Fighting for Disability Rights Amidst the “War on Everything Good”

Abstract

Democracy, especially the elements of society that have grown over time to foster the civil and social infrastructure and support the rights of marginalized communities, have had a very rough time of the past few years. Democratic forms of government in Brazil (an attempted insurrection), Hungary and Turkey (many limitations on basic democratic freedoms), India (the arrest of politicians opposing the prime minister), Israel (the executive and legislative branches assuming control the judiciary), Italy (a prime minister who heads the rebranded Fascist party), Mexico (the president trying to erode election oversight and protections), and of course the United States (U.S.), among an alarming number of others, are teetering toward decline and weakening under stress in different ways (Ackerman, 2023; Mogul & Suri, 2023; Polglase et al., 2023; U.S. Department of State, 2023; Winfield, 2022). In recent elections across Europe, anti-democratic parties have made unsettling electoral gains (Kelemen, 2019). The democracy of Ukraine is fighting for the very existence of the nation and the state. A primary outgrowth of these global wobblings is the erosion of the rights of marginalized communities and an accompanying suppression of their voices even in nations that have placed a high value on human rights.