A relational concept of inclusion: Critical perspectives

Abstract

The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) underlines the status of inclusion as a human right. In this context, inclusion means being involved in society, and people being acknowledged whatever their abilities and needs. The article gives an insight into the international debate on inclusion, and the discussion and state of implementation in Germany. It advocates a relational concept of inclusion making use of an "agency-vulnerability nexus". Just like the human rights understanding of inclusion, relational theories of agency and vulnerability examine the processes in social environments which enable or hinder agency. They focus on professional practice, the organisational structures of social services, political conditions and social discourse (for example on disability or refugeeism) and how they are relevant to subjective scopes of action. A perspective of this kind has inherent potential with regard to social criticism, and this is indispensable for a debate which understands inclusion as a task to be tackled by society as a whole.