Absent Citizens

'Absent Citizens is an important book that will garner a great deal of attention on a pressing topic long overdue for examination - the place of people with disabilities in Canadian civil society from a national perspective. Michael J. Prince's perceptive critical analysis propels disability public policy to the head of the political agenda, where it should be. Absent Citizens should be on many course reading lists and on the desks of many disability activists and government policy-makers.' -- Geoffrey Reaume, Critical Disability Studies, York University

Drawing together elements from feminist studies, political science, public administration, sociology, and urban studies, Michael J. Prince examines mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion, public attitudes on disability, and policy-making processes in the context of disability.

Disability exists in the shadows of public awareness and at the periphery of policy making. People with disabilities are, in many respects, missing from the theories and practices of social rights, political participation, employment, and civic membership. Absent Citizens brings to light these chronic deficiencies in Canadian society and emphasizes the effects that these omissions have on the lives of citizens with disabilities.

Drawing together elements from feminist studies, political science, public administration, sociology, and urban studies, Michael J. Prince examines mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion, public attitudes on disability, and policy-making processes in the context of disability. Absent Citizens also considers social activism and civic engagements by people with disabilities and disability community organizations, highlighting presence rather than absence and advocating both inquiry and action to ameliorate the marginalization of an often overlooked segment of the Canadian population.