Differently abled and their social integration

K. Wijayaratnam

Differently abled or disability is defined as limitation of a person’s ability to carry out the activities of daily living, to the extent that he or she may need help in doing so. The American Disabilities Act of 1990 defines disability, as ‘physical or a mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life abilities’.

Such impairment may include physical, sensory and cognitive or intellectual impairment. Mental disorders, such as psychiatric or psychosocial disability or various types of diseases such as TB, HIV, stroke, spinal cord injuries, Arthritis, Alzheimer may be also considered as disabilities.

A disability may occur during a person’s lifetime or exist from birth. The WHO define it as a “restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range of considered normal for a human being” – a functional limitation or activity restriction by an impairment.

Impairment would mean “any loss or abnormality caused of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function such as loss of limb, organ or other body structure, as well as defects or loss of a mental function. The definition of ‘disabled person’ according to the Declaration on the Rights of the Disabled Persons proclaimed by the United Nations Assembly on December 9, 1975 is: “any person unable to ensure by himself, wholly or partially, the necessities of a normal individual and/or social life, as a result of deficiency, either congenital or not, in his or her physical or mental capabilities.”

General

The World Health Organization estimates that about 650 million (about 10 per cent of the world population) around the world are differently abled people and of this it estimates, 80 per cent live in developing countries. In a number of countries, people with disabilities are entitled to a range of benefits, such as, attendance and mobility allowances, free medical facilities, concessions in parking and on public transport. Many countries have enacted ‘Equal opportunities legislation’ to ensure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against, in the workplace.  According to the Sri Lankan National Census 2002, the number of people disadvantaged due to disability stands at 1,629,000. This may not be a correct figure now, as the ‘civil war’ that ravaged the country, during the last few years had affected many mentally and physically. Number of people, both civilians and fighters, on both sides have been affected physically and psychologically. Many have lost their limbs due to artillery fire and due to bombardment from the air and many have become mentally deranged having witnessed the loss of their kith and kin.

Many of the disadvantaged are hidden from society – they shy away because a large section of the society shuns them. Social exclusion of persons with disabilities lies at the core of the problem often defining the path the people take and treated, to how they are perceived and treated. When people are stymied at every turn by social stigma it is difficult for those to survive in society. Anxiety and hopelessness can cripple them more than their physical and mental limitations and dwindling options. Insulting terminology such as nondiya (lame fellow), pissa (mad fellow) used by people, who are fortunate not to be affected by disabilities, add to their suffering. Depression can set in and the spectre of hunger, makes their lives miserable. Most of them live in deplorable conditions owing to physical and civil barriers, which prevent their integration and full participation in the community. As a result they are segregated and deprived of virtually of their rights and lead a wretched and marginal life.

Social stigma

The treatment meted out to the disabled persons, defines the inner characteristics of a society and highlights the cultural values that sustain it. Surely with the great traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism, the major religions of the country, Sri Lankans should be able to play a more vital role in alleviating the sufferings of the disabled?

Social acceptance of these people will do much to pave the way for such persons to interact in society with great confidence to face their problems. Attitudes and traditions have to change for the ‘differently abled’ people to be accepted by society.  Disability related information campaigns and created awareness are important steps towards this end. Today the debate has moved beyond a concern about perceived cost of maintaining dependent people with disabilities, to an effort of finding effective ways to ensure, that people with disabilities can participate in and contribute to society in all spheres of life.

Human rights

People with disability are also human beings and have the same fundamental rights as other citizens of the country (Article 3 of the UN Declaration) to enjoy the right to a decent life, as normal as possible. They have the same civil and political rights and are entitled to the measures designed to become self reliant as possible.

They have the right according to their capabilities to secure and retain employment or to engage in a useful, productive and remunerative occupation and to join trade unions to promote their interests.  According to the UN Declaration the disabled are entitled to have their special needs taken into consideration at all stages of economic and social planning. They have a right to live with their families or with their foster parents and participate in all social, creative or recreational activities. They shall according to the Declaration be protected from ‘exploitation, of all regulations and all treatment of a discriminatory, abusive or degrading nature’.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCPRD) adopted by the assembly in December 2006, and which came into effect in May 2008, draws a lot of attention to the inclusion of people with disabilities in international development cooperation. Article 32 of the Convention stipulates that international development cooperation must include people with disabilities and be accessible to them. In the process, cooperation between the various actors in the civil society and persons with disabilities is decisive. Some donors – including, Australia, Germany and Great Britain – have made disability and development a focal point of their development cooperation.  The Australian government recently (Aus AID) presented its strategy for inclusive development. The guidelines in these papers include:

• Human rights orientation,
• Active involvement of persons with disabilities and their organizations,
• Net working based on co-operation and
• Respect for the needs and potential of the disabled as a heterogeneous group.

The guidelines provide for a twin track approach, which combines advocacy on one hand with specific programmes or the empowerment of persons with disabilities as well as initiatives to include these in other development programmes Article 24 of the Convention emphasizes the right of all children to education within an inclusive system. It is estimated that only three per cent of the children with special needs have access to education worldwide, most of them in special as opposed to inclusive facilities. World vision argues that inclusion of children with special needs is crucial if millennium development goals are to be reached. Article 28 speaks of social protection which would mean protection of the following:

• Access to and social transfers,
• The option of receiving micro loans,
• Social protection programmes such as health coverage,
• The right to social services such as benefits.

Economists estimate that the exclusion of persons with disabilities and their family members from productive labour results in economic losses equal to about seven per cent of the GDP worldwide (World Bank 2008). Disability and development have become a core issue for the World Bank in the sector of social security. Article 27 of the Convention relates to empowerment of the disabled persons and to the requirement of local support structures. Access to capital is one of the most important requirements. Article 12 of the Convention relates to this issue.

Sri Lanka lags behind in the rehabilitation and in the integration of the disadvantaged persons. The government should lay down strong national policies and take active interest in the welfare of the disadvantaged. It should ratify the UN Convention on the ‘Rights of the Persons with Disabilities’ which had been ratified already by more than 88 countries. There exists in Sri Lanka a strong stigma against those disadvantaged by disability. The government should take active steps to change these attitudes and to remove the stigma by educating the public, by awareness campaigns throughout the island. Disability related information campaigns and awareness rising are very necessary to change attitudes.

Awareness campaigns

Persons with disabilities in Sri Lanka are entitled to special grants from the government for projects, to start small-scale businesses, but very few of the disadvantaged are aware that such schemes exist. Awareness campaigns therefore should not only to educate the discriminatory and insulting attitudes of the general public but also educate the disadvantaged on the social welfare measures available to them. The two major religions can also play important role in creating a more congenial atmosphere to the disadvantaged, by reminding the people of the teachings of the Buddha and of the great Hindu philosophers that disable people are also human beings and should be treated like normal people.

Another important step that should be taken is to make public transport or the disabled less cumbersome by providing the disabled, easy access to those vehicles. The provision of reserved seats is just not enough as most of the disabled – the blind and the disabled find getting in and getting out of public transport very difficult. The disabled also find access to public buildings difficult. Regulations on the accessibility of public and private buildings were tabled in Parliament in 2007, but its progress had been slow and to date there is no mechanism to facilitate the enforcement of these regulations. Lack of resources and shortage of physical and rehabilitation services, absence of coordination between Colombo and the provinces are some of the other problems confronting the social integration of the disabled in our country.

Self-employment

To improve the quality of life of the differently able people and their families, there should be projects focusing on their physical rehabilitation and their social integration. Good practices for the economic inclusion of people with disabilities in developing countries, speaks of use of micro credit and start of financing, to promote the independence and entrepreneurship of persons with disabilities. Often self-employment is the only way for the affected to earn their livelihoods. Access to capital is therefore is very crucial (Article 12 of the Convention).

There is some reluctance in our country both by public and private institutions, to give loans to people with disabilities. The government should ensure that equal opportunities to micro credit are given to the disabled. Free financing and subsidized loans should be only an initial step and be reserved for people in extreme poverty.  Women and girls face tremendous disadvantages. Article 6 of the Convention, speaks of multiple discriminations of women and girls. Gender based vocational training programmes leads women with disabilities, exposed to poor labour conditions, lower paying jobs, and lack of opportunities for advancement.

The ILO’s Wedge team (Women Entrepreneur Development and Gender Equality) focuses on women with disabilities (ILO count us in – 2008) and should be of assistance. Finally the private sector which is said to be the ‘engine of growth’ together with the government should open their doors for the disabled, with suitable employment and help to erase the prejudice that the disabled are unwanted and should be left to suffer because of their ‘karma’.

The writer is a Member Institute of Personnel Management

Daily News

Set up a ministry for disability: Javed Adibi

In an exclusive interview, Javed Adibi director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in India, and the founder of the Disability Rights Group, shares his views on the shape of disability movement in India with BS Manjunath.

Javed has been a wheelchair-user since the age of 15. He is also a successful freelance political journalist and was approached in 1993 by Sonia Gandhi to head the disabilities unit of the newly established Rajeev Gandhi Foundation. His efforts and determination resulted in the passing of India’s Disability Act of 1995, giving legal protection and support to the disabled. Prior to the Act, disabled citizens in India had no legal recourse to demand significant, lasting changes from both the public and private sectors. Among other social protections, the Act provides economic incentives for businesses that hire disabled employees, and allows funding for improved accessibility to public buildings and institutions.

Q. I remember you had conveyed your displeasure about the previous year’s budget to Prime Minister, how do you rate the 2011-12 budget?

Javed Abidi - This year’s budget is a big disappointment to the disabled community.  Lot of promises made during 11th five year plan is not emphasized in the budget such as recognition of sign language, or starting a national centre for universal design. I would say there was no word in this year’s budget on disability. In terms of customer service, accessibility, and concession, even the Railway budget was more disabled friendly. Railway Minister has sanctioned concession for disabled citizens in Rajadani and other fast trains. On the scale of ten, I would give 5 or 6 to the railway budget.

Q. What are the reactions you have received from census commissioners? How do you think the census would help in framing immediate agenda?

Javed Abidi - We have received mixed reactions from the census commissioners, both positive and negative. In Punjab the enumerators did not count the institutionalized children. In other places the enumerator have done and collected all the relevant data. Once the exact number of disabled persons in the country is established, it would help in framing the future agenda and allocation of resources.

Q. On the last World Disability Day you had a silent protest outside India Gate with many demands, are any of them being fulfilled?

Javed Abidi - Our prime demand is to set up a separate ministry for disability. We are awaiting the response from the government.

Q. On the one hand there are genuine organizations that are striving for the welfare of the differently-abled, whereas few years back several NGO’s were black listed under violation of FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) what are your views on this issue?

Javed Abidi - Social sector is just like any other sector. Though we can’t make any sweeping judgment on this issue, those who are involved should be punished and those who are involved in noble work like advocacy, service should be rewarded.

Q. Once you commented that the disability movement in India has not grown as powerful as dalit movement or any other movement. Don’t you think it’s due to the lack of communication?

Javed Abidi – Firstly the disability is itself one of the crucial factors, and secondly the movement was unorganized. These are the two primary reasons for the disability movement in India for not becoming as vibrant or powerful a movement as other.

Q. Recently Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) started a course in special education for mainstream teachers. Do you think courses like this will help? Is there shortage of special teachers?

Javed Abidi - I strongly believe in inclusive education. Every drop in the ocean is welcome, if IGNOU, or Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is starting a special course, they are a welcome step. Coming to second part of your question, there is definitely huge dearth of resources.

BS MANJUNATH | The Sunday Indian

China’s disabled exploited as slaves

In an economy where manual labour is in demand, ruthless recruiters often prey on the mentally disabled. One man, held at a brick kiln, is one of countless slaves who endured torture and deplorable living conditions.

Mao Xiulian shows the sores on the legs of her son Liu Xiaoping, 30, who was burned with hot bricks while made to work as a slave at a brick factory. (Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times / February 26, 2011)

Reporting from Xian, China —

At 30, Liu Xiaoping is more boy than man, with soft doe eyes that affix visitors with the unabashed stare of the very young and glisten with reluctant tears when his bandages are changed.  It takes effort not to show the pain of the wounds that read up and down his body as a testament to the 10 months he was held captive at brick factories in the Chinese countryside.

His hands are as red as freshly boiled lobster from handling hot bricks from a kiln without proper protective gloves. On the backs of his legs, third-degree burns trace the rectangular shape of bricks, a factory foreman’s punishment for not working fast enough. Around his wrists, ligature marks tell of the chains used to keep him from running away at night.  Liu was found wandering in the small town of Gaoling, north of Xian, on Dec. 22, 10 months after his family reported him missing. He was wearing the same clothing as when he’d disappeared in February, but the trousers were glued to the festering wounds on his legs and the gangrene of his frostbitten feet stank through the gaping holes in his shoes.

Despite his injuries and an intellectual impairment, he was able to tell how he’d been tricked by a woman who bought him a bowl of soup and promised him the equivalent of $10 per day, good wages for manual work in rural China. Instead, he became a slave. "They took advantage of my brother because he has a mental disability," said his 26-year-old brother, Liu Xiaowei. "They forced him to work, beat him, tortured him, and then when he was too weak to take it anymore, they threw him out on the street."

In an adrenaline-paced economy with a chronic shortage of manual labourers, ruthless recruiters often prey on China’s mentally disabled. The worst offenders work with the brick kilns that are feeding a seemingly insatiable appetite for the new apartment complexes and malls cropping up around the countryside.  "The brick factories can never get as many workers as they need. The work is heavy and a lot of people don’t want to do it," said Ren Haibin, the former manager of one of several brick factories where Liu said he had worked. "Possibly the mentally disabled can be intimidated and forced to work…. They are timid and easier to manage."
In the Beijing offices of Enable Disability Studies Institute, a nongovernmental organization, director Zhang Wei reels off a list of more than a dozen cases over the last decade in which people were enslaved in appalling conditions, each more nightmarish than the last.

Young women have been sold by psychiatric hospitals as sexual partners and wives; mentally disabled young men have been imprisoned as forced labourers in coal mines and brick factories. In 2008, a brick factory owner beat a young man to death for an escape attempt. In December, Chinese authorities rescued 11 workers who had been sold by a supposed charitable organization for the disabled to a brick factory more than 1,000 miles away.

Reports on conditions in the factory said the workers hadn’t been allowed to bathe in more than a year and were fed the same food as the boss’ dog.  "Every year there are cases like this," Zhang said. "The worst are when they are violating the rights of the disabled in the name of charity."  Police often won’t exert much effort when a mentally disabled person disappears, he said, and even if they’re rescued, their testimony is not taken seriously because of their impairment.

"This is not like when a child goes missing. Police will just assume they’ve run away," Zhang said. Some families, he says, won’t even bother to report. "They might feel that they’ve been relieved of the burden."  That was not the case with Liu Xiaoping. He comes from a loving family who occupy the ground floor of a shabby apartment in southern Xian, where his father sells remedies to people too poor to afford a doctor. Since Liu escaped from the brick factory, he has shuttled between home and the hospital, while his family tries to raise money for skin grafts. 

Liu doesn’t speak much. When he does, the words come slowly but clearly, as though they’ve required some concentration. He left school in the third grade, when it became clear that he’d never be able to read or write beyond an elementary level.
But he was strong and healthy. Neighbours would always call on him to help harvest wheat and potatoes and he would hang out at the market looking for odd jobs unloading trucks or carrying parcels.  "He wanted to stand on his own feet," said younger brother Xiaowei. "He was kind-hearted and thinks that everybody else is too."

On Feb. 28, 2010, the night of the Lantern Festival that ends the lunar New Year holiday, he and his family were visiting relatives in Shanyang, a town south of Xian. That night, Liu failed to come home, something that had never happened before. His family reported him missing the next day and printed posters that they distributed around the neighbourhood.  Little did they know that he had been transported almost 100 miles away to Gaoling, a rural county where there are dozens of brick factories tucked deep in the countryside. They might never have found him if not for another family who’d also lost a son to the brick factories.

---

He Wen went missing June 2. The 35-year-old had been psychologically troubled since his late teens, when he’d suffered a breakdown after failing an exam. He was unable to hold a regular job but could unload trucks and was proud that he’d managed to buy his own television set.  The afternoon he disappeared, a nephew overheard him taking a telephone call from a woman who’d offered him a job that would provide more than $10 a day, meals and a free pack of cigarettes. He rode away on a bicycle.

His father, He Zhimin, is a 62-year-old farmer with unruly whiskers and hands that tremble as he fingers photographs of his missing son.  "I was suspicious as soon as I heard about this supposed job offer. I started asking around and people told me stories about the brick factories," He said.  He went to the local police, but they told him to file the report in nearby Gaoling. The police there sent him back.

"They kept kicking me from one place to another," he said.  So he launched his own investigation. Every afternoon, he’d go out in a three-wheel motorized cart, handing out fliers and business cards with images of his son’s square-jawed face. Somebody printed out a map from Google and he marked the locations of all the brick factories he heard about: 58 in Gaoling alone.

Four workers at one factory said He Wen had worked there earlier in the summer and they gave his father directions to other factories nearby. An elderly woman had seen the younger He walking toward downtown Gaoling. Construction workers erecting an apartment complex thought he might have worked there.  "People kept saying they’d seen my son, but by the time I’d get there, he’d have disappeared."
In December, somebody telephoned to say a homeless man who looked like his son was sleeping on the street in Gaoling. He rushed over. He could see that the unshaven, dirt-encrusted man looked like his son: the same height, close in age. But he was not.

Disappointed, he returned home. His wife was furious.  "How could you leave that boy out on the street in winter? Maybe it was our son, after all. Even if he’s not, he’s somebody’s son," she badgered her husband.  After a sleepless night, he drove back to Gaoling. The homeless man was still out in the street, but he was too delirious to give his name. He tried to take him to the police and to a hospital, but nobody wanted to take him in. Finally, he called a journalist, who matched the young man’s description to that of another young man reported missing.

He was Liu Xiaoping.

---

As Liu recovered in the burn unit, his brother coaxed the story out of him. Liu told of the beatings and burnings, of the food so meagre than he lost 20 pounds, of being chained at night and guarded by vicious dogs, about being shuttled among three brick factories.  He identified a photograph of He Zhimin’s missing son as one of 11 disabled workers imprisoned with him. He also picked out from police photographs the woman who tricked him and a man known as Lao Fang, a nickname meaning "Old Fang," the foreman who beat him and the other workers.

He described in detail the location of the three brick factories where he’d worked, one of them where the workers had recognized the photo of He Zhimin’s son.  That factory lies at the end of a straight dirt road through fallow corn fields 10 miles from Gaoling. There are a few houses out front, and in back a partially underground room lined with chambers containing brick ovens. Although it was closed for the winter, the manager, Wang Youqiang, was on duty.

"Look around if you like. There’s no evidence against me. It’s all just rumour," he told a visitor.  Wang acknowledged that it’s hard to find workers — "Business is great. We sold 27 million bricks last year and would have sold 30 million, if we had the labour" — but denied using the disabled. "If you say otherwise, show me the proof."  But Ren Haibin, who was manager until June, when he says he retired because of ill health, confirmed most of what Liu Xiaoping claimed. He said the factory contracted with a man named Fang who would supply and supervise mentally disabled workers. Fang’s mistress recruited them with the promise of $10 a day in wages.

In fact, the going rate for healthy workers was about $14 a day, whereas the factory paid Fang $4.50 per day for each mentally disabled worker, of which $1.50 was spent on food. The rest went to Fang.  "They made promises they didn’t keep," Ren said. "The money went into Fang’s pocket. The workers never saw it."  Ren said he never saw Fang beating a worker, but added: "He was not a kind person…. Maybe if they didn’t work up to a certain level, there would be no food."  Fang could not be reached for comment. Telephone numbers he had used were disconnected.
In the two months since Liu was found wandering, local authorities have visited many brick factories in the area, requesting lists of workers’ names and where they’ve come from. But no one has been arrested and Liu’s family has yet to receive compensation for his medical bills.

"I thought this should be so simple, an open-and-shut case, but it has proved so complicated," said his brother Liu Xiaowei. "I’m very disappointed that our society hasn’t done more to protect people like my brother."  He Zhimin, meanwhile, is no closer to finding his son. He fears that whoever is holding him may have spirited him far away to avoid detection. It’s not an unreasonable fear; when the disabled workers were rescued in December in Xinjiang, one was found to have been transported 2,000 miles across China. 

He Zhimin continues to go out every afternoon, driving through the countryside near the brick factories, thrusting fliers into the hands of passers-by.  By now, most people recognize him, so they simply shake their heads: No, they haven’t seen his son.

barbara.demick@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Study of disability should be part of college syllabi: Chief justice

Mayura Janwalkar

It is the study of disability that needs to be a part of medical college syllabi and not just the medical condition, chief justice (CJ) Mohit Shah of the Bombay high court said on Saturday. For the first time, the high court interacted with nearly 60 government officers and NGO representatives together to discuss issues related to disabilities. Major General (retd) Ian Cardozo of the Rehabilitation Council of India informed CJ Shah and justice SJ Vajifdar that candidates from the reserved quota for the disabled are often turned down by government doctors. CJ Shah remarked, "We will ask the Medical Council of India to make the study of disability a part of their syllabus.""

Centre to be answerable

Bhushan Punani of the Blind People’s Association said the centre allocates funds for development in the disability field to state governments each year. However, principal secretary of the social justice and welfare department Satish Gavai said these funds are not adequately allocated. The court has issued a show cause notice to the centre.

Technology needed

Advocate Kanchan Pamnani said that of the 3% of government posts reserved for the disabled, 1% are reserved for the visually challenged. Professor Sam Taraporevala made a presentation of various softwares which, if made available by the government, can be used by the visually challenged to enhance their efficiency. "Reservation is meaningless if the software is not provided by the government," CJ Shah said.

What’s in a name?

Due to a difference in nomenclature of central and state government posts reserved for disabled candidates, there is a backlog of 607 posts in the state. Issuing a show cause notice to the state government, the court also sought a compilation of government resolutions, including the resolution of February 2008 that bars blind candidates from teaching in colleges. Advocate Jamshed Mistry said that the government’s decisions need periodical reviews and a time-frame for implementation.
Attitude change needed

Advocate general Ravi Kadam said, "Unless the mindset changes at our end, there is going to be no real change," Kadam said. CJ Shah added, "In the West, legislation mandates testing for disabilities at birth. If it is made compulsory, remedial measures can be taken immediately. I would like the government to consider this very seriously," The court was informed that such detection was a part of the government’s draft action plan.

DNA

Let Us ACT Together!

Article on Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act working draft

From its very conception, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act has been fraught with controversies; quite a surprising situation given that most factions fighting for disability rights in the nation supposedly desire to present a united front. India, having signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in October 2007 with astounding alacrity, took almost three years to decide to draft a new piece of legislation, instead of bringing about over 100 amendments to the existing The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995, to align laws in the country with international obligations.

The recent past has seen a flurry of activity in the written media about the working draft of the Act that was released on the 20th of November, 2010. As is the situation in case of every decision dealing with a great number of people with divergent ideas, this draft too has come under fire on several grounds and has received bouquets as well. The only crucial factor, however, is that the draft, termed as a working draft seeks not to be a decision, but a deliberative instrument meant to change as substantive suggestions come in.

One of the principal opponents of the law, Mr. Javed Abidi, Convenor of the Disability Rights Group, is of the opinion that the current draft legislation is, in entirety, against the letter and spirit of the UN CRPD. His opinion is based on the belief that the voices of persons with disabilities went unheard in the drafting process and that the Committee set up to draft the law is inept and displays a lack of “brain trust”. He has made it clear that in his belief, the Committee has lost any faith that he had in it and that it, along with the legal consultant, ought to be dismissed. Taking a strongly opposing stance, Mr. Prasanna Pincha, Special Rapporteur at the National Human Rights Commision, in his open letter detailing his opinion of the draft on first reading, states that “the working draft, in a certain sense, is way more radical/progressive than even the UNCRPD.” He goes on to congratulate the Committee and the legal consultant for executing the task of drafting such landmark legislation “with remarkable sensitivity and alacrity”.

Mr. Abidi insists that expert knowledge and the requirements of persons with disabilities have been disregarded time and again by the legal consultant, Dr. Amita Dhanda, and the Committee. On the other hand, the legal consultant informs that sub-groups had their deliberations with the legal consultant after consulting with larger civil society. These opinions were proactively obtained by committee members, for example on women with disabilities, even whilst in consultation with the legal consultant. The duty to seek opinion of civil society was on Committee members’ not the consultant; it was a duty which the members fulfilled in both letter and spirit. Another source who was intrinsically involved in the drafting process and worked on accessibility points out that the civil society has been involved throughout. The one meeting in September where the civil society was invited, “they derailed the entire process”. Also, the chair was always open to suggestions via e-mail. Mr. Mahesh Chandrasekhar, Advocacy Coordinator at CBR Forum opines that the manner in which the draft law has been published without any explicit statement soliciting civil society participation facilitates the creation of a situation where “the few people who have been in someways [sic] connected to the members of the committee are somehow trying to be engaged in this process”

It is, however, interesting to note that the very idea behind having a working draft is to listen to the suggestions of experts and concerned parties and make changes if required. The first explanatory note stating that “this working draft has been put together so that the Committee, the Disability sector, the larger civil society and the duty bearers can through a process of dialogue and deliberation arrive at a draft which can be accepted by all” seems like an explicit enough solicitation of expert opinion and civil society participation. It seems unwise to squander such an opportunity, basing one’s arguments, against the fruit of eight months’ worth of effort of numerous individuals, on grounds such as the fact that the Committee met for short hours with long gaps of forty days in between and that it was “lazy”. While much of the criticism leveled against those involved in drafting the law may be justified, one wonders whether it makes a substantive difference in ensuring there exists robust disability rights legislation within the nation. Given the parallels being drawn between the drafting process of the UN CRPD and that of the draft law under discussion, it would perhaps be pertinent to highlight the united efforts of the disability sector in the case of the former to present constructive criticism. The remarkable contribution of disability rights groups in the framing of the UN CRPD came from a conscientious attempt to criticize effectively and provide feasible alternatives. It certainly would be preferable if those criticizing the current working draft had substantive changes in mind and alternatives to offer, as was the case during the drafting of the UN CRPD. While much has been said about representatives who weren’t allowed a say in the drafting of the law, the fact that deliberations on the working draft are on and this is the ideal time to send in any substantive or structural changes that one would want to see in the draft seems to be ignored.

A question that has gained prominence of late is the suggestion of a Disability Code with dedicated legislation for special situations and for authorities such as the Disability Rights Authority. The suggestion was made for several reasons, such as the requirement of dedicated legislation that details the functioning of important bodies like the DRA and the constraint in space if an all encompassing law was to be drafted. Critics claim that this is against the wishes of the disability sector and is legally not viable while Dr. Dhanda states that it is a mere suggestion that arose out of practical discomfort and that it would effectively deal with issues of reconciling inherent differences and also allow for greater detailing to define the accountability of the DRA or rules governing it, etc. Mr. Pincha also wholly endorsed the concept, affirming that “common law to address commonalities, and specific laws, to address specificities depending on need and necessity” is what is required. A meeting held by CBR Forum in Bangalore on the 20th of December simply concluded that the idea required further discussion on public forums. All that this goes to show is that various shades of opinion exist within the disability sector and constructive suggestions and open discussions alone can hope to solve the deadlock one seems to notice forming. What effort has, thus far, been expended at criticizing issues that can neither be mended nor bear any consequence to the progress of the law, could perhaps now be used constructively to build on the foundation that the working draft sets.

It has been said quite succinctly that “There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.” One cannot help feeling that those advocating unity amongst and justice for the 70 million people with disabilities in India are the very same stalwarts who leave the sector fragmented. It is, perhaps, time for sincere attempts at reconciliation and for real and substantive criticism, if this landmark piece of legislation detailing the rights of the aforementioned 70 million people is to finally materialise.

Anindita Mukherjee

http://news.oneindia.in/feature/2011/01-04-rights-of-person-disability-act-draft-part1.html

http://news.oneindia.in/feature/2011/01-04-rights-of-person-disability-act-draft-part2.html

Discrimination at work is an enduring problem

The Americans with Disabilities Act has been the most encompassing yet confusing piece of civil rights legislation during the past two decades.

It’s also a passion of Chai Feldblum, one of five commissioners with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington. Feldblum was one of the architects of the original Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and later worked extensively on legislative amendments that greatly expanded the number of people who are now protected by the landmark legislation.

Feldblum was in Houston recently visiting the EEOC offices and spoke with the Chronicle’s L.M. Sixel about disability rights and other civil rights at work. Edited excerpts:

Q: Do enough workers know to ask for reasonable accommodations at their jobs?

A: I think the answer is no. They think that if they don’t use a wheelchair or aren’t blind or deaf, they don’t have civil rights.

Of course they have civil rights. If they have any medical condition that, without their medication or their devices, limits them in some major function, they are a person with a disability who has the right to ask for a reasonable accommodation.

Q: What would you like to do to spread the word?

A: I want to use the bully pulpit of being a commissioner to get out there to talk to both employers and employees about what the new ADA does for them and how this new law can hopefully encourage effective management.

If someone has a medical condition and because of that they’re not performing the job, their supervisor should say, "You aren’t performing well. Let’s have a discussion and if it’s because of a medical condition, you should know you have a right — I have an obligation – to see if I can reasonably accommodate you so you can perform up to standard."

Those conversations don’t happen. Employees don’t bring it up, and employers think they can’t talk about anything medical.

Q: Are companies spending enough money on training first-line supervisors about disability accommodations?

A: They don’t train the supervisors on how to handle those kind of requests if a person comes forward and says, "I have this medical condition, and it means I can’t be here at 9:30. Can we talk about a flexible schedule for me? Can I start at 10?"

Instead they say, "Oh no. We start here at 9:30."

I don’t think a case has been made to them that this is a cost-effective action. They think it’s a luxury to invest in the upfront training so supervisors know how to respond to these requests. And at a second level, how to open up a conversation if it looks like it might be something going on connected to a medical situation.

Q: The Civil Rights Act is 46 years old. Why are we still seeing nooses and other historic symbols of racism at work?

A: When the EEOC went into business in July 1965, the racism then was blatant and horrific. We have moved so much forward in some of those areas, which is why we have to deal with some of the new issues like religious discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination.

But we are kidding ourselves if we think we have rid ourselves of racism and sexism. We haven’t. In fact, it’s even more dangerous now because people think we have overcome it. In the Atlanta office, someone told me they handled a segregated bathroom case.

Q: How about discrimination against Muslims? Has there been a spike?

A: The statistics show that discrimination has increased against Muslims both in straight-out harassment as well as accommodating folks who are Muslim.

To me the problem here is for the people who have not been brought up religious, and in particular who have not been brought up in a religion that requires you to act in certain ways like pray at certain times, not eat certain things and not work at certain times. People who don’t have that understanding of religion are not sympathetic to people who say I need to pray in this 45-minute window. They just kind of think: Well, just pray another time, get over it. They don’t get the sense of the commanded piece of this; that I’m commanded by God to pray during this 45 minutes.

As someone who grew up in a religious setting, I am very sympathetic. I get it in my gut. And I also understand there are employers and supervisors who don’t get it in their gut.

Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

EU development cooperation; does disability count?

Europe has declared 2010 to be the year against poverty and social exclusion. It is a good occasion to look at the European policy towards a group that knows only too well what poverty and social exclusion mean: people in developing countries living with a disability. Does European development aid reach people like Lila Maya in Nepal, who became blind as a baby and was isolated and mistreated until a local NGO helped her set up her business? Or Ricardo in Mozambique, who never went to school because of his paralyzed legs?

A vicious cycle

Poverty, exclusion and disability are interrelated. Poverty causes disability, because it means that people do not have access to health facilities, information and adequate food that could prevent a simple disease to develop into a disability. With proper treatment, Lila Maya might have not become blind. Disability in its turn causes poverty, because practical problems and social stigma exclude people with a disability from education and work to earn their own living. Ricardo makes a little money by repairing the clothes of his neighbours, but what would his life have looked like, if he had had access to school and a wheel chair?  According to the United Nations 650 million people live with a disability and 80% of those live in developing countries[1]. The European Union is a major player in development cooperation; it provides over half of all official development assistance worldwide[2]. An inclusive development policy of the EU can therefore really make a difference for people with a disability.

Beyond good intentions

In 2009 the EU ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is a legally binding convention which stresses the importance of international cooperation and states that countries should ensure that: ‘that international cooperation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities’[3]. This means that, besides and above the good intentions which the EU expresses by announcing a Year against poverty and social exclusion, it has is a legal obligation to ensure that development cooperation reaches people with a disability. The Convention is an important landmark signalling a change in attitude.  In stead of talking about the handicapped who need to be cared for, people with a disability are now recognized as persons who have the right to participate in all aspects of society. Only countries that have ratified the Convention are bound to it. The EU already took this important step, but a number of European countries such as Norway, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy are still missing on the list.

Towards an inclusive European development policy

Europe has shown its commitment to the rights of the Lila Maya’s and Ricardo’s in the world. But to make sure they can
really benefit from European aid, more steps need to be taken.

• Ratify: More countries should ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This will show their real commitment and helps to make sure that we will come from good intentions to realization of rights. The EU should urge those member states that have not done so yet, to ratify the Convention as soon as possible. Together, the European countries can encourage other countries to ratify and of course to implement the  Convention.
• Plan: The start of implementation is developing a good plan. A quick scan of relevant EU policy documents on disability and development does not give much hope. The Commission Work Programme 2010 refers to disability only once, in an annex and not in relation to development. The General development framework, makes no mention of disability at all. The Guidance Note on Disability and Development, published in 2004 by the European Commission[4] provides a number of useful principles, but apparently these are not put into practice. A good sign is that the Directorate General Development is considering to add disability to the list of ‘cross cutting’ issues. Recognizing disability as a cross cutting theme will help to ensure that attention will be paid to disability in all development activities: ‘mainstreaming’ disability. Already, the EU requires applicants of development grants to explain how the grant will benefit people with a disability. Besides mainstreaming disability in development activities, the EU will need to facilitate disability-specific services and support for disabled persons to empower themselves and to get access to mainstream services.
• Learn: Developing such a plan is not easy. Implementing it will be even more challenging. Mainstreaming disability is a new concept and there are no studies yet that prove which strategies are successful. A lot can be learned from the experiences regarding gender and development. It is also important to do research regarding disability and development. Lessons should be drawn from good and bad experiences, to improve future  policies.
• Measure. To know if efforts are effectively reaching people with a disability, it is important to collect data before, during and after interventions. How many people with a disability are living in the project area? Which disabilities do they have and how does this affect their ability to benefit from development efforts? Targets will need to be set on how many people with a disability will be reached by a certain effort. In most cases, the required data will be unavailable. People with a disability are not counted and therefore cannot be accounted for. Starting to collect these data will make them visible. This will require ‘disaggregation’ of data: asking projects to report on how many of the people they are people with a disability, just as they are often required to do regarding women and youth.
• Involve. Last but certainly not least,  people with a disability should be involved in all the above. ‘Nothing about us without us’ is the adagio of the disability movement.

[1] UN 2006, Some facts about persons with disabilities, http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/facts.shtml

[2] http://ec.europa.eu/development/how/monterrey_en.cfm

[3] Article 32, see http://www.dcdd.nl/reader/reader.html

[4] http://ec.europa.eu/development/body/publications/docs/Disability_en.pdf

Published by: Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) -Saskia Bakker

Disability law: Hunger strike called off

After the Centre partially conceded their demands, a group of disabled people on Wednesday called off their hunger strike held to protest against their poor representation on a committee which is drafting a new law to protect their rights.  Javed Abidi, convenor of the Disabled Rights Group, said the strike had been called off after the Centre’s positive response.

A S Narayanan, secretary of the National Association of the Deaf, told The Indian Express through a translator that Gopal Reddy, personal secretary to Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik, had confirmed that six more people would be added to the committee, of whom three were disabled. This would bring the total number of disabled people on the committee to six.  Following pressure from various disabled groups, the Social Justice And Empowerment Ministry had formed a committee in April to draft a new legislation, reflecting the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to replace the Disability Act, 1995. The first meeting of the committee will be held on Thursday.

Disability activists are looking for three main changes to the Act.

VINAY SITAPATI
Indian Express

Rejig of discrimination laws should enshrine equality for all

DOMINIQUE ALLEN
May 3, 2010

The government needs to back its words on human rights with action.

THE Rudd government recently said it would review the four federal anti-discrimination laws with a view to merging  them into a single act.  The review could be the most significant aspect of the government’s new  human rights  framework – but only if the outcome is a law that will effectively tackle inequality. Australian law has prohibited discrimination for more than 30 years. These laws have eradicated the most overt forms of discrimination. Women can’t be prevented from applying for jobs based on gender. People can’t be removed from a pub because of their race. We cannot afford to be complacent; by no means do we live in an equal society.  Women’s participation in the workforce is 58.7 per cent, compared with 72.1 per cent for men, most women work part-time and many industries remain highly segregated. Race discrimination persists. We only have to think of the recent attacks on Indian students in Melbourne or the fact that indigenous people experience a standard of living well below that of the non-indigenous population. A recent ANU study found that a job applicant with a non-Anglo-Saxon sounding name will find it much more difficult to  get a job interview than an applicant with one. People with a disability face many obstacles in accessing buildings,  services and public transport.

The reason for this discrimination is dealt with case by case. There is no institution, like the ACCC or the Ombudsman, that can make sure that people are given a ”fair go” at work or school, or in the services they receive. It is up to victims to do something about discrimination.  If I am discriminated against by a potential employer because I am female and likely to have children soon, my only option, apart from trying to sort the matter out with the employer, is to lodge a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission. The commission will arrange a conciliation conference for the parties and we’ll try to resolve the issue. The chances are we will. We’ll spend a few hours discussing what happened and I’ll walk away with a small financial settlement in return for not going to court and keeping the matter confidential. That will resolve the issue for me, but what if there are other women in the workplace who have had a similar experience? What about other employers who are considering doing the same thing? Will my complaint deter them?

The answer is that the system can do little to help people in a similar situation to mine, or to discourage potential discriminators. If the Rudd government simply decides to combine the race, sex, disability and age discrimination acts under one umbrella act, nothing will change; Australia will continue to tackle discrimination in a piecemeal fashion. There is another option. The government could commit to actively tackling inequality and introduce the legal tools to achieve it. This is not a novel idea. Other countries have been doing it for decades. In the US, at least since the Kennedy administration, government contractors have been required to take action to ensure their workforces are  representative, or they risk being ineligible for government contracts. In Northern Ireland, specific employers have been required to achieve fair participation of the Catholic and Protestant communities in the workforce since 1989. South Africa introduced similar requirements to remedy decades of apartheid. In Britain, equality is promoted beyond employment. Public authorities have to consider the need to promote equality of opportunity based on race, gender and disability when carrying out their functions. This meant that when the Department of Health became aware that diabetes was prevalent among Britain’s Afro-Caribbean community, it made sure that its national framework for  tackling diabetes took the needs of that community into consideration. The Rudd government could also follow Victoria’s lead. Just last month, the Victorian government introduced laws that will enable the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to launch investigations into persistent or entrenched discrimination, rather than relying solely on victims to do something about it. Following an investigation, the commission will work with the organisation to resolve the issue.

The organisation may only need to change its behaviour or it may agree to something more comprehensive, such as developing an action plan to eliminate discrimination. Australian governments were once leaders in promoting equality and protecting human rights on the international stage. Let’s not forget that South Australian women were the first women worldwide to be extended the franchise as well as being allowed to stand for election. The Rudd  government recently reasserted Australia’s commitment to protecting human rights by becoming one of the first countries to sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It’s time for this government to bring that commitment to equality home by introducing laws that actively promote equality and give substance to the catch cry, a ”fair go” for all.

Dr Dominique Allen is a research fellow at the Institute of Legal Studies, Australian Catholic University.

Manmohan promises disabled-friendly laws

FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS: Physically challenged persons, under the banner of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled and led by CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, march on Parliament Street in New Delhi on Tuesday to press their demands. Photo: V. Sudhersan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the government was in favour of amending the laws, if need be, to make them more disabled-friendly. He gave this assurance to a delegation of the differently-abled persons who met him in Parliament. The delegation was led by CPI (M) MP Brinda Karat.  “The Prime Minister was extremely sympathetic towards the demands of the disabled persons and said their demands were genuine,” Ms. Karat said. Dr. Singh assured the delegation of changing the laws to make them disabled-friendly, if necessary. The Prime Minister interacted with the members of the delegations and enquired about their problems. Talking to The Hindu, Ms. Karat said this was the first time that a delegation of differently-abled persons had visited Parliament House. “It was pointed out to the Parliament staff that there was only one gate (Gate no 9) in Parliament House for the physically disabled people and this was far away from the main entrance,” Ms. Karat said. The delegation also met the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik who told them that the government was finalising a new law for the disabled that would replace the existing law.

Earlier, a large number of people with different forms of disabilities marched to Parliament House to demand a better deal. Marching under the banner, ‘National Platform for the Rights of Disabled Persons,’ the people highlighted the plight of the economically and socially disadvantaged among the disabled, the poor, and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. “The basic issue is that of the approach of the government and we must request you to consider our demands not as an act of charity but as fulfilment of entitlements and rights as equal citizens of India. India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the persons with Disabilities which enjoins the government to ensure minimum rights and livelihood to disabled citizens,” the marchers said in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister. The demands include a comprehensive social security system for all persons with disabilities and their families including the Antyodaya cards, free health care for disabled persons, amendments to the Right to Education Act to make provision for disabled teachers and professional and identification of jobs for the disabled immediately with annual special recruitment drives each year.

Besides setting up a separate Ministry for disability affairs, the memorandum also sought issuance of a universally valid identity card and replacing the current Persons with Disabilities Act (1995) in consonance with the provisions of the U.N. Convention and harmonising other laws, the disabled persons also wanted proper enumeration of the persons with disabilities. The organisations that participated in the march included the Paschimbanga Rajya Pratibandhi Samaiilani, the Differently Abled Persons Welfare Federation of Thiruvananthapuram, the Karnataka Rajya Angavikalara Mattu Palakara Okkota, the Jharkhand Vikalanga Morcha, the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of all types of Disabled and Caregivers and the Vibhinna Prathiba Vanthula Jakkula Vedika of Andhra Pradesh.

The Hindu

The Disability Pact in the EU 2020 Strategy

Written by Inclusion Europe

12 April 2010

The Disability Intergroup is a group of persons who want to improve rights for people with disabilities. They met at the European Parliament.  They tell policy makers of the European Union what measures they should take and how they should use money. On 23 March a meeting hosted by Adám Kosá, president of the Disability Intergroup, and the European Disability Forum (EDF) took place at the European Parliament. Experts on disability policies discussed how the Disability Pact can be integrated into the EU 2020 Strategy. The disability movement’s objective is to direct EU 2020 toward equal opportunities, social protection and inclusion of people with disabilities. The long term goal is to improve the lives of about 65 million of European citizens with a disability. Adám Kosá, who is the first deaf Member of the European Parliament, urged EU leaders at the meeting to adopt the Disability Pact. He also called on organizations and NGOs to maintain the pressure on policymakers to include the Disability Pact into the EU 2020 strategy. The Disability Intergroup wants to ensure that the European Union budget is used to benefit the rights of disabled people and not for building up or maintaining barriers. Their main objective is to direct funding to programs that promote accessibility and non-discrimination, increase the employment rate of disabled people and advance the ratification and implementation process of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Ádám Kósa said that the four-year program for the Intergroup has been adopted. The issue of the deposition of the UN CRPD will be discussed at the next Intergroup meeting in Strasbourg on the 20 May. Delmira Seara, Counselor for Social Affairs at the Permanent Representation of Spain, and Gábor Iván, Hungary’s Ambassador to the EU, committed themselves to mainstream disability in all relevant flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy. But despite modern legislation and policy proposals at European level, people with disabilities and their families still face social exclusion and discrimination in their every day lives. Wasilios Katsioulis, who has a disability himself and is a Member of the Parliament’s Disability Support group talked at the meeting about the exclusion of his son from the European school in Brussels. According to Wasilios Katsioulis his son who is autistic was expelled from the European school in Brussels which made no effort to meet his son’s needs. The child speaks only German and does not understand other languages because of his disability. Consequently, he spent 8 months at home without schooling. The family had to arrange that the son lives in a German speaking community in Belgium with his mother during the week in order to go to school and the family can only unite over weekends. Article 24 of the UNCRPD on education states that States Parties should “ensure an inclusive education system at all levels” and that “persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system”. The Disability Pact wants to provide a framework for inclusion and promotion of disability rights and policies in EU Member States and at European level. The Disability Pact is based on the principles of improving the living conditions of disabled people and their equal rights. The framework of the Pact relies on existing policies at international, European and national level. A successful inclusion of the Disability Pact into the European 2020 strategy would direct the strategy’s goals toward issues such as equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities, social protection and inclusive education. To find out more about the disability intergroup, please click here To read more about the Europe 2020 Strategy, please click here

People With Disabilities Experience Their Possibilities at Abilities Expo Los Angeles

Abilities Expo is this weekend on April 9-11, 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center

LOS ANGELES, April 5 /PRNewswire/ — Thousands of people with disabilities, their families, caregivers, seniors, veterans and healthcare professionals are expected to attend Abilities Expo on Friday, April 9, through Sunday, April 11, 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Admission is free and show hours will be Friday 11 am to 5 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm.

Abilities Expo has put together an impressive line-up of exhibits, celebrities, workshops, events and activities to appeal to the full spectrum of people with disabilities, from children to seniors and everyone in between. “Abilities Expo’s distinguished 31-year track record of enhancing the lives of people with disabilities through technology, education and networking will continue in Los Angeles,”
said David Korse, president and CEO of Abilities Expo. “Between the adaptive sports demonstrations, the interactive assistive technology pavilion, the dynamic workshops and the thousands of products and services on display … this is a must-attend for everyone in the Community.”

The Latest Products and Services

Attendees expecting cutting-edge products and services for people with all types of disabilities will not be disappointed. They will find mobility products, medical equipment, home accessories, essential services, low-cost daily living aids, products for people with visual impairments and much more. The new Assistive Technology Pavilion will feature 2,000 square feet of the latest AT products for people with wide ranges of physical, sensory and developmental disabilities. This pavilion is anchored by the Team of Advocates for Special Kids  (TASK), who is sponsoring an Interactive Demo Lab. This lab will not only feature an array of breakthrough assistive technologies, it will  allow Expo visitors to experience them hands-on.

Relevant Workshops

A series of compelling workshops which address pressing disability issues will be offered free-of-charge to all attendees. Sessions will focus on travel, dating, finances, home modifications, the criteria to getting the best accessible vehicle and that is just for starters. Special sessions will also be available for healthcare professionals.

Extreme 360 Wheelchair Back Flip, Rock Climbing, Adaptive Rowing and More!

Abilities Expo does not merely inform, it engages and it entertains. “Wheelz” Fotheringham will perform his jaw-clenching, Guinness-record  earning wheelchair back flip. Attendees who thought rock climbing was outside the realm of possibility will find themselves at the top of a fully-accessible adaptive rock climbing wall. The next Ms. Wheelchair California will be crowned on site. To round it out, there will be interactive adaptive sports, dance performances and instruction, adaptive rowing, canine assistance demos, kid-focused activities and an Artist Market showcasing the works of local artists with disabilities. There will even be free H1N1 vaccinations administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health while supplies last.

Celebrity Encounters

Actor, writer and producer Richard “Jaws” Kiel will be signing autographs and photos for fans at the Expo. The 7’2″ Hollywood legend is best known as the relentless, steel-tooth assassin who pursues James Bond across multiple continents in The Spy Who Loved Me and as Adam Sandler‘s biggest fan in Happy Gilmore. Paralympian athlete Angela Madsen will also be on hand to demonstrate adaptive rowing and showcase her famous ocean rowing boat, RowofLife. It was this vessel that carried her into Guinness record fame as the first woman to row across the Indian Ocean.

Miracles Happen

Attendee Desiree Trujillo, the mother of five-year-old Alexzander, a child with congenital cerebral palsy, is especially excited about the upcoming event. “I can’t wait for the new Abilities Expo!” she said. “Zander has gotten very good with the walker he received at last year’s show and wants to show off.” When fitted with Prime Engineering’s KidWalk at the 2009 Southern California Abilities Expo, Alexzander walked hands-free for the first time. Witnessing the child’s profound transformation from a neighboring booth, Joe Hallock and Gregg Weinschrieder, co-owners of SleepSafe Beds, bought the life-changing equipment for him.

For more information, schedules and directions, visit www.abilitiesexpo.com/losangeles/4.html.

Website: www.abilitiesexpo.com

Telework firm urges federal training on hiring disabled workers

By Ed O’Keefe

Almost half of human resources officials responsible for hiring and retaining federal workers say they have not received adequate training on how to manage and retain employees with severe disabilities, according to the results of a survey by the Telework Exchange and the Federal Managers Association set for release Monday. Many are also unfamiliar with mandates designed to promote the hiring of disabled applicants and hiring rules that allow for the noncompetitive hiring of disabled people. Though 71 percent of the respondents said their agencies are committed to hiring disabled workers, 40 percent said they have not received adequate training to effectively manage disabled employees, according to the survey. The Telework Exchange, continuing its push for advancing teleworking, and the Federal Managers Association partnered on the study in advance of a conference set for next week that will press the Obama administration on the teleworking option for federal workers. “Telework is certainly one way that would allow many people with disabilities to utilize their talents on behalf of the government, while overcoming barriers that may keep them out of the workplace,” said Todd Wells, executive director of the Federal Managers Association.

The survey also noted that 45 percent of federal hiring managers surveyed said they have not received adequate training on retaining disabled employees. The voluntary online survey of 513 federal hiring officers from across the government was taken between Jan. 25 and Feb. 5, roughly a month before the Office of Personnel Management held a training session for more than 600 federal hiring managers about hiring and retaining disabled workers. During the session OPM unveiled a new online training tool for hiring officials that instructs them on how to use Schedule A, a noncompetitive hiring waiver that permits agencies to hire severely disabled individuals, an OPM spokesman said. The agency is developing a similar training tool for disabled applicants wishing to be hired under the waiver. “We are working diligently to attract and hire individuals with disabilities,” OPM spokesman Edmund Byrnes said in a statement.

OPM and the Labor Department’s Office of Disability Policy also will hold a hiring fair on April 26 at the Washington Convention Center. More than 70 agencies with job openings have been invited to search a database with more than 4,000 resumes of disabled applicants. Agencies are encouraged to schedule interviews with disabled applicants at the April event, OPM said. A House committee last week approved a bill that would require the federal government to develop plans to expand the policy across the federal workforce. Agencies would be required to hire a telework managing officer, responsible for overseeing implementation of the policy. By the end of fiscal 2011 OPM Director John Berry, a teleworking advocate, hopes to double the number of teleworkers from the 102,900 of fiscal year 2009. The White House said Kareem Dale, President Obama’s special assistant on disability policy, will address the survey’s findings at next week’s conference.

Washington Post Sunday, March 28, 2010; 9:17 PM

Mobilising campaigners for disability and development

In May 2008, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) entered into force. This latest expression of the spirit embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was brought to life largely through years of campaigning by disabled people, their organisations and their allies. The UNCRPD guarantees people with disabilities the right to full participation in every aspect of society, calling on governments and civil society groups to make all of their programmes inclusive and accessible, including development projects.  Disability campaigners earned another victory in November 2009, when the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recognising the importance of including disability in all Millennium Development Goal (MDG) programmes. Before this, the MDGs had made no mention of disabilities.

This international recognition is crucial as people with disabilities are among the poorest and most marginalised in the world. While 10% of the world’s people are disabled, 20% of people living on less than a dollar a day have disabilities. In some countries, 90% of children with disabilities do not attend school and the unemployment rate for disabled people in some African nations can be over 80%. Without urgent attention to such issues, it will be impossible to meet the Millennium Development Goals.  It is now essential to build on the campaigning achievements behind the UNCRPD and the new MDG resolution. Every country must sign, ratify and implement the UNCRPD, which is still the subject of intense lobbying from disability and development stakeholders worldwide. Its rights-based agenda will also demand new approaches from campaigners and development practitioners alike to ensure that all programmes, including those designed to meet the MDGs, are based on inclusion and participation.

You are invited to explore how people with disabilities, disabled people’s organisations and other organisations can best campaign for the promises of the UNCRPD and MDGs to be realised. How can they most effectively mobilise disabled people to become local, national and international campaigners? What additional barriers to effective advocacy might disabled people face compared to non-disabled people? How can the larger development community ensure that it supports this advocacy work and changes its own policies to include disability?  Useful sites for your research include.

• www.lcdisability.org/international
• www.lcdisability.org/youngvoices
• www.lcdisability.org/uncrpd
• www.un.org/disabilities
• www.africandecade.org
• www.gpdd-online.org
• www.dpi.org
• www.unicef.org/protection/index_43931.html
• www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/disability/index.htm

guardian.co.uk

Former Employee Files Employment Discrimination Complaint

Posted by Erika Niedowski on Jan. 11, 2010, at 10:37 am

A former employee of Kabab-ji Grill, the Middle Eastern restaurant chain that opened its first U.S.-based location in the District last year, has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saying he was discriminated against based on race, national origin, religion, and disability.

In the Dec. 23 complaint, Abdelkader Nsiri, 33, who worked from August to November as a manager in charge of hiring hosts and wait and kitchen staff, says Kabab-ji’s human resources director, Khal Risheq, referred to Arabs as “stupid and ignorant,” North Africans as “sensitive complainers and trouble makers,” and African-Americans as “slaves.” Nsiri, who is Tunisian but has lived in the U.S. for about 10 years, was allegedly instructed to shave his goatee, which made him look like a “Kuwaiti faggot.”

The complaint says that the restaurant’s management and corporate staff prevented the hiring of Arabs and other minorities for positions at the front of the restaurant—and that Nsiri was demoted after recommending an African-American for a hostess job. Soon after, he was terminated altogether, says Peter Mina, his lawyer. (Mina says the restaurant is challenging his claim for unemployment benefits; a hearing was scheduled for today.)

Reached at the restaurant by telephone Friday, Risheq said: “I would love to respond, but we have a lawyer who is handling this issue.” Referring without explanation to “blackmail,” he added that he himself is Muslim and that “we have plenty of Arabs here.”

Someone from Kabab-ji who identified himself only as Sam later called Washington City Paper and said that, on the advice of the restaurant’s lawyer, all he could say was: “All these allegations are totally false. Their lawyer is threatening litigation.” Sam Najjar is the head of operations for Kabab-ji USA, according to the firm that handles local PR for the restaurant.

The restaurant opened in Dupont Circle in November and is too new to have much of an established following yet here, but its restaurants abroad (the chain is headquartered in Lebanon) have a good reputation. The local outlet attempts to plow the same ground as the local Lebanese Taverna group, which has dragged Middle Eastern cuisine out of its suburban kebab shops and given it the full-service restaurant treatment, complete with wine menus and cocktail service.

The EEOC complaint, among other things, alleges that Risheq refused to hire one job candidate of Tunisian origin, saying that he “was not attractive and with his beard ‘would have Americans thinking he was a terrorist.’”

From the complaint:

Mr. Risheq required Mr. Nsiri and other managers to implement a hiring program that discriminated against anyone that was not a young, attractive, white female. Further, Mr. Risheq informed the staff that he did not want anyone over 26-years-old working at the front of the restaurant. Mr Risheq also ruled out any applications from African-Americans whom he referred to as “abeed” (the Arabic word for “slaves”).

On October 9, 2009, Mr. Nsiri interviewed a black female applicant for a hostess position. When Mr. Nsiri referred her to Samer [identified as the corporate trainer] for a follow up interview, Samer rejected her and told Mr. Nsiri that he was ignorant and blind because he was “sending an ugly black girl with a hairy face,” to him for an interview. Mr. Najjar added that he did not want to talk to her because he “had enough of those niggers.”

According to the complaint, Risheq also instructed the restaurant staff to change their names to sound more “American”—”Mac” for Majed, for instance, and “Sam” for Sameer. Employees, including Nsiri, were prevented from speaking Arabic even if they didn’t know English, “forcing them to resort to hand signals as the only means of communication,” the complaint says.

Mina also says Nsiri’s managers violated his disability rights by interfering with his ability to take medication for depression, anxiety, and a reflux condition, and to seek treatment for a work-related injury.

Washington City Paper

U.G.C. to fill up posts reserved for disabled people by the end of financial year

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Educational bodies sure seem to be getting on the wrong side of the Delhi High Court. First, Kendriya Vidyalayas were pulled up for not appointing special education teachers for their disabled students and now University Grants Commission (U.G.C.) has been warned that if it does not fill up teaching posts reserved for people with disabilities, punitive action will be taken. U.G.C. has taken a serious note of the Court’s direction and has given an assurance that all vacancies in respect of three percent reservation for disabled persons shall be filled up latest by March 31, 2010. Universities and Colleges have in the past failed to appoint disabled persons although mandated by the Disability Act of 1995.

There’s a revolution in Britain that hasn’t made it to America.

Disaboom

When Danish IT specialist Thorkil Sonne found out his young son had autism, he decided to find out everything he could about the condition in a effort to make sure his child led as happy a life as possible.Turns out, the information led him on a crusade to change the way the world views people with autism.  Sonne, a 49-year-old father of three, started an IT company staffed almost exclusively by people with autism, and its success has power players such as Microsoft and Cisco Systems lined up to use its services. Specialisterne (Specialists in English) employs more than 40 people with an autism spectrum disorder at its headquarters in Denmark, and is set to branch out to Glascow next year in the first step of a worldwide expansion.

Astounded when his son once reproduced a map of Europe from memory, Sonne’s research had uncovered that certain people with autism have superior memory recall, focus and precision compared to people without the condition. By taking advantage of these skills in the IT sector, which requires spotting anomolies in large quantities of data, Sonne’s company boasts an error rate of only O.5 percent, versus the industry average of five percent. Specialisterne maintains a friendly environment for its employees. A support worker makes sure that sudden or loud noises are minimized and clear task instructions are provided, while the work week is kept to about 25 hours. Rather than face-to-face interviews, which are taxing or impossible for many with autism, Sonne assesses potential workers with a complex form of Lego.

Of his staff, Sonne says he has seen people transformed. He cites the consultant who handn’t worked in 24 years and is now testing for Cisco Systems. “He finally feels he is part of society and respected,” Sonne says. “He can talk up at family gatherings. He recently got a girlfriend. He wants to work for us as a trainer. I see no reason why eventually those who are at the lower points in the autistic spectrum should not work as well.”

Disaboom

Website on Persons with Disabilities Act and National Trust Act Amendment

The Ministy of Social Justice and Empowermentt is inviting suggestions for amendment in the National Trust Act

All interested individuals and organizations are, requested to participate in suggesting for amendment to the existing provisions of the Act or inclusion of new provisions by the 15th October, 2009 [mentioned on the ministry website] . The proposed draft amendment copy and other documents can be downloaded from

this website

http://pwdamendment.nileshsingit.org