basic services for a decent living. Underestimation on the prevalence rate is a major factor contributing to marginalization coupled with persons with disabilities having no voice or say in the policies that affect their lives. If persons with disabilities are to truly emancipate, then evidence based research that clearly states the “real need” from the perspective of the disabled is the call of the hour to build a collective voice and seek justice and assert rights. Such emancipatory research is based on the premise that the agenda must be set by persons with disabilities with the disabled being at the helm of such studies. Drawing from the authors first hand experiences, this chapter exemplifies how a collaborative approach between persons with disabilities, civil society organizations and academia could generate meaningful outcomes leading to setting the future directions or course of action to be taken. The concept of emancipatory research is particularly in line with the new Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2016, and therefore the coming decades are an opportune time to undertake emancipatory research to study the implementation of the new law and its impact.