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The role and position of disabled people’s organisations in community based rehabilitation : balancing between dividing lines

CORNIEJE, Huib
2009

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The role of disabled people in CBR is increasingly being seen as of vital importance for the success of CBR. In actual fact participation of disabled people and self advocacy have become two of the principles of CBR as seen by the World Health Organisation and associated organszations behind the new CBR thinking.

This paper deals with the position and role of disabled people themselves in CBR programmes. It critically looks into the role Disabled Peoples’ Organisations in terms of promoting equal access to essential and acceptable quality of rehabilitation programmes for all and especially the poor of this world. It is argued that DPOs should join the ranks of those (professionals) who are committed to ensure that rehabilitation becomes accessible to all. The current global situation of an ever widening gap between the ‘ones who have and those who don’t have’ requires a critical reflection on ones’ own work in CBR and DPO development. We cannot permit ourselves anymore a division among those who are disabled and those who are non-disabled as there are other divides among groups of people that are by far more profound and serious to the majority of disabled people worldwide.

While the urban elite of disabled people who live in a conflict-free, open and democratic society may be well concerned with issues such as accessible tourism, CBR as essential service provision is often unavailable for the poor rural masses and those living under illegal conditions in slums of the cities of Africa, Asia and South America. CBR as philosophy seeks for solidarity with those who live under appalling conditions; threatened by conflict, eviction and hunger. This paper calls for collaboration between DPOs and the CBR movement in order to address diversity and ensure that the implementation of basic human rights are truly addressed.

 

 

Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, Vol 20, No 1

Factors shaping attitudes towards physical disability and availability of rehabilitative support systems for disabled people in rural Kenya

MONK, Julie
WEE, Joy
2008

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This study examines the range of attitudes towards persons with physical disability in a rural community in western Kenya. It also evaluates the availability of services for persons with disabilities in the community. Qualitative data analysis of interview material led to the generation of a model describing the attitudes towards people with disabilities. Availability of services was explored through interview questions and document collection. Perceived cause of disability, perceived characteristics and activities of people with disabilities by the community and perceived role of society, appear to shape the attitudes towards people with disabilities in the community studied. The opinions within these categories contribute to enabling and disabling features of the environment in which people with disabilities live. It appears that services available are underused by disabled members of the community due to poor accessibility and financial barriers. The results yielded relatively enabling attitudes towards PWD. The responses suggest that this community may be ready to support increased participation by its members, possibly through a community based rehabilitation programme.

 

Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, Vol 19, No 1

Disability and development: is the rights model of disability valid in the Arab region? An evidence-based field survey in Lebanon and Jordan

NAGATA, Kozue Kay
2008

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This paper reviews the process and outcome of constructing a "rights model of disability" which is culturally specific to Jordan and Lebanon. The objective of the empirical part was, to survey the current level of attitudes of non-disabled people towards their disabled fellows in Jordan, and to compare the attitudes of Lebanon's university students towards five different categories of disabled people (mentally disabled people, psycho-socially disabled people, physically disabled people, hearing impaired people and visually impaired people) to highlight the variations and diversity among them. It also examined the relationship between the attitudes and various demographic and social characteristics of the respondents. The set of findings was further tested and triangulated through meta-analysis of individual views expressed in the qualitative studies.

In Jordan, the attitude of 191 randomly selected non-disabled people was studied, using a Scale of Attitudes towards Disabled Persons (SADP). The participants from 4 communities of Jordan, exhibited overall negative attitudes towards disabled people. Socio-economic-demographic characteristics showed almost no difference regarding their attitudes towards disabled people.

In Lebanon, a more complex scale, composed of four sub-scales, namely a, "Baseline Survey of Student Attitudes towards People with a Disability" was used, to survey 94 university students' attitudes towards five different categories of disabled people, and a set of indices for future comparison was constructed. The results indicated the same pattern of gradations of attitude differences (found in other countries) towards persons with physical or sensory impairments (better), intellectual impairment (middle) and mental illness (worse). The main findings of this empirical field research showed particularly negative public attitudes towards people with intellectual impairment and mental illness in Lebanon.

Finally, the validity of the proposed rights model of disability and the empirical findings of this study, were further examined and co-validated through analysis of the collective views of those who took part in the questionnaire surveys and the participatory focus group discussions, which took place in Lebanon in 2005 and 2007, and in Jordan in 2005, as well as a series of intensive on-line and/or telephone interviews of a few informants comprising of disabled persons and experts. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.

 

Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, Vol 19, No 1

Influence of cultural factors on disability and rehabilitation in developing countries [Editorial]

ASIA PACIFIC DISABILITY REHABILITATION JOURNAL
1999

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Western stereotypes of 'community' are used in the planning of many CBR programmes in developing countries. These programmes expose themselves to a higher risk of failure because they tend to conflict with the cultural factors of the host country. This editorial illustrates the significance of cultural influences on disability and rehabilitation in the context of CBR

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