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1. Setting the scene: an overview of the change to come
“Exclusion is often based on ignorance rather than
antagonism.”
Bryan Dutton, Former Director General, Leonard Cheshire Disability
The conference played a major role in promoting the understanding that can lead
to genuine change. Those who attended and took away new ideas or techniques,
and those who will learn more by reading this report, have joined the movement to
bring disability to the forefront of debate within the world’s governments, international
institutions and civil society organizations. Learning truly dispels ignorance.
Since the conference’s purpose was to promote this debate and exchange of ideas, the
first day’s speakers introduced the overarching themes that frame discussions on the full
inclusion of people with disabilities. Panelists came from a wide range of countries and
organizations, reflecting the fact that there is no area of life in which disabled people
should not fully participate.
Opening remarks
Mohammed Mealin Ali, State Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ethiopia
In declaring the conference officially open, Mohammed Mealin Ali spoke of our host
country and explained that people with disabilities represent perhaps 10% of Ethiopia’s
population, or approximately seven million people. Despite this relatively large number,
people often face exclusion within the country just because of their disability. This may
have several manifestations:
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Children with disabilities may not go to school
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Women with disabilities can face a double burden of discrimination
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People with disabilities are more affected by HIV/AIDS
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There is a general lack of access throughout society.
This means, he asserts, that people with disabilities must get special recognition within governments. Since Addis Ababa is the seat of the UN in Africa, it will help ensure that the process of implementing the UNCRPD, which Ethiopia signed in March 2007 in New York, will be transparent and fully inclusive. Mr. Ali pledged his support to encouraging the government of Ethiopia to ratify the Convention, and hoped that the conference would help make this happen.
Keynote speakers
a. Using the UNCRPD to reduce poverty and achieve economic
empowerment
Maria Verónica Reina, Executive Director, Global Partnership on Disability and
Development, the World Bank
Ms. Reina began her presentation by admitting that she felt very emotional. Her journey,
she said, had been interesting not just because this was her first trip to Ethiopia and
to Africa, and she was meeting colleagues she had only met online before, but also
because of the huge step forward that the UNCRPD represents.
Many people attending this conference actually worked on the UNCRPD and, as Ms.
Reina is not a legal expert, she focused on transmitting what people with disabilities
want from it. First and foremost, the priority is to draw a line under the patriarchal
charity approach of beneficiaries and donors and move on to a rights-based agenda.
It is time to move past the common disability models – such as the medical or even the
social model – she asserted, because they are based on theories and logic, but do not
necessarily reflect people’s everyday experiences.
The UNCRPD was drafted with the unprecedented participation of people with disabilities,
who are now its stakeholders. If she could, Ms. Reina would have world leaders write on
a blackboard 100 times the words “Paradigm Shift.” This is necessary even, and perhaps
especially, within the world’s corridors of power, because even a modern, inclusive
building such as the UNECA conference center (where the conference was held) has
disabled accessible toilets, but no ramp to the speakers’ podium. Ms. Reina, a wheelchair
user, was thus forced to speak from the conference floor. “People with disabilities can
be speakers as well as participants,” she reminded everyone in the room.
This leads directly to the UNCRPD provision that no state should deprive a person with a
disability of his or her liberty. Institutions therefore need to change to help people with
disabilities achieve parity with other citizens. Delegates working on the Convention felt
that this provision above all should be implemented immediately.
The counterpoint to this is that people with disabilities themselves need to recognize
that they have rights and responsibilities. The many people who created the UNCRPD
are all different actors with different roles. By working within their own societies, they
can change attitudes and help bring equality to disabled people in this new century.
b. Disability and inclusive development in Africa
Sadequa Rahim, The African Union Commission (AUC)
Ms. Rahim confirmed that the AUC’s social development agenda is also human centered, meaning that it affords all people, including those with disabilities, the opportunities they need. According to Ms. Rahim, almost 80% of the world’s people with disabilities live in developing countries, yet disability is often perceived negatively. Disability can be left out of programs in disaster relief, poverty reduction and social inclusion, and even excluded in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). The principles of inclusiveness, she said, need to be built into all public programs and public buildings, including to:
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Raise awareness
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Identify obstacles
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Monitor impact
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Include all stakeholders
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Respect human rights and differences as part of human diversity.
The AUC has taken specific actions to foster these goals. For instance, since the 1980s
African heads of state and governments have addressed disability, which resulted in
permanent African Rehabilitation Institutes (ARI). Launched in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1988,
there are now registered ARI offices in Zimbabwe, Congo and Senegal.
Above all, the African Union Commission adopted an African Decade for Disability from
1999 – 2009. This was later extended for another ten years. Covering a wide range of
issues, the Decade also provides a framework for human rights among people with
disabilities. Ms. Rahim pledges that the AUC will continue to mainstream disability among
its programs and to use concerted effort to face the challenges that arise.
c. Human rights are universal
Hassan Yousif, UN Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia
As a human rights document, the UNCRPD is not unique. So contends Mr. Yousif, who
reminded the conference that all the rights contained in the Convention are already
embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which celebrates its 60th
anniversary this year. The disability movement has also benefited from the human rights
campaigns of other groups, including those that created the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women.
Yet we are still at the beginning of the process to achieve full human rights for disabled
people. We still need the data to support our claims about poverty and discrimination
and development partners must support data collection and analysis. Implementation
is also a cumbersome process that requires a clear approach. Again, stakeholders must
monitor the implementation process and evaluate its outcomes. Disability is a force for
inclusive development, not a burden on development activities.
d. Using the UNCRPD to promote decent work for persons with disabilities
Barbara Murray, Senior Disability Advisor, International Labour Organization,
Switzerland
The UNCRPD heralds a new era in human rights for people with disabilities, and at the same time shifts the focus of debate, contends Barbara Murray. Officially, it offers no new rights. Instead, it includes innovations in the way disability is considered and handled. For instance, there is no mention of the word “special” in the Convention. Denial of reasonable accommodation for work is implicit in the UNCRPD, and this is also new. Workers with disabilities now have equal legal protection to all other employees, including:
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They may form unions on an equal basis, including those in sheltered workshops
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All tools for promoting economic opportunities must be accessible
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Affirmative action is permissible
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States are called on to promote work experience programs
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There can be no slavery or unpaid servitude.
Access to education is another important element of the UNCRPD that affects work.
General tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning
must all now be provided without discrimination and be accessible to disabled people
on an equal basis with others. This includes access to mainstream vocational guidance,
training and employment services, as well as vocational and professional rehabilitation
services geared to entering and re-entering work.
To support this paradigm shift, fundamental changes are required, including in the roles
of both specialist disability and mainstream agencies and service providers. All social
partners – employers, trade unions, and civil society – will need to be involved, and
certain types of services and programs, such as sheltered employment and vocational
training, might need to change their emphasis considerably.
The future in the field of work and disability is now wide open. As it evolves, the ILO
will continue to work with all special service providers and mainstream services. To
facilitate this, they have developed varied materials that people with disabilities and
employers can use to help implement the new Convention.
e. Access to relationships and family life
Rachel Kachaje, Deputy Chairperson, Disabled Peoples International
Ms. Kachaje has been an activist for a long time. She observed that many people do
not believe people with disabilities should have relationships or families. The rights
of disabled women, in particular, have been violated, and they may not even be
perceived as women, just as disabled people.
The ignorance and negative attitudes responsible for this situation, she contends, spill
over into other areas. For instance, people may assume that a man who marries a
disabled woman is desperate. Or they may believe that women with disabilities are
desperate for sex (presumably having been denied it because of their disabled status)
and men may force sexual acts on women with the excuse that they are doing them a
favor.
The birth of a child with disability can lead to divorce, and if the disabled child is a girl,
she may be sterilized. Sometimes relatives of disabled parents even take away their
children in the mistaken belief that they cannot be adequate parents.
Knowledge of sexuality and physical changes often is not shared with disabled young
people. For instance, a baseline study in South Africa found that most girls with disabilities
were not told about menstruation by their parents, because it was assumed that they
would not be sexual.
Sexuality is one of the most personal and private aspects of life, and is often
misunderstood. The UNCRPD can help to bring the issue of relationships and family life
out into the open and, as such, is a source of hope to people with disabilities. Now, said
Ms. Kachaje, we need to take the UNCRPD’s words to the next level – action – to truly
change the situation.
f. Inclusive education and the Millennium Development Goals
Augustine Agu, UNICEF Ethiopia
“If you share a school desk with a disabled person, you will discover his abilities and
your own disabilities.” So began Augustine Agu in speaking about how the UNCRPD will contribute to the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG) – universal primary
education.
The goal of universal primary education is not new – it was declared in 1960. Since then
people have been stuck and that is why we need the MDG, contends Mr. Agu. Inclusive
education, in which children with disabilities learn in mainstream schools, addresses the
needs of all learners and is necessary to enable all children to attend school. What is
missing from the MDG, however, is the process by which the world will meet it.
About 10 to 20% of the world’s children are now not in school and we need to
find
out who they are. Often they are disabled and there are many factors that keep them
out of the educational system, including fears by parents that they are too vulnerable
(particularly the girls) and other barriers that have not been addressed. The so-called
non-disabled children may not understand their disabled peers, Mr. Agu believes, but
he also believes that it is fear that makes disability difficult to understand.
To even begin to meet the MDG for universal primary education, it will be necessary
to start using the UNCRPD now. MDG targets can be structured in ways that enhance
the rights of people with disabilities. For instance, all national educational plans
should conform to standards that include children with disabilities. There is a national
educational management information system (EMIS) in every country, and these should
not be released unless they conform to disability concerns.
These and other policies must then be followed up by action for inclusive development.
Through the implementation of the UNCRPD, inclusive development would be achieved
and the paradigm shift from a charity to a rights-based approach would be achieved.
To make this happen in the education sector, it is also essential to develop tools for
assessing and endorsing all education plans and budgets, to ensure that they include
disability. Governments should also take responsibility for removing barriers to learning
and school attendance. Finally, the urgency of achieving the MDGs through education
requires economic and political action from all stakeholders.
g. Innovative solutions to provision of accessible transport to rural and hard-
to-reach areas
Marinke van Riet, Executive Secretary, International Forum for Rural Transport and
Development (IFRTD)
“It is not disability, but the system, which makes a person disabled.”
– Vardhani Ratnala, Leonard Cheshire Disability, India,
Participant in Mobility
and Health Networked Research Programme
Starting her presentation with this quote, Marinke van Riet explored why the transport
sector may be called the “missing link” in development. There are many reasons for
this, including the fact that many people who work in transport are engineers and technocrats who may not think of the social implications of the sector. The sector is
also known for integrity and corruption issues, and in general many countries allocate
disproportionate resources to road building because of its status or decision-makers’
prejudice about the best way to travel.
The IFRTD explores transport for a range of diverse groups including people with
disabilities. It is hard to evaluate what is most and least effective within transport now,
however, because there is very little data about whether transport currently meets the
needs of people with disabilities. The network is trying to create more, but this will be a
long process as they have been fighting for gender-disaggregated data for years, with
mixed results.
One of the forum’s flagship current research projects is mobility and health, looking
specifically at the relationship between access to maternity care and rural transport in 25
case studies in Latin America, Asia and Africa. The goal is to increase the understanding
of the impacts of mobility constraints on access to (maternal) health of poor people,
including vulnerable groups, and to develop an advocacy program to sensitize the
health and transport sector to mobility and health issues. So far, preliminary analysis
has found that because of distance and barriers such as rivers and mountains, most
health services had no or low accessibility for people with disabilities. Some of the
issues included:
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Footpaths/steps unfavorable for wheelchair movements
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No aids/appliances available for people with disabilities
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Access infrastructure is not designed for people with difficulties
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Badly maintained or non-existent rural roads
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No ramps in public buildings for wheelchair access
People with disabilities also often had low or no mobility to reach health services, and issues included:
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Lack of regular and/or reliable rural transport services
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No facilities for people with disabilities in the available transport, such as buses or trains
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Overcrowded transport modes, both land- and water-based
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No facilities such as ramps and landing stations to get on and off transport, even when required by law
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No priority seats available in public transport services for people with disabilities, even when required by law
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Rural transport operators refusing to accept people with disabilities
In fact, the state of affairs in rural transport may exacerbate or even cause disability.
The third element of the problem is that there is often no policy enforcement, so that
even when laws exist, they are ignored. The mobility needs of people with disabilities
are often simply not even considered when transport is planned or constructed, and
there is no good cross-sectoral policy framework. For example, planning
for the health sector does not include transport-related components and
vice versa. What is the way forward? Ms. van Riet proposes the
following:
More research needs to be done on inclusive transport and infrastructure in the rural
context. The World Bank’s new Transport Business Strategy, bilateral organizations and
governments have prepared inclusive Transport Guidelines – enforcement is lacking so
there is a need for policy monitoring. A cross-sectoral approach between the transport
and disability sectors is required if we want change.
There are also several regional networks being developed on transport and disability,
and the South Asia office of Leonard Cheshire Disability may host one for that region.
Many governments have transport policies, but their implementation is often very slow.
To bring the goal of access closer to being realized, transport policy must include
disability, and Ms van Riet called on everyone at the conference to make sure that this
happens. The IFRTD will stand with you on this.
Questions to and answers from the panel
The opening speakers engaged in a lively debate to explore the
finer points of
the UNCRPD and its implications for the future. Points were raised in the following
categories:
African Decade for Disability
The AUC is committed to the African Decade for Disability from 1999 – 2009 and it will
evaluate how well it has been implemented. It is the responsibility of member states to
implement the decade and the AUC provides the framework.
Employment rights for people with disabilities
It can be difficult to convince employers to hire people with disabilities, but there has been pioneering work done in this field by the Employers Federation of Ceylon. There is also an employers’ federation in the UK, set up by employers to look at these issues, particularly accommodation. In the coming months the ILO will release information on this approach for use by other employers.
There is a lot of experience in employment of people with disabilities in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, where the employment sector has been transformed. Other countries can look to their experience for guidance and ideas.
In small island states with correspondingly small economies, governments are moving away from service provision. In these countries, people with disabilities may rely on sheltered workshops for employment. Even in these cases, governments may be able to adopt tried and tested approaches to stimulating employment for disabled people in the private sector from larger nations, as above.
The UNCRPD and human rights
Although the UNCRPD does not offer new rights beyond those of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, it is definitely not business as usual. It does include specific provisions on rights to employment, education and other fields. Some policy makers may now want to change their existing attitudes about disability. The implementation of the UNCRPD will compel them to do so.
Inclusive education
There is now an effort being made to ensure that the number of children with disabilities is included in UNICEF education reports in Uganda. This had not been done earlier and this problem extended to other issues, such as malnutrition and children affected by conflict.
In South Africa, there are challenges in implementing the inclusive education policy in the field, but they are working towards shifting people’s awareness so that they can understand the value of teachers and other professionals adopting and implementing inclusive education.
Accessibility in Ethiopia
Recently the Ethiopian Ministry of Urban Works and Development created a building code that is still in draft form and will take access into account. The Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs also addresses inaccessibility of buildings and transport. Overall, the government is striving for a common consensus and a government statement on access.