January 2018 Issue Vol. 4 LIV 2017, Global Citizenship
My disability awareness journey began in the early 1990s, when I worked as a primary school teacher in a small neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon. My students made me realize that each of them had unique capabilities, and I was forced to acknowledge that our education system lacked the policies, resources, and professional training necessary to address existing barriers that hindered effective and inclusive teaching. This sparked my interest and passion for special education research.
Almost ten years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, which was ratified on May 3, 2008. The adoption of this Convention is the culmination of decades of work by the UN to change attitudes and approaches towards persons with disabilities. The focus of this movement was to establish public recognition that persons with disabilities are individuals who can claim their rights, remain active members of society, and make free and informed decisions about their lives. The Convention reaffirms that people with all kinds of disabilities must enjoy a full range of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Convention ensures that persons with disabilities can effectively exercise their rights and identifies areas where these rights are being violated and where protection must be strengthened.
Since the beginning of the disability rights movement in the United States in the 1960s, American society has focused on decoupling disability from inferiority (Blacher and Baker, 2007). This movement forced the government to prohibit educational, social, and employment segregation of people with disabilities (Hastings and others, 2005). The increased awareness generated by the disability rights movement has led the U.S. government to take steps to transform the lives of people with disabilities and to change society’s perceptions and beliefs about this population (Hastings and others, 2005).
The first law to treat disability as a civil right rather than a medical issue was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Prior to that, disability was considered a medical condition that had to be cured in order to fully participate in society. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibited businesses receiving federal funding from discriminating on the basis of disability. Although this law did not actually solve the problem of preventing disabled people from being hired or participating in the workforce, it provided a new way of looking at disability. This in turn led to the development of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which was modeled on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and further amended in 2008. The ADA defined disability as “a physical or mental impairment that significantly limits one or more major life activities” (ADA, 104 Code 330).
Prevalence
According to the American Community Survey (ACS), conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, the overall percentage of people with disabilities in the United States was 12.6 percent in 2015. The 2011 World Disability Report states that more than one billion people have some kind of disability, about 15 percent of the world’s population (World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank, 2011). These reports show that the prevalence of disability across countries varies by income, age, and gender. For example, low-income and middle-income countries have a higher prevalence of disability compared to high-income countries. Adults aged 65 years and older are more likely to be disabled than people of working age, and women are at higher risk of disability than men.
WHO projects that the prevalence of disability will rise due to population ageing and the higher risk of disability among older people, as well as the global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental illness.
Although disability is rather common, it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of people with disabilities because of cultural differences in how different countries define, perceive, and measure disability. It is necessary to understand the complexity of this heterogeneous group of individuals who have little in common other than experiencing a disability. This is a theoretical challenge because diverse perceptions of disability may affect the disclosure of types of disability. Family stigma and fear of isolation also affect the rate. Prevalence estimates also vary from country to country. In low-income countries, disability prevalence is often recorded very low due to limited resources and specific methodologies. Some of their cultural perceptions pose potential harm to people with disabilities, who believe they are less valuable to society and are inferior citizens destined to fight an insurmountable battle to make a proper place in the community (Blacher and Baker, 2007).
barrier
When we look back at the civil rights movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the many cases and laws of the U.S. Supreme Court, it is clear that we have made progress. The world is a better place for people with disabilities than it was before. The civil rights movement sought to create a cohesive society in which everyone has equal opportunities and freedoms without discrimination. However, it is difficult to compare the struggles of the civil rights movement and the disability movement. People who are blind, deaf, or physically disabled must overcome significant barriers to be integrated and properly accepted into the larger society.
People with disabilities face barriers every day. The WHO defines barriers as “factors in a person’s environment that, by their presence or absence, limit functioning and create disability. For example, inaccessible physical environments, lack of appropriate assistive technology, negative attitudes towards disability” (2011, p. 302). Research shows that the most difficult barrier is often overcoming stereotypes about people with disabilities. Whether born of ignorance, fear, misunderstanding, or hatred, certain attitudes and perceptions can become barriers that prevent people with disabilities from pursuing their dreams and aspirations. The most pervasive negative attitude is one that focuses on a person’s limitations rather than their capabilities. As a first step, we must discard low expectations of people with disabilities. We must treat people with disabilities as smart, talented, and productive individuals who can contribute to the workforce just like anyone else. When Eleanor Roosevelt was asked why her husband had done so much for the country and the world despite his disability, she replied, “No, no, no!” People with disabilities did not do so because of their disability.
Advocacy
Unfortunately, people with disabilities still face barriers and discrimination, so they have to resort to self-advocacy. The movement started in Sweden in the 1960s, when a group of people with intellectual disabilities created a wish list for how services should be provided and what they wanted from service providers. What these pioneers did was a novel idea at the time, but it is no longer. Self-advocacy helps people with disabilities understand their rights and responsibilities, stand up for themselves, and make choices about their lives. Self-advocacy allows people with disabilities to speak up and overcome the tyranny of low expectations. Self-advocacy aims to highlight and define what people with disabilities need and deserve. Thanks to the self-advocacy movement, the quality of life for people with disabilities has improved significantly. Self-advocacy continues as an international civil rights movement by and for people with developmental disabilities.
Conclusion
It is time to raise awareness of and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, and promote acceptance and inclusion of people with disabilities at local, regional, national and international levels around the world. The disability rights movement, which emerged from the civil rights movement, has “evolved into policies toward community and education inclusion, and medically focused solutions have been replaced by more interactive approaches that recognize that people are disabled not only by their bodies but also by environmental factors” (WHO and World Bank, 2011, p. 3). Policy movements help build organizational capacity. Advocacy movements raise awareness of disability issues, promote inclusive development, and help advance and empower people with disabilities, so that they can represent themselves instead of being represented by others (Barron and Amerena, 2007). Despite all the changes and progress made in the past few decades, we still struggle to put individual capabilities first. Once we, as a society, accept that people have different capabilities, it becomes our responsibility to find possible ways to include everyone and remove barriers. It is a social responsibility to help people with disabilities live independent and fulfilling lives, and it becomes easier to recognize and address the challenges they face. Making the world a better place is a social responsibility. Access to opportunities is the right of every person with a disability. The only way to achieve this goal is through international cooperation aimed at respecting the dignity and promoting the rights of people with disabilities.
References
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, July 26, Public Law No. 101-336.
Baron, Tanya and Penelope Amerena (2007). Introduction to Disability and Inclusive Development, edited by Tanya Baron and Penelope Amerena, London, Leonard Cheshire International.
Blacher Jan, Bruce L. Baker (2007). The positive impact of intellectual disability on families. American Journal on Mental Retardation, Vol. 112, No. 5 (September), pp. 330-48.
Hastings, Richard P., et al. (2005). A systems analysis of stress and positive perceptions in mothers and fathers of preschoolers with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 35, No. 5 (October), 635-44.
Reiter, Shunit, and Diane N. Bryen (2010). Attitudinal Barriers to Rehabilitation. In International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation, edited by John H. Stone and Maurice Blouin. New York, International Rehabilitation Research Clearinghouse. Available from: https://sphhp.buffalo.edu/rehabilitation-science/research-and-facilities….
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/106. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, A/RES/61/106 (13 December 2006). Available at: http://undocs.org/A/RES/61/106.
United States, Department of Commerce, State Census Bureaus. American Community Survey. American FactFinder, Table S1810.
Available at: https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview…..
World Health Organization and World Bank (2011). World Report on Disability. Geneva. Available from: http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report.pdf.
The UN Chronicle is not an official record. It has had the honour of inviting senior UN officials and distinguished contributors from outside the UN system whose views do not necessarily reflect those of the UN. Similarly, boundaries and names shown on maps and in articles, and designations used, do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.