The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
Karl Marx
This claim, favoured by Michael Oliver, one of the instigators of disability studies, is particularly true for this discipline which emerged as a response to widespread oppression and marginalization of disabled people. Therefore, through my work, I am trying to find ways to utilise the knowledge, data and evidence which became available through contemporary research in human rights and disability studies to improve the societal position of disabled people. Just like many colleagues of mine who work in this field, I am convinced that academics should not solely work with an aim to advance our careers, observing from a „safe distance“ but should rather seek to actively contribute to social changes and social justice and unequivocally take the side of those who are oppressed. In that sense, the task of an academic (in the field of disability studies and social science, more broadly) is not to „discover“ the reality which exists objectively from a neutral position but to use their critical thinking and value-judgements to contribute to the vision of better and more just society for all. Activism is, thus, an important part of who I am, personally and professionally.
At the same time, I do not think that activism should remain „reserved“ for „elites“ or for those who possess specific professional knowledge such as legal knowledge in the human rights domain, anti-discrimination or similar. Activism should be open and inclusive to all disabled people who resist marginalization (and in fact to all citizens) regardless of the type of impairment, experience, level of education, age or organisational affiliations. Only by the means of wide mobilization of people who suffer from social injustice and solidarity between different social movements will structural problems that generate injustice and inequality in the first place, ever be removed. Disabled people are „experts by experience“ and are best positioned to know what their life looks like and what their/our needs are.
The examples of my activist work include the following:
• Writing and publishing of academic and non-academic works on the situation disabled people face;
• Speaking at academic and non-academic conferences and other events with the purpose of knowledge exchange;
• Public policy analysis with a focus on compliance with international human rights law, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in particular, and creating recommendations for further alignment;
• Contributing to international human rights standards setting (by drafting submissions as part of the processes of public consultations at the international level using the mechanisms of the European Union, Council of Europe or the United Nations);
• Supporting the disability movement, nationally (in Serbia) and internationally:
- I serve as the Board Member of the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) and I contribute to ENIL’s programs, activities and advocacy efforts in domains of deinstitutionalisation, availability of personal assistance and children’s right to family life;
- I am one of the founders of ENIL Youth Network which gathers young disabled people from all around Europe with more than 800 members;
- I provide consultancy services to Disabled People’s Organisations in Serbia and abroad to support their advocacy;
- I initiated and supported the development of a non-formal group of young disabled activists “IM-PACT 21” in Serbia.
The examples of my activist work mentioned above certainly do not mean that these forms of activism are the most effective or the most desirable ones. On the contrary, the pace of change is slow and the results are not readily evident. Other forms of activism, such as creating socially engaged art or performance, sharing personal stories and experiences of disabled people, strategic litigation in the cases of human rights violations, public assemblies and protests are also forms of activism practised by my disabled friends and comrades throughout the world. I also think that disability activism can not be divorced from wider struggles for social justice and democracy and that it needs to be based on the principle of solidarity with other social movements. If we, disabled people are fighting for inclusion in society, we need to ask ourselves the question: Once we are included, what are we in for? Surely, the goal of our struggle is not to be equal with others in terms of being equally exploited by those in power but to live in an equal and just society which provides a healthy and nourishing environment for all its citizens.
Being aware that the pace of societal changes towards the improvement of the position of disabled people, but also of all other groups that suffer social injustices is extremely slow, I deem it necessary to maintain a self-critical view and reflect on the personal engagement (be it the engagement of individuals or organisations) and to carefully evaluate which activities bring results and why. Therefore, I consider it important for disabled people to think together and create innovative forms of activism, but also to carefully analyse the past of disabled people’s movements throughout the world and be aware of the strategies of collective engagement that have led to positive results.
Hence, I invite all readers of these lines to feel free to write and comment with their proposals for joint activist engagement.