Absent Citizens: Disability Politics and Policy in Canada

by Michael J. Prince

Overview

Disability exists in the shadows of public awareness and at the periphery of policy making. People with disabilities are, in many respects, missing from the theories and practices of social rights, political participation, employment, and civic membership. Absent Citizens brings to light these chronic deficiencies in Canadian society and emphasizes the effects that these omissions have on the lives of citizens with disabilities.

Drawing together elements from feminist studies, political science, public administration, sociology, and urban studies, Michael J. Prince examines mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion, public attitudes on disability, and policy-making processes in the context of disability. Absent Citizens also considers social activism and civic engagements by people with disabilities and disability community organizations, highlighting presence rather than absence and advocating both inquiry and action to ameliorate the marginalization of an often overlooked segment of the Canadian population.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442693333
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	04/22/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael J. Prince is the Lansdowne professor of Social Policy in the Faculty of Human and Social Development at the University of Victoria.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Disability, Politics, and Citizenship

Part One: Ambiguities, Exclusions, and Divisions
1 Pride and Prejudice: Canadian Ambivalence toward Inclusion
2 City Life and the Politics of Strangers
3 Social Stratification, the State, and Disability

Part Two: Capacities, Engagements, and Inclusions
4 Mainstreaming Disabilities in Public Policies
5 The Canadian Disability Community: Five Arenas of Social Action and Capacity
6 From Barriers to Ballots: Participating in Electoral Systems
7 Engaging in Policy Development Processes

Part Three: Conclusions
8 Policing Citizenship: Towards a Fuller Measure of Equality
9 The Policy Record and Reform Agenda

Notes

References

Index

What People are Saying About This

'Absent Citizens is an important book that will garner a great deal of attention on a pressing topic long overdue for examination - the place of people with disabilities in Canadian civil society from a national perspective. Michael J. Prince's perceptive critical analysis propels disability public policy to the head of the political agenda, where it should be. Absent Citizens should be on many course reading lists and on the desks of many disability activists and government policy-makers.'

Geoffrey Reaume

'Absent Citizens is an important book that will garner a great deal of attention on a pressing topic long overdue for examination - the place of people with disabilities in Canadian civil society from a national perspective. Michael J. Prince's perceptive critical analysis propels disability public policy to the head of the political agenda, where it should be. Absent Citizens should be on many course reading lists and on the desks of many disability activists and government policy-makers.'

— Geoffrey Reaume, Critical Disability Studies, York University

Editorial Reviews

Prince offers a compelling perspective, a deep and though political analysis, and a number of intriguing propositions for engaging disability studies academy and the disability advocacy movement towards full citizenship.—Mary Ann McColl, Journal of Social Policy, vol 39:04:10

'Absent Citizens is an important book that will garner a great deal of attention on a pressing topic long overdue for examination - the place of people with disabilities in Canadian civil society from a national perspective. Michael J. Prince's perceptive critical analysis propels disability public policy to the head of the political agenda, where it should be. Absent Citizens should be on many course reading lists and on the desks of many disability activists and government policy-makers.'

—Geoffrey Reaume, Critical Disability Studies, York University

From the Publisher

Prince offers a compelling perspective, a deep and though political analysis, and a number of intriguing propositions for engaging disability studies academy and the disability advocacy movement towards full citizenship.

Mary Ann McColl