Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine the advances made by LMICs in the inclusion of disabled children and youth within mainstream policies and its implications on their social outcomes following the adoption of The UN convention on the Persons with disabilities and its Optional Protocol 2006.

Paper long abstract:

Critical disability studies have their origins in advanced economies especially UK which was at the forefront of advocating social model of disability. Internationally, the UN convention on the Persons with disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13 December, 2006 the Convention came into effect on 3 May, 2008. The convention paved the way for the diffusion of global norms on social models of disability across the world. The Convention was intended as a human rights instrument with explicit commitment to recognizing that it is the attitudinal and environmental barriers have adverse impacts on the participation of disabled individuals in society. This paper will specifically examine the advances made by LMICs in the inclusion of disabled children and youth within mainstream policies and its implications on their social outcomes. First, this article examines the transnational debates on disability and traces the paradigm shifts in policy discourses. Second, it conducts an empirical social-legal analysis adoption of legal provisions at national levels. Third, it examines policy diffusion in the field of disability policies with special reference to children and youth and its implications for their social outcomes. In conclusion, it draws reflections for a paradigm shift within sociology of disability towards sociology of enablement which goes beyond binaries of 'social' and 'asocial' models of disability.