In the context of disability, the private market and the EU policies on the private sector are experiencing a political, economic and most importantly, humanitarian crisis. The situation is determined by several factors. First, historically, the position of disabled people in the private market has been complicated since they have been treated as poor, burdens to society and were largely ignored by the market or forced to the bottom. Secondly, the UNCRPD places obligations on Member States to protect and promote disabled people’s rights and promote equality in the private market. In such a context, national governments provide legal requirements for the private sector and this raises tensions and challenges for producers and sellers as they have to maneuver between legal requirements and the necessity to stay competitive in the market. As a result, market players adopt different strategies which often violate disabled people’s rights in the market and human rights in general. Thirdly, the EU legal instruments position disabled people as ‘vulnerable consumers’ instead of ‘customers with equal rights’ and thus validate their lower position. In such a context, EU policies and private market stakeholders experience and at the same time promote a conceptual and ideological crisis for understanding disability and the reaction to differences in society.
This presentation targets practical aspects of the legal and lived experiences and examines practical measures that are required by governments to achieve a more accessible private market for disabled people. The discussion will cover the impact of the economic crisis on disabled shoppers’ position and patterns in the market as well as on experiences of sellers and producers of ICT. The discussion will be framed in Habermas’ life world colonization theory and informed by the position of the EU through a discussion of pertinent policy documents.
