Persons with Disabilities in Kazakhstan: The Problem of Disabling Bio-Politics

Abstract

The study attempts to explain why state policies claimed to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Kazakhstan do not seem to be successful. The assumption of the study is that individualizing and “othering” discourses, produced by both the state and the general population, prevent persons with disabilities from being perceived as equal members of the society. The paper assumes that this leads to creation of disabling state policies. The research methods employed by the study are evidence-based observation, expert interviews and discourse analysis presented in two ways: a writing task and analysis of the text of a law. The ultimate contribution of the work is to the theoretical development of disability studies in Kazakhstan.