From enabling access to enabling rights: Singapore's practical approach to disability policy

This chapter examines whether and how disability rights have made a difference to the inclusion of disabled people in Singapore. Though Singapore ratified the CRPD in 2013, the human rights model of disability has not entrenched itself in the state’s policy approach towards disability. Nonetheless, Singapore’s pragmatic approach to disability policy has led to successes in areas such as physical accessibility. At the same time, there are limitations with this pragmatic approach, as demonstrated by the cutting-edge case of digital accessibility. This chapter examines the reasons as to why the transformative potential of the CRPD has not been fully realized in Singapore and offers insight into the impact of human rights on policy approaches towards disability in non-liberal societies. Singapore’s experience raises important questions as to the value and future of disability rights in non-Western contexts.