Re(al) Productive Justice: Gender and Disability Perspectives (360G-Wellcome-212572_Z_18_Z)

The key goal of this project is to make visible the experiences of disabled people in Ireland seeking reproductive justice. This is a live political issue in Ireland at present, as many disabled activists have criticised the reliance by campaigners on disability as a ground for restricting or expanding abortion access. Given Ireland’s changing stance on these issues, this is a critical time to secure the meaningful involvement of disabled people in reproductive justice reform. This project will achieve its goal using three complementary approaches. First, it will critically analyse the legislative and policy frameworks regulating reproductive decision-making for disabled people in Ireland in light of human rights norms. Second, it will use an oral history methodology to document the lived experience of disabled people in making reproductive choices in Ireland. Finally, it will draw on the findings from the legislative analysis and oral histories to develop a toolkit for health and social care practitioners. This toolkit will clearly outline the applicable legal regulation of this field in a manner accessible to practitioners, and document the supports which could be used to ensure respect for the reproductive rights of disabled people in health and social care decision-making processes.