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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its implications for the health and wellbeing of indigenous peoples with disabilities: A comparison across Australia, Mexico and New Zealand

RIVAS VELARDE, Minerva C
O'BRIEN, Patricia
PARMENTER, Trevor R
2018

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This paper explores how the expressed health needs of Indigenous peoples with disabilities resonate with the mandate of Article 25 ‘Health’ of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The perceptions of indigenous peoples with disabilities are investigated, regarding their access to, and expectations of, health care. Their views are compared to those of health workers, senior bureaucrats and United Nations delegates. An exploratory case study approach was taken to compare three jurisdictions: Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. The data collection techniques used involved semi-structured interviews, focus groups and field notes. The findings suggest that the health needs of indigenous peoples with disabilities are largely underserved and misunderstood by health departments. Specialised and preventive health care for those with disabilities was found to be particularly problematic. Poverty, discrimination and disenfranchisement emerged as being the possible major determinants of the ill health experienced by indigenous peoples with disabilities. The findings and conclusions outlined in this paper advocate the need to build capacity and rights literacy for indigenous peoples with disabilities, particularly with respect to the CRPD, in order to enhance its impact on the health of indigenous people. A legitimate redistribution of resources and decision-making in response to the expressed health needs of indigenous peoples with disabilities is needed if the vision of the CPRD is to be realised in relation to Article 25. 

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 2

Entering the SDG era: What do Fijians prioritise as indicators of disability-inclusive education?

SPRUNT, Beth
DEPPELER, Joanne
RAVULO, Kitione
TINAIVUNIVALU, Savaira
SHARMA, Umesh
2017

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Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 is to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ and the targets and indicators for SDG 4 emphasise the importance of measuring outcomes for children with disabilities (United Nations, 2015b). This paper reports on findings from qualitative research investigating Fijian stakeholders’ priorities for measuring success of efforts within a contextually and culturally meaningful process of disabilityinclusive education; that is, achievement of SDG 4 for children with disabilities. The priorities are presented in light of the specific challenges in Fiji to fulfilling this goal. The research presented in this paper is one part of a much larger mixed method study funded by the Australian aid program that aimed to develop and test indicators for the education of children with disabilities in the Pacific (Sharma et al., 2016). Fijian researchers with lived experience of disability undertook key informant interviews and focus group discussions with 28 participants. The findings include the need for or role of: an implementation plan and resourcing to ensure the national inclusive education policy is activated; improved awareness and attitudes; competent, confident and compassionate teachers; disability-specific services and assistive technology; accessible buildings and transport; and the important role of special schools. Inclusive education reform requires that Fiji incorporates and builds on existing strengths in special and inclusive education to ensure that systems and people are prepared and resourced for inclusion. The paper concludes that targets within SDG 4 are compatible with priorities within Fiji, however additional indicators are required to measure locally-prioritized changes related to barriers which need to be addressed if Fiji is to make progress towards the higher-order targets of SDG 4.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2017, Vol. 4 No. 1

Participation of persons with disabilities in political activities in Cameroon

OPOKUA, Maxwell Peprah
MPRAH, Wisdom Kwadwo
SAKA, Bernard Nsaidzedze
2016

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The right to participate in political activities is a fundamental human right for every citizen in a country, but this right is often not available to persons with disabilities. This study investigated the level of and barriers to political participation of persons with disabilities in the Buea municipality in Cameroon. A qualitative data collection method, consisting of three focus group discussions with 36 persons with disabilities was conducted. Participants were selected from three categories of persons with disabilities- visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically impaired- who were residing in the Buea municipality. The study found that the involvement of persons with disabilities in politics in the area was minimal as socio-economic, cultural and physical barriers hindered their participation in political activities at both local and national levels. The study concludes that there should be conscious efforts though affirmative actions to promote and respect the rights of persons with disabilities and make the political environment more accessible to persons with disabilities in Cameroon.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 2

Disadvantage and disability: Experiences of people from refugee backgrounds with disability living in Australia

KING, Julie
EDWARDS, Niki
CORREA-VELEZ, Ignacio
HAIR, Sara
FORDYCE, Maureen
2016

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This study of people of refugee backgrounds explored how disability is culturally constructed in the family context, including barriers and enablers to social inclusion and service uptake in Brisbane, Australia. Key themes included the lived experiences of people with disability in their country of origin; experiences of the functioning of government and non-government services; family; barriers in communication and language; transport as a barrier to access; the community of people from their country within Australia; and service gaps and needs. Participants had experienced stigma in their country of origin, and for some this continued within their community of origin. Language and lack of engagement by government and non-government services contributed to service gaps and access barriers. Family remained important. People from refugee backgrounds living in Australia experience significant and compounding barriers to service access, and have unmet needs. They have a limited voice in the current policy context, and lack knowledge and support to facilitate interactions with the current system. Further research would assist in development of a more detailed understanding of these issues.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 1

Disability, poverty and education: perceived barriers and (dis)connections in rural Guatemala

GRECH, Shaun
2014

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This paper engages with the impacts of disability on the formal education of disabled people in poor rural areas. Reporting on qualitative ethnographic work in Guatemala, adults with a physical impairment provided retrospective accounts of their educational trajectories. Findings highlight multidimensional and dynamic barriers to education confronted by all poor people, but which often intensified for disabled people. These met a host of disability-specific barriers cutting across social, physical, economic, political and personal spheres. Findings report how in the face of more persistent basic needs and costs, education had a high opportunity cost, and often could not be sustained. Disabled parents also came to prioritise the education of their children translating into limited or no school re-entry for these parents. The paper concludes that engagement with temporal and context specific (but fluid) spaces of poverty is necessary, because it is within these spaces that disability and education are constructed and lived, and within and through which barriers emerge. Cross-sectoral efforts are needed, addressing educational barriers for all poor people indiscriminately, while targeting families to remove obstacles to other basic needs competing with education. Critically, efforts are needed to ensure that educational outcomes are linked to immediate contributions to the family economy and welfare through work.

 

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1 No. 1

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