Recalling the Disability Discrimination Act 1995: Liberalism and the New Politics of Disability

Abstract It is thirty years since the enactment of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). This article argues that the DDA was more than just another instance of anti‐discrimination legislation. Instead, it proposes that, when read in conjunction with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which followed in 2010, the DDA marks the advent not just of a ‘new legal paradigm’, of interest exclusively to lawyers, but of a new form of liberal politics, of interest and potential inspiration to anyone concerned with possibilities for the reinvigoration of the liberal tradition.