Issue definition in rights-based policy focused on the experiences of individuals with disabilities: an examination of Canadian parliamentary discourse

摘要

In issue definition in rights-based policy Canada stereotypically embraces a more positive, human rights-centered approach as compared with the American stereotype associated with the USA's more presumptively negative, civil rights-based tack. Since exclusionary infrastructures violate the core values of democratic governance, a failure to address unnecessarily exclusive infrastructures presents a rights-based public challenge surrounding disability akin to those experienced by other non-elite groups. Analysis of disability policy serves to clarify positive versus negative tendencies in rights-based policy, including whether the expectation of a primarily positive basis in Canada is confirmed. This article examines the definition of public dimensions of the experiences of individuals with autism as a case reflecting the basis of construction of rights in Canada.