University of Sussex
Browse
233-846-1-SM.pdf (309.94 kB)

Moving from the implicit to the explicit: ‘spiritual rights’ and the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

Download (309.94 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 23:43 authored by Russell WhitingRussell Whiting, Sándor Gurbai
This article considers spiritual rights in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). It notes that unlike in other legally binding UN treaties spiritual rights is not a term covered in this convention. The purpose of the article is to explore how that exclusion happened, what it means, what lies behind it and also to suggest one way of considering how the convention might have been enriched by explicitly including spiritual rights. Firstly, the article discusses the use of the term spiritual rights. It goes on to analyse how spiritual rights are recognized in some UN treaties and not others. The article then examines the travaux préparatoires of the convention and studies how spiritual rights were excluded after an extended period of debate between delegates. The article challenges the view of some delegates that if spiritual rights is included in other conventions that should be sufficient. It uses the Christian doctrine of incarnation to explore what might be distinctive about spiritual rights for people with disabilities. Boros and Vanier’s interpretations of the doctrine are briefly considered before a fuller exploration of the “Disabled God” incarnationalism of the theologian Nancy Eiesland, who was in fact involved in the drafting of UNCRPD. The idea of the Disabled God is also shown to be meaningful outside of a Christian context with an example from Shintoism. The article concludes that whilst spiritual rights is certainly a contested term, its omission from the UNCRPD is to be lamented.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Canadian Journal of Disability Studies

ISSN

1929-9192

Publisher

University of Waterloo

Issue

3

Volume

4

Page range

103-126

Department affiliated with

  • Education Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-12-08

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-03-13

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-03-13

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC