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 of the group(s) affected by that policy. In its modern form, this often involves national, ethnic, disability-based, or other groups that are often marginalized from political, social, and economic opportunities.

History

The saying has its origins in Central European political traditions. It was the political motto that helped establish—and, loosely translated into Latin, provided the name for—Poland's 1505 constitutional legislation, Nihil novi, which first transferred governing authority from the monarch to the parliament. It subsequently became a byword for democratic norms.^[1] It is also a long standing principle of Hungarian law and foreign policy,^[2] and was a cornerstone of the foreign policy of interwar Poland.^[3][4] More recently, the phrase Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine has come into use in the context of the Russia-Ukraine War, stating the idea that no negotiations about Ukraine's status should take place without Ukraine's participation. Angela Merkel and Joseph Biden have both used the phrase in speeches about the Ukraine War.^{[citation needed]}

The phrase formed part of the title of Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1972 documentary Workers '71: Nothing About Us Without Us (Polish: Robotnicy '71: Nic o nas bez nas).^[5][6][7]

The term in its English form came into use during the 1990s when it was adopted in disability activism circles. James Charlton relates that he first heard the term used in talks by South African ^[8] 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.^[9] Disability rights activist David Werner used the same title for another book, also published in 1998.^[10] In 2004, the United Nations used the phrase as the theme of International Day of Persons with Disabilities^[11] and it is also associated with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.^[12]

Use of this slogan has expanded beyond the disability rights community to other interest groups and movements.^[13][14] In 2021, the World Health Organization published an eponymous guide recommending that children and adolescents be involved in the decision-making process for health-related policies that affect young people.^[15]

See also

• Epistemic injustice
• Independent living movement
• Self-determination
• Self-determination theory
• Autonomy
• Human rights
• Disability studies
• Neurodiversity
• No taxation without representation