Disabilità tra diritti umani e abilismo: una lettura multilivello

Over the past decades, disability has been increasingly reframed through the paradigm of human rights, moving beyond traditional medical-assistance models and affirming the right to full citizenship. Within Disability Studies, this shift has brought critical attention to ableism, a systemic form of oppression that privileges supposedly “normal” bodies and minds while relegating disability to an undesirable deviation. The article develops a multilevel reading of ableism and its implications. At the micro level, it explores everyday experiences of stigma, stereotypes, and internalized prejudice, as well as strategies of resilience and self-advocacy. At the meso level, it examines how schools, welfare services, and workplaces may inadvertently reproduce segregation through paternalistic or exclusionary practices. At the macro level, it highlights how policies, legal frameworks, and cultural representations can embed ableist assumptions, despite the formal advances promoted by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Against this background, social work emerges as a crucial actor in linking micro, meso, and macro dimensions, promoting empowerment, advocacy, and political change, and translating human rights into inclusive practices of social justice.