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"It is time to move from law to practice in the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities

GENEVA (13 December 2016) – A United Nations human rights expert has urged States to redouble their efforts to end the marginalization of persons with disabilities, in a statement marking the anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Catalina Devandas Aguilar, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, said much work remained to be tackled, 10 years after the Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 December 2006"

"This publication seeks to support policymakers in promoting accessibility at a policy and practical level. It contains information on relevant global and regional mandates that support and promote disability-inclusive development and accessibility, with a view to demonstrate the multi-faceted value of focusing on disability and accessibility policies to achieve broader development goals. Readers will learn about the core concepts of disability and accessibility, and be empowered with knowledge on standards, tools and means of promoting accessibility. Furthermore, this publication will outline and analyse examples of good practices of accessibility identified in Asia and the Pacific. The majority of the good practices featured in this publication were initially discussed at two international and multi-stakeholder workshops that took place in 2014 and 2015, with a few additional examples drawn from Pacific island member States. The selection of practices for this publication is based on their embodiment of the principles of accessibility, demonstrated success, measurable impact on the community, and their adaptable and replicable nature"

Titles of research articles in this issue of the journal are:

• Social Inclusion and Mental Health of Children with Physical Disabilities in Gaza, Palestine
• CBR Workers' Training Needs for People with Communication Disability
• Educational Concerns of Students with Hearing Impairment in Secondary and Higher Secondary Classes in Mumbai, India
• Advocacy Campaign for the Rights of People with Disabilities: A Participatory Action Research within a Community-based Rehabilitation Project in Vangani, Maharashtra
• Effectiveness of Role Play and Bibliotherapy in Attitude Change of Primary School Pupils towards Learners with Special Needs in Nigeria

Reviews

• Disability Data Collection in Community-based Rehabilitation

Brief reports

• Differences in Malaria Prevention between Children with and without a Disability in the Upper East Region of Ghana
• Demographic Profile of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI): A Hospital-based Prospective study in Bangladesh

Background: Uganda has embraced inclusive education and evidently committed itself to bringing about disability inclusion at every level of education. Both legal and non-legal frameworks have been adopted and arguably are in line with the intent of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on education. The CRPD, in Article 24, requires states to attain a right to education for persons with disabilities without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunities at all levels of education.

Objectives: Despite Uganda’s robust disability legal and policy framework on education, there is evidence of exclusion and discrimination of students with disabilities in the higher education institutions. The main objective of this article is to explore the status of disability inclusion in higher education and strategies for its realisation, using evidence from Emong’s study, workshop proceedings where the authors facilitated and additional individual interviews with four students with disabilities by the authors.

Results: The results show that there are discrimination and exclusion tendencies in matters related to admissions, access to lectures, assessment and examinations, access to library services, halls of residence and other disability support services.

Conclusion: The article recommends that institutional policies and guidelines on support services for students with disabilities and special needs in higher education be developed, data on students with disabilities collected to help planning, collaboration between Disabled Peoples Organisations (DPO’s) strengthened to ensure disability inclusion and the establishment of disability support centres.

This study investigated the environment’s role in community reintegration amongst persons with experience of stroke. Focus group discussions with 29 individuals recruited from community stroke clubs in Scotland revealed that stroke influenced a person’s perceptions, experience, use and enjoyment of the environment. Multiple specific (e.g. theatres, cafes) and more general (out-of-the- home) environments appeared capable of supporting community reintegration, providing settings in which individuals were able and willing to interact with others and participate in various functional, social and recreational activities. The article reflects on the study’s implications for policy and practice.

"In response to the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, Médecins Sans Frontières-Operational Centre Brussels (MSF-OCB) decided to concentrate its efforts in the severely affected area of Guiuan and its four surrounding municipalities. The MSF-OCB intervention included a comprehensive approach to mental health, including care for people with pre-existing and post-disaster severe mental disorders. Based on this experience of providing MH care in the first five months after Typhoon Haiyan, we report on the monthly volume of MH activities and beneficiaries; sociodemographic and care seeking characteristics of beneficiaries receiving MH counselling/care, stratified by the severity of their condition; profile and outcomes of patients with severe mental disorders; prescribing practice of psychotropic medication; and main factors facilitating the identification and management of individuals with severe mental disorders"

International Health, Vol.8, No.5, pp. 336-344

Doi: 10.1093/inthealth/ihw032

This report analyses the situation in the 28 EU Member States with regard to obligations to provide reasonable accommodation outside the field of employment. More specifically, the report outlines the duties contained in Member States’ laws and policies with respect to reasonable accommodation in the areas covered by the 2008 proposal of the European Commission for a directive to protect people from discrimination on the ground of disability, as well as discrimination on a number of other grounds (henceforth 2008 proposal). The 2008 proposal addresses the fields of social protection, including social security, healthcare and social housing; education; and access to, and supply of, goods and services, including housing. It seeks to prohibit six kinds of discrimination including, in the context of disability, an unjustified denial of a reasonable accommodation

DOI: 10.2838/15305

Guidance and resources from the UK Department for Work and Pensions about employing disabled people and about the Disability Confident employer scheme. Contents include: becoming a Disability Confident employer; guidance on employing disabled people and people with health conditions; aims and objectives; case studies; promotional material and inclusive communications. Updated following first publication July 2014.

Expanding the Circle is a project undertaken by Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI) that focuses on expanding the conversation about what access to human rights looks like for Indigenous, First Nations, Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis people with disabilitiesin Canada. DRPI has engaged indigenous peoples in many of its projects including New Zealand and Bolivia. It is important that the Canadian indigenous experience be added to this search for knowledge where the rights of people have been neglected. Indigenous, First Nations, Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis people experience disproportionately high levels of disability compared to other Canadians. Indigenous, First Nations, Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis people with disabilities historically, and at present, experience exclusion and various forms of discrimination. This discrimination may take place at the level of individual interactions, but people may also experience discrimination at a higher, systemic level, by their needs not properly being addressed in laws, policies and budgets. This project uses an intersectional point of view, to understand the experiences of people with disabilities who are also Indigenous, First Nations, Aboriginal, Inuit and Métis and considers the unique challenges and victories this population experiences in accessing rights. 

Expanding the Circle considers the rights outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), in conversation with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). International human rights legislation not only focuses on specific rights, but also highlights five general human rights principles. These key principles: dignity; autonomy; participation, inclusion and accessibility; non-discrimination and equity; and respect for difference were considered in relation to areas of people’s lives: social participation; health; education, work and privacy and family life, information & communications; access to justice; and income security and support services. This report combines two aspects of this project, first-hand experience through interviews, as well as an analysis that is based on a review of laws, policies, programmes and budgets to have a larger context to understand people’s lived experiences.