Equal Access For The Disabled NL'er

Traditionally, disability issues have essentially been addressed as acts of charity. Persons with disabilities have suffered from a relative “invisibility”, and tended to be viewed as “objects” of protection, treatment and assistance rather than subjects of rights. Equal access to basic rights and fundamental freedoms including access to health care, employment, education, participation in cultural activities, that most people take for granted, have been denied to them.

Over the past two decades, a dramatic shift in perspective has taken place, and persons with disabilities have started to be viewed as holders of rights all over North America, However Newfoundland and Labrador still remains a distant shadow in that regard.

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights propagates the “Rights-based approach to disability” which essentially means viewing persons with disabilities as subjects of law. Its final aim is to empower disabled persons, and to ensure their active participation in political, economic, social, and cultural life in a way that is respectful and accommodating of their difference.

The Biwako Millennium Framework developed to supplement the UN Millennium Development Goals, states that a rights-based approach should be taken to advance disability issues. The civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of persons with disabilities should be addressed and protected.

• Non-discrimination: the Dignity of each individual, who is deemed to be of inestimable value because of his/her inherent self-worth, and not because she is economically or otherwise “useful”
• Autonomy and participation: the concept of Autonomy or self-determination, which is based on the presumption of a capacity for self-directed action and behaviour, and requires that the person be placed at the centre of all decisions affecting him/her; Equality of opportunity: the inherent Equality of all regardless of difference;
• Inclusion: and the ethic of Solidarity, which requires society to sustain the freedom of the person with appropriate social supports.

The Biwako Millennium Framework (BMF) recognizes that to uphold the rights-based approach to disability the following core issues be addressed–

• Prevention of causes of disability,
• Early identification and intervention of children with disabilities,
• Reaching out to persons with disabilities in rural areas,
• Raising awareness and advocacy for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all activities in the community, including social, cultural and religious activities.
• Education, training and employment needs to be met.
• It is essential that persons with disabilities exercise choice and control over initiatives for community-based rehabilitation.

Food for thought!

Brudder