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by J. P. Pathirana, (Regional Secretary for South East Asia, World Council of the Disabled)

In all countries and in all cultures there are people with physical and functional disabilities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over 600 million of the world's total population are disabled. Of these 14 million are estimated to be children.

More than 300 million of the disabled live in developing countries and it is estimated that only one per cent of them have access to any kind of special care, rehabilitation or resettlement service. Sri Lanka is also caught in this web with persons who are physically and mentally handicapped and with escalation of injured and maimed service personnel increasing at an alarming rate, with the ongoing war in the North and East and with the other civilian casualties who are disabled in accidents, disease and congenital problems we have to face in the future, should be given serious thought.

The particularly disconcerting factor is that the number of the disabled is on the increase. This negative fallout from the unsolved ethnic conflict is becoming increasingly pronounced and very unsettlingly so. It points to a terrible human cost of the war which doesn't seem to be impinging on the consciences of those who are vociferously oppose a negotiated political settlement of the ethnic issue. That these warmongers are carrying on regardless with their cry for more and more blood, is a sound measure of how brutalised society is.

However, the above considerations apart, a duty is cast on society to recognise the inherent dignity of persons with disability. Very often, the disabled are reduced to objects of compassion and condescending treatment. This approach to these persons is fundamentally flawed. It is not only our compassion that is required by this community. On the contrary they should be regarded as persons with a cluster of inalienable rights - Rights to Education and Employment, Right to a minimum of material comforts and conveniences and Right to equal treatment. In other words, basically, the disabled are crucially in need of empowerment.

Who are the DISABLED? They are the people you work with, members of your family, neighbours and school chums. "They" could be you and me. People with disability which requires them to use crutches or a wheelchair; they may be visually handicapped or have low-vision; or they may be having a hearing disability. They may be "invisibly" disabled with epilepsy, a heart-condition, diabetes or a learning disability. Or they may be labelled as being 'developmentally disabled' 'mentally retarded' or 'mentally handicapped' or 'having psychiatric problems'. People with disabilities have the same desire and right - to enjoy affection and the provision of equality and equal participation in society. Globally speaking, the disabled are in a lost Continent. This Continent has no borders and no government. It had a soul, but no voice. It has been distilled out of the courage and tragedy of millions of its inhabitants. This is in reality the World of the Physically Handicapped or persons with disabilities who are extraordinary and in that they seek only ordinary destinies - and this is the challenge to all of us.

The world over societies are planned and developed without any regard to the needs of people with disabilities. As a consequence thereof disabled people live on the fringe of their societies. They are in many ways segregated from their fellow citizens and being able to exercise even the most fundamental rights as laid down by the United Nations World Action Programs for the disabled. Due to the isolation of disabled people from their society and each other; people with disabilities often lack any influence on decisions concerning their own lives both as individuals and groups. The disabled cry is that 'nothing about us, without us'.

Fundamental values

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Let us maintain that all people are of equal value. This conviction implies that disabled people have the right to participate in every sphere of society. All technical and practical means available should be utilised to facilitate the participation of the disabled in the various forms of service and social activities of our societies. The principle of equal value implies that the need of each and every individual are of equal importance, that these needs must be made on the basis for planning our societies and that all available resources be employed in such a way to ensure equal participation for each and every individual.

Disability policies therefore very often concern the distribution of resources in the society and are more often than not political issues. As a consequence of this philosophy every development scheme or programme must contain measures which lead to the participation by the disabled. Measures for the disabled in a field where services and other activities are made available on a commercial basis, society must safeguard the interests of persons with disabilities in order to ensure that they are not excluded from these services and activities.

Anyone responsible for a particular area of activity also has a primary responsibility for making that particular activity available and accessible for the disabled. The supreme decision-making body in society has ultimate responsibility for the position of the disabled. Persons with a disability have a right to grow-up and live in their natural environment. We should therefore reject all forms of segregation and also refuse to accept life-time isolation in special institutions. The following definitions of fundamental concepts should be given serious thought.

Disability - handicap

Historically the analysis of the situation of people with disabilities has been made from an individual perspective. The focus should be on the various limitations in the individual. The following definition make a clear distinction between disability and handicap and makes it possible to analyse problem from an equal perspective with the focus on the construction of society. Disability is the functional limitation within the individual caused by physical, mental or sensory impairment. Handicap, is the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community on equal level with others. Within the field of disability there are three main areas of action viz.:

Prevention: means action aimed at preventing the occurrence of physical, mental and sensory impairments (primary prevention) or at preventing impairment, when it has occurred, from causing a permanent functional limitation (secondary prevention).

Rehabilitation: means a time-limited process aimed at enabling an impaired person to reach an optimum physical, mental and/or social functional level, thus providing him or her with the tools to change his or her own life. It can involve measures intended to compensate for a loss of function or a functional limitation (for example technical aids) as well as measures intended to facilitate social adjustments and readjustments.

Equalisation of opportunities: means the process through which the general systems of society, such as the physical environment, educational and work opportunities, cultural and social life, including sports and recreational facilities are made accessible to all. This involves the removal of barriers to the full participation of disabled persons in all these areas, thus enabling them to reach a quality life equal to that of others.

Basic rights

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In our common endeavour to full participation and equality for the world's disabled, without any exception to our own persons with disabilities in this country; the following Rights are of utmost importance:

The Right of Education: Knowledge, the basis for all development. Every child has the right to education and this right must consequently include all disabled children. In the initial stages of all development schemes in the educational field the needs of the disabled must be given top priority. Teaching should be carried out in the child's natural environment. Any steps necessary to make the teaching process available and meaningful, should become a normal part of the work carried out by schools.

The Rights to rehabilitation: Anyone afflicted by any form of disability must be guaranteed the opportunity for training, information and education, which aims to restore or compensate for the functional disability. We should regard such rehabilitation as both right and an obligation for the disabled individual.

The Right to Employment: Employment is the basis for all personal and shared prosperity. The right to gainful employment must be extended to include the disabled, so that each and every individual according to ability and capacity can work and continue the maintenance of themselves and family.

The Rights of Economic Security: No human being should be obliged to beg for a living. The primary aim of any society should be to provide employment opportunities for all groups including the disabled. In cases where this aim cannot be realised, society must provide for basic economic security in a form of employment benefits and pensions.

The Right to Independent Living: Everyone has a right to have a home of their own, that is a dwelling which provides opportunities for independent living and which allows for the maintenance of personal integrity. Measures such as special services and adjustments to the physical surroundings are necessary if this right is to include all.

Rights to Participate in Social and Cultural activities: In areas such as recreation, association activities and other cultural activities there are a multitude of obstacles which prevent participation by the disabled. These obstacles must be eliminated and opportunities available for the disabled to participate in the various social and cultural activities in equal terms with the rest of the society.

The Right to Influence: Each and every individual must be guaranteed equal democratic opportunity to influence the shaping of society. For the disabled there are innumerable obstacles to full participation in the political process of decision-making. The Right of representation in the main legislature should not be denied and a person with disability, should be nominated to Parliament to fight for the Rights and Privileges of the disabled and it is only a disabled will know the traumatic experience one undergoes physically, mentally and psychologically. It is only a disabled who knows best for the welfare of persons with disabilities as 'only the wearer of the shoe knows where it pinches'. The right to information must be guaranteed for groups with varying communication disabilities. Public premises must be accessible for persons with disabilities. The disabled must also be given the opportunity to participate in debates, attend international parleys and conferences and society must learn the lesson "nothing about us, without us". Sending able persons to represent the disabled at international conferences is an absolute misnomer and must be completely discouraged, and moreover organisations of the disabled must make immediate action to curtail such practices and due place should be given to the disabled only.

Therefore, it is high time that the government of Sri Lanka step-in and form an Action Plan for the adoption of "Charter for Persons with disabilities" and affirm the disabled people who form over 10% of the population of the country.

We should affirm that people with disabilities should share equally in all the rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities of their community and should receive all support in reaching their full potential, enjoying whatever improvement of living conditions and quality of life may result for social and economic development. Recognise that disability is a human issue and recognise that all human rights and fundamental freedom are universal and thus unreservedly include disabled people in totality. An Action Plan be immediately implemented and that the government's proposals for the introduction of strict legislation, including a comprehensive policy initiative be legitimated through a "Charter for the Disabled".

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