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An important test of an open society is whether or not people with disabilities are actually included in the mainstream. Working on disability rights in societies that are not fully open, can help open up space to work on many other issues. For example, as you raise the expectations of parents about the inclusion of their children in the education system, you’re helping to raise expectations around a whole host of other issues like ensuring that as their children grow in adults they can assume productive lives and also be agents of their own change in the democratic process. From that point of view, I see the disability issue almost as a vanguard in creating open societies. It makes people face the mirror, and face the contradiction between their professed universal values and how they’re actually implementing them on the ground.

via Disability Rights: An Important Test for Open Society | Open Society Foundations OSF.