Persons with Disabilities: Entitled to Beg, not to Work. The Argentine Case

Abstract

The article analyzes the structural unemployment that characterizes persons with disabilities from a social, economic and political perspective. As long as persons with disabilities continue to be defined as unable to perform productive work, they will remain condemned to poverty, begging, dependency and a life without projects to fulfill. With reference to the history and struggles of the disability rights movement in Argentina, it focuses on understanding this struggle as a collective endeavor, aimed at establishing the right to earn a living by working, i.e. via paid productive employment. It concludes by positing that in the long run, social inclusion can only be realized in a society that is organized so that each individual can contribute what he or she is capable of, with the necessary means put at his and her disposal; and that in return, his and her needs (as they may evolve over time) will be met.