Disability activism in Africa: A thematic review of scholarship since 1990

This study maps the existing body of literature on disability activism in Africa. It highlights and discusses key themes and debates, exposes research gaps, and recom­mends potential future directions for disability activism scholarship in Africa. The thematic review focuses on the post-Cold War era, from the early 1990s to the present, cap­turing the defining decade of the disability rights move­ment, which has been greatly influenced by legislation such as the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the sub­sequent ADA Amendments Act (2008), and the 2008 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabili­ties. These are considered the movement's greatest legal achievements with global effects. In seeking to answer questions about changes and continuities in disability activ­ism scholarship in Africa, the study found a shift towards decolonial scholarship. This supports the broader advocacy for decoloniality, spearheaded by scholarship aligned with the epistemologies of the Global South. The article argues that scholarship on disability activism can be further en­riched by deliberately integrating African Indigenous Knowledge Systems.