Bridging Gaps: Enhancing Civic Engagement in Citizenship Education for Community Civic which Empowerment Individuals with Disabilities

Abstract

Discrimination against individuals with disabilities caused by the stigma of ableism needs to be handled transformatively, not only through government policy. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize citizenship education to realize community civics as a means of empowering individuals with disabilities. This article discusses the challenges and obstacles related to efforts to learn and achieve equality for individuals with disabilities through optimizing citizenship education. Even though guarantees of equal rights for individuals with disability have been regulated in legislation, in reality, this legal basis has not been implemented effectively in society. The findings in this research reveal that social attitudes place more emphasis on the perspective that individuals with disabilities are not disabled, but this is not accompanied by integrative actions to empower individuals with disabilities. However, the Indonesian government has ratified a legal basis that is inclusive and accommodating for persons with disabilities. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize citizenship education in realizing a community civic that empowers individuals with disabilities based on service learning and pentahelix collaboration as a confirmation of the integration of disability studies into non-formal or socio-cultural citizenship education, which reflects a productive and equal social environment for individuals with disabilities based on persistent civic virtue and civic engagement. Thus, it can be concluded that optimizing citizenship education as an effort to create a community civic that empowers individuals with disabilities is a new paradigm in empowering individuals with disabilities that is integrative and comprehensive.