Abstract

DANTAS, Taísa Caldas. Experiences of empowerment and self-advocacy in people with disabilities: A study in Brazil and Canada. Educação. UNISINOS [online]. 2017, vol.21, n.3, pp.336-344. ISSN 2177-6210.  https://doi.org/10.4013/edu.2017.213.07.

This article aims to analyze, from the perspective of human rights, individual experiences, systems (laws, policies, guidelines) and social attitudes that contribute (or not) to the process of empowerment and self-advocacy in the lives of people with disabilities in Brazil and Canada. For this, we developed a study that starts off from the following question: what is the political-legal and socio-cultural reality of Brazil and Canada that contributes to the guarantee of human rights related to experiences of empowerment and self-advocacy of people with disabilities? Through a qualitative approach, we adopted cultural studies as a field of analysis, and interviews were conducted with people with disabilities in different regions of Brazil and Canada. Both experiences showed that the acquisition of empowerment and selfadvocacy is inherent to the subject and his life story, both in more positive relationships and oppressive and excluding ones.

Keywords : Self-Advocacy; Empowerment; People with Disabilities.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )