Nothing About Us Without Us

"Nothing About Us Without Us!" (Latin: "Nihil de nobis, sine nobis") is a slogan used to communicate the idea that no policy should be decided by any representative without the full and direct participation of members the group(s) affected by that policy. This involves national, ethnic, disability-based, or other groups that are often thought to be marginalized from political, social, and economic opportunities.

The saying in its Latin form has its origins in Central European foreign relations, and is cited as a long standing principle of Hungarian law and foreign policy,^[1] and a cornerstone of the foreign policy of interwar Poland.^[2][3]

The term in its English form came into use in disability activism during the 1990s. James Charlton relates that he first heard the term used in talks by South African disability activists Michael Masutha and William Rowland, who had in turn heard the phrase used by an unnamed East European activist at an earlier international disability rights conference. In 1998, Charlton used the saying as title for a book on disability rights.^[4]

The saying has since moved from the disability rights movement to other interest group, identity politics, and populist movements.^[5][6]

See also

• Nihil novi

References

1. ^ Bentley, R (1860). Hungary, from 1848 to 1860. http://books.google.com/books?id=enuRlR0UHhoC&pg=PA173#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
2. ^ Smogorzewski, Kazimierz (1938). "Poland's Foreign Relations". The Slavonic and East European Review 16 (48): 558–571. JSTOR 4203420. 
3. ^ Kornat, Marek; J Micgiel (2007). "The Policy of Equilibrium and Polish Bilateralism". In P Wandycz (ed.). Reflections on Polish Foreign Policy. pp. 47–88. ISBN 0965452077. http://politologia.wsb-nlu.edu.pl/uploadedFiles/file/M_Kornat%20-%20The%20Policy%20of%20Equilibrium%20and%20Polish%20Bilateralism.pdf. 
4. ^ Charlton, James I (1998). Nothing About Us Without Us. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22481-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=ohqff8DBt9gC&lpg=PA3&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-22. 
5. ^ "Nothing about us without us: Greater, meaningful involvement of people who use illegal drugs". http://www.aidsalliance.org/publicationsdetails.aspx?id=310. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 
6. ^ "Nothing About Us Without Us: The Shared Goals of the Harm Reduction and Sex Worker Rights Movements". August 2, 2010. http://www.sexworkawareness.org/nothing-about-us-without-us-the-shared-goals-of-the-harm-reduction-and-sex-worker-rights-movements. 

External links

• 'Nothing About Us Without Us' - Recognizing the Rights of People with Disabilities - UN Chronicle^{[dead link]}
• Nothing About Us Without Us: Human Rights and Disability Zmag^{[dead link]}