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Current situation
The rights of persons with disabilities to participate in their
societies can be achieved primarily through political and social action.
Many countries have taken important steps to eliminate or reduce barriers to full
participation. Legislation has in many cases been enacted to guarantee to disabled persons
the rights to, and opportunities for, schooling, employment and access to community
facilities, to remove cultural and physical barriers and to proscribe discrimination
against disabled persons. There has been a movement away from institutions to
community-based living. In some developed and developing countries, the emphasis in
schooling is increasingly on "open education" with a corresponding decrease in
institutions and special schools. Methods of making public transport systems accessible
have been devised, as well as methods of making information accessible for
sensory-disabled persons. Awareness of the need for such measures has increased. In many
cases, public education and awareness campaigns have been launched to educate the public
to alter its attitudes and actions towards disabled persons.
Often, disabled persons have taken the lead in bringing about an improved understanding
of the process of equalization of opportunities. In this context, they have advocated
their own integration into the mainstream of society.
Despite such efforts, disabled persons are yet far from having achieved equal
opportunities and the degree of integration of disabled persons into society is yet far
from satisfactory in most countries.
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At least 10 per cent of children are disabled. They have the same
right to education as non-disabled persons and they require active intervention and
specialized services. But most disabled children in developing countries receive neither
specialized services nor compulsory education.
There is a great variation from some countries with a high educational level for
disabled persons to countries where such facilities are limited or non-existent.
There is a lack in existing knowledge of the potential of disabled persons.
Furthermore, there is often no legislation which deals with their needs and a shortage of
teaching staff and facilities. Disabled persons have in most countries so far not
benefitted from a lifelong education.
Significant advances in teaching techniques and important innovative developments have
taken place in the field of special education and much more can be achieved in the
education of disabled persons. But the progress is mostly limited to a few countries or
only a few urban centres.
The advances concern early detection, assessment and intervention, special education
programmes in a variety of settings, with many disabled children able to participate in a
regular school setting, while others require very intensive programmes.
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Many persons with disabilities are denied employment or given
only menial and poorly remunerated jobs. This is true even though it can be demonstrated
that with proper assessment, training and placement, the great majority of disabled
persons can perform a large range of tasks in accordance with prevailing work norms. In
times of unemployment and economic distress, disabled persons are usually the first to be
discharged and the last to be hired. In some industrialized countries experiencing the
effects of economic recession, the rate of unemploy- ment among disabled job-seekers is
double that of able-bodied applicants for jobs. In many countries various programmes have
been developed and measures taken to create jobs for disabled persons. These include
sheltered and production workshops, sheltered enclaves, designated positions, quota
schemes, subsidies for employers who train and subsequently engage disabled workers,
cooperatives of and for the disabled, etc. The actual number of disabled workers employed
in either regular or special establishments is far below the number of employable disabled
workers. The wider application of ergonomic principles leads to adaptation of the
workplace, tools, machinery and equipment at relatively little cost and helps widen
employment opportunities for the disabled.
Many disabled persons, particularly In the developing countries, live in rural areas.
When the family economy is based on agriculture or other rural occupations and when the
traditional extended family exists, it may be possible for most disabled persons to be
given some useful tasks to perform. As more families move from rural areas to urban
centres, as agriculture becomes more mechanized and commercialized, as money transactions
replace barter systems and as the institution of the extended family disintegrates, the
vocational plight of disabled persons becomes more severe . For those living in urban
slums, competition for employment is heavy, and other economically productive activity is
scarce. Many disabled persons in such areas suffer from enforced inactivity and become
dependent; others must resort to begging.
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Full participation in the basic units of societyþfamily, social
groups and communityþis the essence of human experience. The right to equality of
opportunity for such participation is set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and should apply to all people, including those with disabilities. In reality,
however, disabled persons are often denied the opportunities of full participation in the
activities of the socio-cultural system of which they are a part. This deprivation comes
about through physical and social barriers that have evolved from ignorance, indifference
and fear.
Attitudes and behaviour often lead to the exclusion of disabled persons from social and
cultural life. People tend to avoid contact and personal relationships with those who are
disabled. The pervasiveness of the prejudice and discrimination affecting disabled persons
and the degree to which they are excluded from normal social intercourse produce
psychological and social problems for many of them.
Too often. the professional and other service personnel with whom disabled persons come
into contact fail to appreciate the potential for participation by disabled persons in
normal social experiences and thus do not contribute to the integration of disabled
individuals and other social groups.
Because of these barriers, it is often difficult or impossible for disabled persons to
have close and intimate relationships with others. Marriage and parenthood are often
unattainable for people who are identified as "disabled", even when there is no
functional limitation to preclude them. The needs of mentally handicapped people for
personal and social relationships, including sexual partnership, are now increasingly
recognized.
Many persons with disabilities are not only excluded from the normal social life of
their communities but in fact confined in institutions. While the leper colonies of the
past have been partly done away with and large institutions are not as numerous as they
once were, far too many people are today institutionalized when there is nothing in their
condition to justify it.
Many disabled persons are excluded from active participation in society because of
doorways that are too narrow for wheelchairs; steps that cannot be mounted leading to
buildings, buses, trains and aircraft; telephones and light switches that cannot be
reached; sanitary facilities that cannot be used . Similarly they can be excluded by other
types of barriers, for example oral communication which ignores the needs of the hearing
impaired and written information which ignores the needs of the visually impaired. Such
barriers are the result of ignorance and lack of concern; they exist despite the fact that
most of them could be avoided at no great cost by careful planning. Although some
countries have enacted legislation and launched campaigns of public education to eliminate
such ob- stacles, the problem remains a crucial one.
Generally, existing services, facilities and social actions for the prevention of
impairment, the rehabilitation of disabled persons and their integration into society are
closely linked to the Governments' and society's willingness and ability to allocate
resources. income and services to disadvantaged population groups.
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The transfer of resources and technology from developed to
developing countries as envisaged within the framework of the new international economic
order, as well as other provisions for strengthening the economies of developing nations,
would, if implemented, be of benefit to the people of these countries, including the
disabled. Improvement of economic conditions in the developing countries, particularly
their rural areas, would provide new employment opportunities for disabled persons and
needed resources to support measures for prevention, re- habilitation and the equalization
of opportunities. The transfer of appropriate technology, if properly managed, could lead
to the development of industries specializing in the mass production of devices and aids
for dealing with the effects of physical, mental or sensory impairments.
The International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade
8/ states that particular efforts should be made to integrate the disabled in the
development process and that effective measures for prevention, rehabilitation and
equalization of opportunities are therefore essential. Positive action to this end would
be part of the more general effort to mobilize all human resources for development.
Changes in the international economic order will have to go hand in hand with domestic
changes aimed at achieving full participation by disadvantaged population groups.
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To the extent that development efforts are successful in bringing
about better nutrition, education, housing, improved sanitary conditions and adequate
primary health care, the prospects of preventing impairment and treating disability
greatly improve. Progress along these lines may also be especially facilitated in such
areas as:
- The training of personnel in general fields such as social assistance, public health,
medicine, education and vocational rehabilitation;
- Enhanced capacities for the local production of the appliances and equipment needed by
disabled persons;
- The establishment of social services, social security systems, cooperatives and
programmes for mutual assistance at the national and community levels;
- Appropriate vocational guidance and work preparation services as well as increased
employment opportunities for disabled persons.
Since economic development leads to alterations in the size and distribution of the
population, to modifications in life styles and to changes in social structures and
relationships, the services needed to deal with human problems are generally not being
improved and expanded rapidly enough. Such imbalances between economic and social
development add to the difficulties of integrating disabled persons into their
communities.
Notes:
8/ General Assembly resolution 35/56.
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