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Page 8 of 10
Member States should assume responsibility for ensuring that disabled persons are granted equal opportunities with other citizens.
Member States should undertake the necessary measures to eliminate any discriminatory practices with respect to disability.
In drafting national human rights legislation, and with respect to national committees or similar coordinating national bodies dealing with the problems of disability, particular attention should be given to conditions which may adversely affect the ability of disabled persons to exercise the rights and freedoms guaranteed to their fellow citizens.
Member States should give attention to specific rights, such as the rights to education, work, social security and protection from inhuman or degrading treatment, and should examine these rights from the perspective of disabled persons.
Member States should work towards making the physical environment accessible to all, including persons with various types of disability, as specified in paragraph 8 of this document.
Member States should adopt a policy of observing accessibility aspects in the planning of human settlements, including programmes in the rural areas of developing countries.
Member States are encouraged to adopt a policy ensuring disabled persons access to all new public buildings and facilities, public housing and public transport systems. Furthermore, measures should be adopted that would encourage access to existing public buildings and facilities, housing and transport wherever feasible, especially by taking advantage of renovation.
Member States should encourage the provision of support services to enable disabled persons to live as independently as possible in the community. In so doing, they should ensure that persons with a disability have the opportunity to develop and manage these services for themselves, as is now being done in some countries.
Every Member State should work towards the inclusion, within its systems of laws and regulations, of provisions covering the general and supporting objectives of the World Programme of Action referring to social security.
Member States should ensure that disabled persons have equal opportunities to obtain all forms of income, maintenance thereof, and social security. Such a process should take place in forms adjusted to the economic system and degree of development of the Member State.
Where social security, social insurance and other such systems exist for the general population, they should be reviewed to make certain that adequate benefits and services for prevention, rehabilitation and the equalization of opportunities are provided for disabled persons and their families and that regulations under these systems, whether applicable to services providers or the services recipients, should not exclude or discriminate against such persons. The establishment and the development of a public system of social care and of industrial safety and health protection constitute essential prerequisites for achieving the aims set.
Easily accessible arrangements should be made by which disabled persons and their families can appeal, through impartial hearing, against decisions concerning their rights and benefits in this field.
Member States should adopt policies which recognize the rights of disabled persons to equal educational opportunities with others. The education of disabled persons should as far as possible take place in the general school system. Responsibility for their education should be placed upon the educational authorities and laws regarding compulsory education should include children with all ranges of disabilities, including the most severely disabled.
Member States should allow for increased flexibility in the application to disabled persons of any regulation concerning admission age, promotion from class to class and, when appropriate, in examination procedures.
Basic criteria are to be met when developing educational services for disabled children and adults. These services should be:
Integration of disabled children into the general educational system requires planning by all parties concerned.
If, for some reason, the facilities of the general school system are inadequate for some disabled children, schooling for these children should then be provided for an appropriate period of time in special facilities. The quality of this special schooling should be equal to that of the general school system and closely linked to it.
The involvement of parents at all levels of the educational process is vital. Parents should be given the necessary support to provide as normal a family environment for the disabled child as is possible. Personnel should be trained to work with the parents of disabled children.
Member States should provide for the participation of disabled persons in adult education programmes, with special attention to rural areas
if the facilities of regular adult education courses are in- adequate to meet the needs of some disabled persons, special courses or training centres may be needed until the regular programmes have been modified. Member States should grant disabled persons possibilities for education at the university level
Member States should adopt a policy and supporting structure of services to ensure that disabled persons in both urban and rural areas have equal opportunities for productive and gainful employment in the open labour market. Rural employment and the development of appropriate tools and equipment should be given particular attention.
Member States can support the integration of disabled persons into open employment through a variety of measures, such as incentive-oriented quota schemes, reserved or designated employment, loans or grants for small businesses and cooperatives, exclusive contracts or priority production rights, tax concessions, contract compliance or other technical or financial assistance to enterprises employing disabled workers. Member States should support the development of technical aids and facilitate access for disabled persons to aids and assistance, which they need to do their work.
The policy and supporting structures, however, should not limit the opportunities for employment and should not hinder the vitality of the private sector of the economy. Member States should remain able to take a variety of measures in response to their domestic situations.
There should be mutual cooperation at the central and local level between government and employers' and workers' organizations in order to develop a joint strategy and joint action with a view to ensuring more and better employment opportunities for disabled persons. Such cooperation could concern recruitment policies, measures to improve the work environment in order to prevent handicapping injuries and im- pairments, measures for rehabilitation of employees impaired in the job, e.g ., by adjusting workplaces and work contents to their requirements.
These services should include vocational assessment and guidance, vocational training (including that in training workshops), placements and follow-up. Sheltered employment should be made available for those who, because of their special needs or particularly severe disabilities, may not be able to cope with the demands of competitive employment. Such provisions could be in the form of production workshops, home-working, and self-employment schemes, and small groups of severely disabled people employed in sheltered conditions within competitive industry.
When acting as employers, central and local governments should promote employment of disabled persons in the public sector. Laws and regulations should not raise obstacles to the employment of disabled persons.
Member States should ensure that disabled persons have the same opportunities for recreational activities as other citizens. This involves the possibility of using restaurants, cinemas, theatres, libraries, etc., as well as holiday resorts, sports arenas, hotels, beaches and other places for recreation . Member States should take action to remove all obstacles to this effect. Tourist authorities, travel agencies, hotels, voluntary organizations and others involved in organizing recreational activities or travel opportunities should offer their services to all and not discriminate against disabled persons. This involves, for instance, incorporating information on accessibility into their regular information to the public.
Member States should ensure that disabled persons have the opportunity to utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential to the full, not only for their own benefit but also for the enrichment of the community. To this end, access to cultural activities should be ensured. If necessary, special arrangements should be made to meet the needs of individuals with mental or sensory impairments. These could include communication aids for the deaf, literature in Braille and/or cassettes for the visually impaired and reading material adapted to the individual's mental capacity. The domain of cultural activities includes dance, music, literature, theatre and plastic arts.
Measures should be undertaken to ensure that disabled persons have the opportunity to benefit fully from the religious activities available to the community. In this way, the full participation by disabled persons in these activities will be made possible.
The importance of sports for disabled persons is becoming increasingly recognized. Member States should therefore encourage all forms of sports activities of disabled persons, inter alia, through the provision of adequate facilities and the proper organization of these activities.
Member States should give high priority to the provision of information, training and financial assistance to local communities for the development of programmes that achieve the objectives of the World Programme of Action.
Arrangements should be made to encourage and facilitate cooperation among local communities and the exchange of information and experience. A Government benefiting from international technical assistance or technical cooperation in disability-related matters should ensure that the benefits and results of the assistance reach the communities in greatest need.
It is important to enlist the active participation of local government bodies, agencies and community organizations, such as citizen's groups, trade unions, women's organizations, consumer organizations, service clubs, religious bodies, political parties and parents'associations. Each community could designate an appropriate body, where organizations of disabled persons could have an influence, to serve as a focal point of communication and coordination to mobilize resources and initiate action.
All authorities responsible for the development and provision of services for disabled persons should give attention to staff matters, particularly to recruitment and training.
The training of community-based workers in the early detection of impairment, the provision of primary assistance and referral to appropriate facilities, and follow-up, are vital, as well as the training of medical teams and other personnel at referral centres. Whenever possible, these should be integrated into such related services as primary health care, schools and community development programmes. Member States should develop and intensify training for doctors which emphasizes the disabilities that can be produced by the indiscriminate use of some pharmaceutical products. Sale of proprietary/patent drugs whose unsupervised use could, in the long term, pose personal and public health hazards should be restricted.
If services related to mental and physical disabilities are to reach a growing number of disabled persons who receive none at present, it is necessary to provide them through various types of health and social workers in the local communities. Some of their activities are already related to prevention and to services for disabled persons. They will need special guidance and instruction, for instance, on simple rehabilitation measures and techniques to be used by disabled persons and their families. Guidance might be given by rehabilitation professionals at the community or district level, according to the area covered Special training will be necessary for the professionals at the peripheral level who would be responsible for the supervision of local programmes for persons with a disability and for contact with rehabilitation and other services available in the region.
Member States should ensure that community workers receive, in addition to specialized knowledge and skills, comprehensive information concerning the social, nutritional, medical, educational and vocational needs of disabled persons. Community workers, with adequate training and supervision, can provide most services needed by disabled persons and can be a valuable asset in overcoming personnel shortages. Their training should include appropriate information on contraceptive technology and planned parenthood. Volunteers can also provide very useful services and other forms of support. Greater emphasis should be placed on expanding the knowledge, capabilities and responsibilities of providers of other services who are already at work in the community in related fields, such as teachers, social workers, professional auxiliary health service personnel, administrators, government planners, community leaders, clergy and family counsellors. Individuals working in service programmes for disabled persons should be trained to understand the reasons for, and importance of, seeking, stimulating and assisting the full participation of disabled persons and their families in decisions concerning care, treatment, rehabilitation and subsequent living and employment arrangements.
Special teacher training is a dynamic field, and wherever possible it should take place in the country in which the education is to be used, or at least in a place where the cultural background and level of development are not too different.
A prerequisite for successful integration is the provision of appropriate teacher-training programmes, for both ordinary teachers and special teachers. The concept of integrated education should be reflected in teacher-training programmes.
When training special teachers, it is important to cover as wide a spectrum as possible, since in many developing countries the special teacher will be a multi-disciplinary team on his own. It should be noted that a high level of training is not always necessary or desirable, and that the vast majority of personnel come from the middle and lower levels of training.
Member States should encourage a comprehensive public information programme about the rights, contributions and unmet needs of disabled persons that would reach all concerned, including the general public. In this connection, attitude change should be given special importance.
Guidelines should be developed in consultation with organizations of disabled persons to encourage the news media to give a sensitive and accurate portrayal of, as well as fair representation of and reporting on, disabilities and disabled persons in radio, television, film, photography and print. An essential element in such guidelines would be that disabled persons should be able to present their problems to the public themselves and to suggest how they might be solved. The inclusion of information on the realities of disabilities in the curricula of journalists' training should be encouraged.
Public authorities are responsible for adapting their information so that it reaches everybody, including disabled persons. This does not apply only to the information mentioned above, but also to information concerning civil rights and obligations.
A public information programme should be designed to ensure that the most pertinent information reaches all appropriate segments of the population. In addition to the regular media and other normal channels of communication, attention should be given to:
Member States should ensure that current information is available to disabled persons, their families and professionals regarding programmes and services, legislation, institutions, expertise, aids and devices etc.
The authorities responsible for public education should ensure the presentation of systematic information about the realities of disability and its consequences and about prevention, rehabilitation and the equalization of opportunities for disabled persons.
Disabled persons and their organizations should be given equal access, employment, adequate resources and professional training with regard to public information, so they may express themselves freely through the media and communicate their points of view and experiences to the general public.
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