Generational Cohorts, Group Membership, and Political Participation by People with Disabilities

Abstract

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The Role of Disability Groups in the Development and Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

“…This is important because, for example, studies of US national elections reveal that persons with disabilities tend to be 10-21% less politically inclined than non-disabled persons. This also varies among persons with disabilities in that women, older individuals, those with severe disabilities, lower education and income tend to be even less politically inclined (Schur, 1998(Schur, , 2003Schur, Shields & Schriner, 2005). observed that persons with disabilities were underrepresented in local, provincial and federal elections and pointed to negative public attitudes, public awareness and funding issues that Levesque & Langford, "The role of disability groups" CDSA 5.4 (December 2016) 68 needed to be addressed.…”

Political citizenship and local political participation for disabled people

“…Notes 1. Schur et al (2005) include the following activities in the index: making an economic contribution to a political party or a political candidate, writing or speaking to an elected representative or public employee, attending a political meeting, writing to a newspaper, making an economic contribution to organizations that try to influence governmental policy or legislation, working in other ways with groups or on their own to change governmental policy or legislation, working with others on issues in their own local communities, and voting in an election. 2.…”

“…At an individual level, political participation depends in part on the candidate's resources and her/his motivation. Disabled people have to varying degrees resources such as education, income, organizational affiliation, and social capital (Schur et al 2005, Rogstad 2007). In addition, the motivation to participate politically also varies among disabled people.…”

“…Political participation is also operationalized in different ways. Shields et al (1998) identify variables like 'wear a political button', 'try to influence others', 'attend a political meeting', and 'work for a candidate', while Schur et al (2005) construct an index of political participation of eight activities ranging from financial support to writing newspaper articles and voting. 1 Both studies have concluded that disabled people are less politically active than other people.…”

Voting as Empowerment Practice

“…Internal political efficacy is a sense of personal competence to understand and participate in politics, while external efficacy is a sense that one's political activities will have an influence on what the government and leaders actually do (Schur, Shields, & Schriner, 2005). Internal efficacy is recognized as a significant predictor of voting among people with and without disabilities (Gastil, 2000;Schur, Shields, & Schriner, 2003).…”