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Proposals for the implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled
Persons
National Action (part 2)
- National action (part 1)
- Participation of disabled persons in decision-making
- Prevention of impairment, disability and handicap
- Rehabilitation
LEGISLATION
Member States should assume responsibility for ensuring that
disabled persons are granted equal opportunities with other citizens.
Member States should undertake the necessary measures to eliminate any discriminatory
practices with respect to disability.
In drafting national human rights legislation, and with respect to national committees
or similar coordinating national bodies dealing with the problems of disability,
particular attention should be given to conditions which may adversely affect the ability
of disabled persons to exercise the rights and freedoms guaranteed to their fellow
citizens.
Member States should give attention to specific rights, such as the rights to
education, work, social security and protection from inhuman or degrading treatment, and
should examine these rights from the perspective of disabled persons.
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Member States should work towards making the physical environment
accessible to all, including persons with various types of disability, as specified in
paragraph 8 of this document.
Member States should adopt a policy of observing accessibility aspects in the planning
of human settlements, including programmes in the rural areas of developing countries.
Member States are encouraged to adopt a policy ensuring disabled persons access to all
new public buildings and facilities, public housing and public transport systems.
Furthermore, measures should be adopted that would encourage access to existing public
buildings and facilities, housing and transport wherever feasible, especially by taking
advantage of renovation.
Member States should encourage the provision of support services to enable disabled
persons to live as independently as possible in the community. In so doing, they should
ensure that persons with a disability have the opportunity to develop and manage these
services for themselves, as is now being done in some countries.
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Every Member State should work towards the inclusion, within its
systems of laws and regulations, of provisions covering the general and supporting
objectives of the World Programme of Action referring to social security.
Member States should ensure that disabled persons have equal opportunities to obtain
all forms of income, maintenance thereof, and social security. Such a process should take
place in forms adjusted to the economic system and degree of development of the Member
State.
Where social security, social insurance and other such systems exist for the general
population, they should be reviewed to make certain that adequate benefits and services
for prevention, rehabilitation and the equalization of opportunities are provided for
disabled persons and their families and that regulations under these systems, whether
applicable to services providers or the services recipients, should not exclude or
discriminate against such persons. The establishment and the development of a public
system of social care and of industrial safety and health protection constitute essential
prerequisites for achieving the aims set.
Easily accessible arrangements should be made by which disabled persons and their
families can appeal, through impartial hearing, against decisions concerning their rights
and benefits in this field.
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Member States should adopt policies which recognize the rights of
disabled persons to equal educational opportunities with others. The education of disabled
persons should as far as possible take place in the general school system. Responsibility
for their education should be placed upon the educational authorities and laws regarding
compulsory education should include children with all ranges of disabilities, including
the most severely disabled.
Member States should allow for increased flexibility in the application to disabled
persons of any regulation concerning admission age, promotion from class to class and,
when appropriate, in examination procedures.
Basic criteria are to be met when developing educational services for disabled children
and adults. These services should be:
- Individualized, i.e, based on the assessed needs mutually agreed upon by authorities,
administrators, parents and disabled students and leading to clearly stated curriculum
goals and short term objectives which are regularly reviewed and where necessary revised;
- Locally accessible, i.e., within reasonable travelling distance of the pupil's home or
residence except in special circumstances;
- Comprehensive, i.e., serving all persons with special needs ir- respective of age or
degree of disability, and such that no child of school age is excluded from educational
provision on grounds of severity of disability or receives educational services
significantly inferior to those enjoyed by any other students;
- Offering a range of choice commensurate with the range of special needs in any given
community.
Integration of disabled children into the general educational system requires planning
by all parties concerned.
If, for some reason, the facilities of the general school system are inadequate for
some disabled children, schooling for these children should then be provided for an
appropriate period of time in special facilities. The quality of this special schooling
should be equal to that of the general school system and closely linked to it.
The involvement of parents at all levels of the educational process is vital. Parents
should be given the necessary support to provide as normal a family environment for the
disabled child as is possible. Personnel should be trained to work with the parents of
disabled children.
Member States should provide for the participation of disabled persons in adult
education programmes, with special attention to rural areas
if the facilities of regular adult education courses are in- adequate to meet the needs
of some disabled persons, special courses or training centres may be needed until the
regular programmes have been modified. Member States should grant disabled persons
possibilities for education at the university level
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Member States should adopt a policy and supporting structure of
services to ensure that disabled persons in both urban and rural areas have equal
opportunities for productive and gainful employment in the open labour market. Rural
employment and the development of appropriate tools and equipment should be given
particular attention.
Member States can support the integration of disabled persons into open employment
through a variety of measures, such as incentive-oriented quota schemes, reserved or
designated employment, loans or grants for small businesses and cooperatives, exclusive
contracts or priority production rights, tax concessions, contract compliance or other
technical or financial assistance to enterprises employing disabled workers. Member States
should support the development of technical aids and facilitate access for disabled
persons to aids and assistance, which they need to do their work.
The policy and supporting structures, however, should not limit the opportunities for
employment and should not hinder the vitality of the private sector of the economy. Member
States should remain able to take a variety of measures in response to their domestic
situations.
There should be mutual cooperation at the central and local level between government
and employers' and workers' organizations in order to develop a joint strategy and joint
action with a view to ensuring more and better employment opportunities for disabled
persons. Such cooperation could concern recruitment policies, measures to improve the work
environment in order to prevent handicapping injuries and im- pairments, measures for
rehabilitation of employees impaired in the job, e.g ., by adjusting workplaces and work
contents to their requirements.
These services should include vocational assessment and guidance, vocational training
(including that in training workshops), placements and follow-up. Sheltered employment
should be made available for those who, because of their special needs or particularly
severe disabilities, may not be able to cope with the demands of competitive employment.
Such provisions could be in the form of production workshops, home-working, and
self-employment schemes, and small groups of severely disabled people employed in
sheltered conditions within competitive industry.
When acting as employers, central and local governments should promote employment of
disabled persons in the public sector. Laws and regulations should not raise obstacles to
the employment of disabled persons.
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Member States should ensure that disabled persons have the same
opportunities for recreational activities as other citizens. This involves the possibility
of using restaurants, cinemas, theatres, libraries, etc., as well as holiday resorts,
sports arenas, hotels, beaches and other places for recreation . Member States should take
action to remove all obstacles to this effect. Tourist authorities, travel agencies,
hotels, voluntary organizations and others involved in organizing recreational activities
or travel opportunities should offer their services to all and not discriminate against
disabled persons. This involves, for instance, incorporating information on accessibility
into their regular information to the public.
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Member States should ensure that disabled persons have the
opportunity to utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential to the full,
not only for their own benefit but also for the enrichment of the community. To this end,
access to cultural activities should be ensured. If necessary, special arrangements should
be made to meet the needs of individuals with mental or sensory impairments. These could
include communication aids for the deaf, literature in Braille and/or cassettes for the
visually impaired and reading material adapted to the individual's mental capacity. The
domain of cultural activities includes dance, music, literature, theatre and plastic arts.
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Measures should be undertaken to ensure that disabled persons
have the opportunity to benefit fully from the religious activities available to the
community. In this way, the full participation by disabled persons in these activities
will be made possible.
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The importance of sports for disabled persons is becoming
increasingly recognized. Member States should therefore encourage all forms of sports
activities of disabled persons, inter alia, through the provision of adequate facilities
and the proper organization of these activities.
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Member States should give high priority to the provision of
information, training and financial assistance to local communities for the development of
programmes that achieve the objectives of the World Programme of Action.
Arrangements should be made to encourage and facilitate cooperation among local
communities and the exchange of information and experience. A Government benefiting from
international technical assistance or technical cooperation in disability-related matters
should ensure that the benefits and results of the assistance reach the communities in
greatest need.
It is important to enlist the active participation of local government bodies, agencies
and community organizations, such as citizen's groups, trade unions, women's
organizations, consumer organizations, service clubs, religious bodies, political parties
and parents'associations. Each community could designate an appropriate body, where
organizations of disabled persons could have an influence, to serve as a focal point of
communication and coordination to mobilize resources and initiate action.
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All authorities responsible for the development and provision of
services for disabled persons should give attention to staff matters, particularly to
recruitment and training.
The training of community-based workers in the early detection of impairment, the
provision of primary assistance and referral to appropriate facilities, and follow-up, are
vital, as well as the training of medical teams and other personnel at referral centres.
Whenever possible, these should be integrated into such related services as primary health
care, schools and community development programmes. Member States should develop and
intensify training for doctors which emphasizes the disabilities that can be produced by
the indiscriminate use of some pharmaceutical products. Sale of proprietary/patent drugs
whose unsupervised use could, in the long term, pose personal and public health hazards
should be restricted.
If services related to mental and physical disabilities are to reach a growing number
of disabled persons who receive none at present, it is necessary to provide them through
various types of health and social workers in the local communities. Some of their
activities are already related to prevention and to services for disabled persons. They
will need special guidance and instruction, for instance, on simple rehabilitation
measures and techniques to be used by disabled persons and their families. Guidance might
be given by rehabilitation professionals at the community or district level, according to
the area covered Special training will be necessary for the professionals at the
peripheral level who would be responsible for the supervision of local programmes for
persons with a disability and for contact with rehabilitation and other services available
in the region.
Member States should ensure that community workers receive, in addition to specialized
knowledge and skills, comprehensive information concerning the social, nutritional,
medical, educational and vocational needs of disabled persons. Community workers, with
adequate training and supervision, can provide most services needed by disabled persons
and can be a valuable asset in overcoming personnel shortages. Their training should
include appropriate information on contraceptive technology and planned parenthood.
Volunteers can also provide very useful services and other forms of support. Greater
emphasis should be placed on expanding the knowledge, capabilities and responsibilities of
providers of other services who are already at work in the community in related fields,
such as teachers, social workers, professional auxiliary health service personnel,
administrators, government planners, community leaders, clergy and family counsellors.
Individuals working in service programmes for disabled persons should be trained to
understand the reasons for, and importance of, seeking, stimulating and assisting the full
participation of disabled persons and their families in decisions concerning care,
treatment, rehabilitation and subsequent living and employment arrangements.
Special teacher training is a dynamic field, and wherever possible it should take place
in the country in which the education is to be used, or at least in a place where the
cultural background and level of development are not too different.
A prerequisite for successful integration is the provision of appropriate
teacher-training programmes, for both ordinary teachers and special teachers. The concept
of integrated education should be reflected in teacher-training programmes.
When training special teachers, it is important to cover as wide a spectrum as
possible, since in many developing countries the special teacher will be a
multi-disciplinary team on his own. It should be noted that a high level of training is
not always necessary or desirable, and that the vast majority of personnel come from the
middle and lower levels of training.
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Member States should encourage a comprehensive public information
programme about the rights, contributions and unmet needs of disabled persons that would
reach all concerned, including the general public. In this connection, attitude change
should be given special importance.
Guidelines should be developed in consultation with organizations of disabled persons
to encourage the news media to give a sensitive and accurate portrayal of, as well as fair
representation of and reporting on, disabilities and disabled persons in radio,
television, film, photography and print. An essential element in such guidelines would be
that disabled persons should be able to present their problems to the public themselves
and to suggest how they might be solved. The inclusion of information on the realities of
disabilities in the curricula of journalists' training should be encouraged.
Public authorities are responsible for adapting their information so that it reaches
everybody, including disabled persons. This does not apply only to the information
mentioned above, but also to information concerning civil rights and obligations.
A public information programme should be designed to ensure that the most pertinent
information reaches all appropriate segments of the population. In addition to the regular
media and other normal channels of communication, attention should be given to:
- The preparation of special materials to inform disabled persons and their families of
the rights, benefits and services available to them and of the steps to be taken to
correct failures and abuses in the system. Such materials should be available in forms
that can be used and understood by people with visual, hearing or other communication
limitations;
- The preparation of special materials for groups within the population who are not easily
reached by the normal channels of communication. Such groups may be separated by language,
culture, levels of literacy, geographical distance and other factors;
- The preparation of pictorial material, audio-visual presentations and guidelines for use
by community workers in remote areas and other situations where normal forms of
communication may be less effective.
Member States should ensure that current information is available to disabled persons,
their families and professionals regarding programmes and services, legislation,
institutions, expertise, aids and devices etc.
The authorities responsible for public education should ensure the presentation of
systematic information about the realities of disability and its consequences and about
prevention, rehabilitation and the equalization of opportunities for disabled persons.
Disabled persons and their organizations should be given equal access, employment,
adequate resources and professional training with regard to public information, so they
may express themselves freely through the media and communicate their points of view and
experiences to the general public.
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