National disability strategies as rights-based cultural policy tools

A growing attention to cultural participation of people with disabilities has been propelled by the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Being strictly connected to the implementation of the CRPD, the focus on cultural participation of people with disabilities has accrued outside the remit of national cultural policy. This article carries out a thematic analysis of national disability strategies across 27 Member States of the European Union plus the UK and explores the extent to which these strategies can be considered rights-based cultural policy tools. It identifies four themes recurring across those strategies: enhancing accessibility of cultural heritage, cultural institutions and cultural content; supporting persons with disabilities as creators of culture; awareness-raising about cultural participation of persons with disabilities; and protecting disability identity and culture. It then discusses the measures linked to these themes that national disability strategies adopt. On the whole, this article argues that national disability strategies can be, to varying degrees, considered cultural policy tools, and display significant rights-based elements. It concludes with reflections on the broader implications of those findings for cultural policy.