No More Exclusion

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The following is a press release announcing the publication of the World Disability Report by the International Disability Foundation, a GLADNET member, on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Five hundred million people with disabilities - almost one in ten of the world's population - face a daily battle for their basic Human Rights, former UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar said today.

"Equality of opportunity simply does not exist," he continued, "where a disbled child cannot go to school, where a disabled mother has no health care, where a disabled man cannot get training or a job, or where disabled people cannot move freely on the streets."

And, writing in the first WORLD DISABILITY REPORT, he says that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights - is not "universal" while millions of disabled people face daily discrimination and exclusion from equality of opportunity.

In an article for the publication, the present Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, says that the UN Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities set disability "firmly within the framework of Human Rights." And he calls on governments to provide the resources to improve the lives of disabled people through their rehabilitation, education, employment and integration into economic and sociallife. "This is not an issue the United Nations can ignore," he concludes.

The REPORT, published by the Geneva-based International Disability Foundation of which Mr de Cuellar is President, aims at producing a "global overview" of disability issues.

It warns that the number of disabled people is likely to increase radically over the next 25 years in both developed and developing countries, posing major questions on how governments are to square their commitments to introduce equal rights legislation with the fiscal demands this will impose on their budgets.

In industrialised countries, says the REPORT, the number of people with disabilities will rise substantially as a factor of old age and increased life expectancy.

In developing countries, improved health care will reduce the incidence of disability caused by communicable disease. But, total numbers of disabled people will still increase, through a reduction in the high mortality rate of children born with congenital and hereditary conditions, and by changes in the environment - more traffic, industrial development, hazardous wastes, overcrowding and violence.

The REPORT's lead article is written by the man charged with formulating an international response to disability issues, Bengt Lindqvist, the UN Rapporteur on Disability - a former Minister in the Swedish Government, who is himself blind.

"There is a substantial gap," he says, "between governments' declarations of intent and the daily reality of life for hundreds of millions of disabled people." In particular, he cites the condition of women with disabilities:

Women with disabilities face triple discrimination daily because of their poverty, their disability and their gender.

Women with disabilities are denied equal access to education - their literacy rate as a group, worldwide, is probably under 5%.

Women with disabilities do not have equal access to the labour market - less than a quarter, says the UN, are in paid employment, though the majority contribute significantly to their families and communities through cooking, cleaning, caring for children and relatives, and carrying out daily chores.

Women with disabilities receive only about one-fifth of the rehabilitation in the world.

And Mr Lindqvist cites personal examples of discrimination and exclusion of disabled people whom he has met during 1998:

a young blind and deaf couple in a Latin American country who had the greatest difficulty in getting married because officials took the view that their disability made them "unfit people."

a blind girl in an African country refused permission to take over her parents' farm because local custom did not permit blind people to inherit property. She was, she said, now condemned to a life of dependency on others.

an Asian women who was divorced because, in the eyes of her community, her epilepsy made her unsuited to be a wife.

and, in many countries, deaf people refused "the most fundamental right" to plead before the courts because no sign language interpreters were provided.

Mr Lindqvist says that the United Nations Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities, adopted in December 1993, establish clear guidance for governments on how to end discrimination and integrate disabled people into mainstream employment, education and leisure activities. And he reports that 80% of 88 governments surveyed by his Office indicate that the Rules have led to rethinking of disability policies.

Writing in the REPORT, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, says that "law-makers are beginning to accept that disability is first a human rights issue, and only secondly a medical manner."

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Gro Harlem Brundtland, comments that the cause of disabled people is "a matter of justice and equality." And the UN High Commmissioner for Refugees, Sadaka Ogata, says that disabled refugees face a "double vulnerability" - "often the last, in camps, to receive food, water and care...and, in many situations, viewed as a burden to be left behind."

The WORLD DISABILITY REPORT also, in the words of Kofi Annan, "provides inspiring stories of disabled persons taking their destinies in their own hands." And, Gro Harlem Brundtland adds that the publication will play an important role in the key area of raising awareness.

"It is now up to disability organizations to use the publication to press for their members' rights," says Javier Perez de Cuellar. "And it is up to governments to listen and respond."

The expected response, concludes Bengt Lindqvist is simple - "No more exclusion of disabled people."

Copies of the World Disability Report may be purchased through the International Disability Foundation (IDF) for $20 (US) per copy + postage and handling. To obtain an order form, please contact Seana Brooks at the IDF by e-mail to brooks@int-disability.org or fax on +41/22/788 5954 or phone, +41/22/788 5988. Please be sure to include your name, fax & phone numbers.