“What happened to us?”

A history of disability policies in Hungary since 1998, from a disability movement perspective

Abstract

The social movement of disabled people has been influential in shaping policies and laws. This paper analyses policy and movement events in the period since 1998 from a movement perspective, based on (15) disability movement interviews, policy documents and literature. The study found that the disability movement’s access to policy-making improved significantly after a landmark disability rights law in 1998. However, even with a strengthening human rights framework and open government structures, significant policy progress was not achieved during the 2000s. In the early 2010s, progressive steps were taken following international human rights standards, but these were offset by closing government structures, shrinking space for the disability movement, weakening access to democratic institutions, the removal of consultative platforms, and the fragmentation and self-censorship of the movement. Programmes launched in response to human rights legislation have been only partially effective or downright failures. Legal reforms and EU-funded projects are not seen by movement actors as bringing progressive change in practice. Since the 2010s, the disability movement has avoided open criticism of the government, though more confrontational movement actions have sometimes been able to achieve results. By the end of the 2010s, progressive disability policy-making essentially stopped.