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Every 3 seconds someone develops dementia and it’s one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite being some of the most at-risk in times of natural disaster, conflict and forced migration, there is a lack of awareness that dementia is a medical condition, meaning people with dementia are being neglected when they’re most in need of support.

This report investigates ways humanitarian emergency responses can protect and support people living with dementia. It draws on the experiences of people affected by dementia, Alzheimer’s specialists in affected countries, humanitarian organisations and inter-governmental organisations including the World Health Organisation and UNHCR.

Our findings reflect a wider issue of a lack of support for older people and those with disabilities in humanitarian response. We have found that people with dementia are systemically overlooked, due to a lack of global awareness of the condition and associated stigma.

The report is a collaboration between the Global Alzheimer’s & Dementia Action Alliance, Alzheimer’s Disease International and Alzheimer’s Pakistan.

Purpose: This is a survey of peer-reviewed articles focussed on the causes and consequences of stigma towards persons with physical disability in Ghana.

Method: After a systematic search of the online databases EBSCOhost, ProQuest, PubMEd and Web of Science for peer-reviewed articles on disability in Ghana, 26 articles were chosen for critical review.  The three main selection criteria were: the articles had to be peer-reviewed, they had to be based on interviews with Ghanaians in the field, and they had to discuss stigma and human rights.  For analysis, the content of the articles was grouped under two sections: major themes (human rights, causes of stigma, consequences of stigma) and policy recommendations (economics, medical services/healthcare, affirmative action, attitudes and awareness-raising, inclusion of cultural beliefs).

Results:   This review found that most of the studies attribute stigma to negative attitudes towards Ghanaians with disability, and many highlight beliefs among Ghanaians that disability is caused by spiritual and supernatural forces. The consequences, according to most authors, are social, economic and political exclusion. Policy recommendations include improving government policy, increasing funding for disability programmes, changing public attitudes, and paying attention to Ghanaian culture and tradition in designing disability interventions. While these are valid points, the authors of this paper are of the opinion that the literature also suffers from lack of a deep understanding of the historical and socio-cultural roots of supernatural beliefs in Ghana.

Conclusion: The 26 studies discussed in this review show that since 2006 very good work has been produced on disability in Ghana, especially by Ghanaian disability scholars.

It is hypothesised, however, that a full understanding of disability and stigma in Ghana must be based on deeper research into the roots of the beliefs that drive stigma.  Future work therefore should focus on deepening the analysis of cultural beliefs towards disability in Ghana, in order to understand fully the roots of culturally-based disability stigma. More research into the economic causes and consequences of disability is also recommended, without which a full analysis of cultural stigma will not be possible.

n the 1970s, grassroots disability movements in many countries changed the thinking around disability and disability politics. Nonetheless, they were also part of larger political upheavals in the western world. How were they inspired by the socialist, feminist, and gay and lesbian movements? In addition, how did they relate to non-disabled allies? Organisations in Denmark and Sweden are investigated and compared to early disability-rights movements in the United Kingdom. Independently of each other, all groups developed materialist models, although only in Sweden and the United Kingdom did this lead to a linguistic distinction between ‘impairment’ and ‘disability’. Danish activists would rather use provocative language, while developing a social understanding of disability. They were also the only ones to discuss gender and sexuality. There are more similarities than differences between the movements, although the Danish specificities contributed to improvements in how Danes with disabilities can develop a positive sex life.

• In the 1970s, new political ideas grew about ways of living, equality between the sexes, gay and lesbian rights, and sexual freedom. New groups started to talk about how to understand disability.
• This article investigates whether the new disability groups in Denmark and Sweden talked about these ideas and whether they involved non-disabled people.
• Danish and Swedish disability groups are compared to early disability rights organisations in the United Kingdom. The Danish and Swedish disability groups were more open to non-disabled members than groups in the United Kingdom.
• The article also found that the Danish group discussed sexuality a lot. In Sweden and the United Kingdom, the disability groups did not talk about sex at all.

This report aims to examine the extent to which Rwanda’s activities aimed at achieving the goals and targets set out in the SDGs include and consider people with disabilities and comply with its commitments under the CRPD. 

Information for this report was obtained from two sources: the first source was the available documents including government policies, laws and reports, as well as a variety of other documents and reports from other sources. The second source of information was interviews conducted with people with disabilities from three different regions of the country, namely Musanze district, Nyagatare district, and the city of Kigali.

This report focuses on five SDGs which were selected after a series of consultations with people with disabilities and their organisations. These are:

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

This publication brings attention to the devastating impact conflict has on persons with disabilities and, crucially, highlights that many of the key international humanitarian law (IHL) provisions that serve to minimize the impact of armed conflict – such as the proportionality assessment and advanced effective warnings – are not being applied in a disability inclusive manner, resulting in persons with disabilities being killed, seriously injured or left behind as families flee armed attacks.

Research methods included a combination of: desk research; structured interviews with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, NGOs and humanitarian personnel; and field workshops through which feedback was sought on discrete issues. 

The project focused on the situation of persons with disabilities in five states experiencing different levels of armed conflict or its aftermath (the DRC, Colombia, Palestine, Ukraine and Vietnam). These states were selected because they are all States Parties to the CRPD, and they represent a diverse range of regions and cultures, differing types of conflicts (including the involvement of ANSAs), different stages of conflict or post-conflict situations, differing levels of economic development and varying levels of international assistance

Este primer informe regional de la situación de las personas con discapacidad en América Latina ha sido elaborado por RIADIS con la finalidad de realizar un primer acercamiento al estado de la implementación de los ODS bajo el enfoque de la CDPD y la reformulación del Programa de Acción del Decenio de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA). En este sentido, el informe pretende identificar los avances y buenas prácticas que se encuentran realizando los gobiernos de la región en materia de la aplicación de la CDPD a través de la implementación de los ODS en la región, así como establecer las oportunidades y los desafíos que se presentan para que las organizaciones de personas con discapacidad puedan seguir conquistando nuevos espacios y haciendo efectivo el ejercicio pleno de sus derechos. El presente informe se enfoca en diez principales áreas temáticas, identificadas como prioritarias por las personas con discapacidad de la región, quienes aportaron al abordaje de las mismas, tanto a través de las respuestas que se recopilaron de la encuesta inicial, como a través de las contribuciones grupales e individuales obtenidas en el taller de revisión del borrador del informe regional.

Las diez áreas temáticas que se abordan en el presente informe son las siguientes: 1. Educación inclusiva 2. Mujeres con discapacidad 3. Personas indígenas con discapacidad 4. Inclusión laboral de las personas con discapacidad 5. Reducción de riesgos de desastres y acción humanitaria 6. Accesibilidad 7. Acceso a la justicia 8. Derecho a vivir de forma independiente y ser incluido en la comunidad 9. Recopilación de datos 10. Participación de las personas con discapacidad

This report discusses the concerns and comments of organizations of persons with disabilities, human rights organizations, researchers and academics, as well as other relevant governmental actors, regarding SDGs policies in Colombia. Mainly, the analysis focuses on two of the 17 goals:

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Secondary sources about disability in Colombia were reviewed. Three validation workshops were organised to identify the progress and challenges of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda from the perspective of disability

Results are presented and discussed and recommendations made

Background: Much has been done regarding the promotion of equality in rights in terms of legislation, but persons with disabilities remain marginalised in society. Negative attitudes and prejudice contribute towards numerous challenges for persons with disabilities.

Objectives: This study investigated the level of empathy and prejudice of students towards persons with disabilities, and the effect of the use of a serious game to enhance empathy and reduce prejudice.

Method: A randomised controlled experiment with pre-test, post-test and follow-up test was used. Availability sample (N = 83) of psychology university students (22% males; 78% females) was divided into an experimental group that played the serious game The World of Empa and two control groups. The first control group received texts on case studies and information on reacting in a sensitive and responsive way, and the second control group received no intervention.

Results: Participants have average levels of empathy (score: 32 to 52) and strong prejudice (score: 0.08 to −0.87) towards persons with disabilities. The intervention results in a slight short-term effect for prejudice and sub-scale measurements of empathy. A slight improvement was noted in participants’ ability to transpose themselves imaginatively into the experience of disabled characters.

Conclusion: The findings contribute to the understanding of empathy as a dynamic component that can be positively influenced by, for example, a serious game. These results have teaching implications on the facilitation of empathy. The short-term effect on empathy and prejudice towards persons with disabilities may contribute to bridge the inequality experienced by persons with disabilities.

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

The Zero Project Report 2019 focuses on Article 19 (Living independently and being included in the community) and Article 29 (Participation in political and public life) of the UN CPRD, as well as related topics such as Article 12 (Equal recognition before the law) and Article 13 (Access to justice)

For 2019 the Zero Project selected 66 Innovative Practices and 10 Innovative Policies from 41 countries that positively impact the rights of persons with disabilities in their ability to live more independently and to take part in political life

This Report is composed of five main sections, summarizing the annual research, followed by an Annex:

• Executive Summary, including background information on this year’s research topic and the Zero Project methodology

• Innovative Polices and Practices: Fact Sheets and Life Stories

• Description of the Zero Project–Impact Transfer programme

• Description of EU-grant-funded TOPHOUSE projects

• A summary of this Report in easy language

• An Annex listing all Zero Project network members active in 2018–2019

The Zero Project Report is also available on the Zero Project Website in an accessible pdf format.