Inter-American Institute on Disability

by Rosangela Berman-Bieler

Presentation

The Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID) is a private, non-profit entity. The purpose of the Institute is to interface between public and private organizations and associations of and for people with all types of disabilities. In doing so, the Institute will contribute to the empowerment of people with disabilities in Latin America and other target countries.

The Institute's focus population is located throughout the Inter-American Region. However, the Institute plans to extend its services to all Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

With its central office located in Washington, DC, USA, the Institute will maintain on-going contact with Inter-American bodies located in the same area, such as PAHO, Inter American Development Bank, Inter American Foundation, OAS, among others.

There will be a regional Office for Latin-America located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to develop and to promote IID's activities in the region.

Other than its Central and Regional Offices the Institute will be represented by an office/branch in each sub-region (Mexico, Central America, Southern Cone, etc.), as well as representations (in partnership with local entities) in other Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, such as Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomée Principe, Macao, etc.

The IID will also establish a communication network intensively utilizing the Internet and other means of communications to develop its goals internationally. This network will encompass governments, public and private organizations and associations of and for people with disabilities, service providers, international entities engaged in the disability area, universities, and institutes of theoretical and applied research, including mass media outlets.

The Institute will act directly as a contractor and broker (training, project development...) for government, service providers and the population of people with disabilities, and will also provide support, making subsidies available to other entities and service providers, trends analysis, opening new channels, enabling partnerships and promoting new efforts.

Economic development activities, such as micro-credit loans for people with disabilities will be part of the agenda of the IID.

Symbol

The inverted cone in motion, used as the IID symbol, has various meanings:

• The basic concept begins with the traditional portrayal of the socioeconomic pyramid, where the 'powers-that-be', the 'government', or the 'state' are at the top and the passive, disempowered masses, the 'beneficiaries' are at the base. Traditionally, this vertical power relationship has represented a model of 'social equilibrium'.

  Based on a belief in the paradigm shifts that the world is experiencing, including changes in social relations, the IID symbol proposes to turn the pyramid upside-down, and in order for it maintain its equilibrium, it assumes the less rigid form of a cone, particularly a cone in motion.

  The IID and its symbol propose that the people of the world, consisting of each and every individual on this planet, have the responsibility to prove that an inverted cone can keep its balance.

  In order for this to happen, every social player in the entire structure has to rise to the challenge of working together to keep the cone in constant motion, in continuous change.

  The vertex of the cone unravels and spreads, since no form or model should be stiff or rigid. No model is ideal for everyone. In life's dynamics, everything is constantly changing...

• Through its similarity to a funnel, the inverted cone further suggests the transfer of resources from the North to the South.

   

• The form of the cone roughly correlates to the map of South America.

• Special reference to the Southern Cone.
  

Objectives

General Objectives

• Act as a catalyst and information center, subsidizing and influencing the development of public policies in the Disability field that will effectively contribute to social inclusion leading to the full exercise of citizenship;

• Provide technical assistance to both public and private sectors related to the disability field, as well as to advocacy organizations of people with disabilities, professionals in this field, universities, technological research centers, etc.;

• Contribute to improve public education in disability related subjects;

• Contribute to the empowerment of the vast social sector comprised of persons with disabilities.
  

Specific Objectives

• Act as a liaison between the various social entities and existing initiatives in the Region (North, Central and South Americas), establishing efficient communication channels, disseminating information and promoting partnerships for development in the disability field;

• Promote research and studies, when there is a demand for special data not available or requiring updating;

• Prepare materials to be broadly disseminated utilizing existing media, targeting the diversity of social segments as well as levels of decision making;

• Develop technical material, with the objective to improve and update all involved with disabled people, from professionals, to relatives and care takers;

• Promote the replication of initiatives and technologies that have proven their value and socio-cultural application in the disability field;
  

Structure

The IID will have it's central headquarters in Washington, DC, USA and a regional branch in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each one of the countries involved in the activities of the IID should have a national representative.

Executive Committee

• Board of Directors
• Council of National representatives
• Advisory Committee (divided in 3 groups: English Speaking, Portuguese Speaking, Spanish Speaking, Advisory Committees)

International Support Network

Staff/Divisions/Committees

• Executive Board
• Regional Officers
• Public Policies Division
• Research & Studies Division
• Media & Information Division
• Projects and Development Division
• Training and Capacity Building Division
  

Characteristics

Some characteristics that differentiate the IID from other existing entities in the Region and demonstrate a real and concrete need for its existence are:

• network linking individuals and grassroots organizations, providing direct and indirect services to people with disabilities;

• access to governments, universities, technical area, public politics;

• IID will provide a bridge between the actual demands of the disabled community, knowledge and resources, public and private initiatives;

• Based in the production and dissemination of information: Latin culture normally does not exercise the habit to withhold information or even to document its experiences;

• Promotion of empowerment: e.g., the concept of citizenship in the countries is not yet developed due to historical and political reasons;

• Cultural approach: cultural sensitivity for project development and management;

• Establishment of micro-credit programs for people with disabilities in the region.
  

Areas of Immediate Action

Research

Public Policy & Disability

Recent studies reveal that among Latin-American countries there are only a few organizations for regional cooperation in disability issues. Although these organizations play a very important role in the development of the region, none of them are working from the perspective of the disability rights movement, and consumers are not part of the decision making process.

IID's staff has developed a research proposal to analyze the current situation of the disability sphere in the region and, as a result of that analysis evaluate how Inter-American exchanges, programs and projects could benefit development of the American Continent as a whole in the disability field.

One of the focuses of the study will be on the Hispanic population of the USA, expected to be the largest minority in the country, by the year 2000.

The proposed activities generated by this study will examine closely work with international organizations such as UN organizations, Disabled Peoples' International, Rehabilitation International, Mobility International, World Institute on Disability and other NGO's worldwide that already have experiences in the region and/or struggle for the same objectives.

Cooperation for Development

IID will promote, during 1999, in Washington, DC, the 1st Inter-American Conference on Disability and Development. The main goal of the event is to bring together consumers organizations and international agencies to evaluate existing initiatives in the region and to develop strategies to increase cooperation for the next 10 years.

Training and Capacity Building

• Independent Living
• Leadership
• Gender Issues
• Information Management
• Organizational Development
• CBR
• Accessibility/Universal Design
• Public Education & Media Campaigns
• Microcredit
• Inclusive Education
• others
  

Information

• serve as intermediary among available resources in the region
• accessibility of information in Portuguese, Spanish and Sign Language;
• production of and information on catalogs and reference materials within the media and information channels
  

Technical Assistance

• public policy
• NGO and development agencies with projects in the Region
• development programs
  

Potential Partners

• World Institute on Disability, USA
• Ashoka Foundation
• Rehabilitation International
• Disabled People's International
• Inter-American Development Bank
• World Bank
• USIA
• USAID
• Mobility International USA
• Partners of the Americas
• Kellogg Foundation
• Reintegra, USP, Brazil
• CVI Brazil (National Council of Independent Living Centers)
• Whirlwind Wheelchair International, USA
• CORDE, Ministry of Justice, Brazil
• Real Patronato de Prevenci¤n y de Atenci¤n a las Personas con Minusvalias, Spain
• ONCE Foundation, Spain
• IMSERSO, Spain
• United Nations
• Pan-American Health Organization
• Organization of American States
• International Labour Office
• ICCO and other European agencies
• others
  

Rosangela Berman Bieler is a Brazilian journalist, publisher and disability rights advocate as well as a professional meeting planner. Founder of the Independent Living Movement in Brazil, she is also a founding member and former president of ONEDEF - the Brazilian Organization of Persons with Physical Disabilities (1981), of CVIRJ - the Center for Independent Living of Rio de Janeiro (1988-1995), the first in the Region where she currently serves as Honorary President. She was formerly Rehabilitation International Deputy Vice President for Latin America (1992-1995), and editor of many newsmagazines on disability and other publications.

Berman-Bieler has served as an expert to the United Nations on disability issues representing Latin America. She served on Disabled People's International Latin American Regional Committee as the representative from Brazil. Known internationally for her expertise on Latin American disability issues, especially media, women's issues and independent living, she is a member of numerous organizations. In 1989 she was named a Lifetime Fellow by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, an international foundation for public entrepreneurs, in recognition of her innovative contributions to the public sector.

As a meeting planner, Berman-Bieler organized many international conferences and other events on disability issues in Brazil. Currently living in Washington, DC, she recently served as the Event Coordinator of the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities (June, 1997), and the International Symposium and Colloquium on Job Retention & Return to Work - Strategies for Workers with Disabilities (May, 1998). Both events held in the Washington, DC area, U.S..

Rosangela runs her own business, Third Millennium Events, through which she produces and edits publications, and provides disability-related consulting services. One of her current responsibilities is the newsletter 'One in Ten', a collaboration between Rehabilitation International and UNICEF on childhood disabilities.

She is also the founder and director of the Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID). The IID is a private, non-profit entity with the purpose of serving as an interface between public and private organizations of people with all types of disabilities as well as service providers, contributing to promote empowerment of people with disabilities in Latin America.

Berman-Bieler has been a quadriplegic since an automobile accident in 1976, and uses a wheelchair.

711 Brent Road
Rockville, MD 20850
USA
Tel 1 (301) 838-3031
Fax 1 (301) 838-3029
E mail RBbieler@aol.com

INSTITUTO INTERAMERICANO SOBRE DISCAPACIDAD
INSTITUTO INTERAMERICANO SOBRE DEFICIÝNCIA
INTER-AMERICAN INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY