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Equality, identity and the Disability Rights Movement: from policy to practice and from Kant to Nietzsche in more than one uneasy move

University of Wales, Newport, steve.smith{at}newport.ac.uk

Consistent with Social Work Codes of Ethics and mainstream social policy objectives, the Disability Rights Movement (DRM) promotes the universal values of equal rights and individual autonomy, drawing heavily from Kantian philosophy. However, an anti-universalized Nietzschean perspective is also promoted via the ‘social model’ of disability, challenging the political orthodoxy of rights-based social movements, and the aspirations of social workers to ‘empower’ disabled people. I argue that these Kantian and Nietzschean strands within the DRM, whilst incommensurable, permit a radical assertion of disability-identity. That is, without conceding to value-relativism and postmodern particularlism, and allowing a ‘celebration of difference’ through establishing reciprocal social relations.

Key Words: equality • philosophy • politics • reciprocity • social inclusion • social movements

Critical Social Policy, Vol. 25, No. 4, 554-576 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0261018305057060


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