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Health-related rehabilitation and human rights : analyzing States' obligations under the United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

SKEMPES, Dimitrios
STUCKI, Gerold
BICKENBACH, Jerome
August 2014

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This article analyses States' obligations with respect to rehabilitation of health under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Based on internationally accepted standards of human rights law interpretation and drawing extensively on current literature from the field of global health policy, the authors identify the range of governments legal obligations regarding health related rehabilitation across several key human right commitment areas, such as equality and nondiscrimination; progressive realization; international cooperation; participation in policymaking processes; the accessibility, availability, acceptability, and quality of rehabilitation services; privacy and confidentiality; and informed decision making and accountability.To support effective implementation of the Convention, governments need to focus their efforts on all these areas and devise appropriate measures to monitor compliance with human rights principles and standards in rehabilitation policy, service delivery, and organization. This study lays the foundations for a rights-based approach to rehabilitation offering a framework that may assist in the evaluation of national rehabilitation strategies, the development of appropriate indicators and the identification of gaps in the implementation of the Convention

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Volume 96, Issue 1

The way forward on victim assistance : a consideration of the various aspects at play when integrating assistance to survivors into disability-inclusive development

HOTTENTOT, Elke
et al
August 2014

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This paper outlines specific elements when considering victim assistance in light of the CRPD and disability-inclusive development. It highlights the rights of survivors by ensuring improvement in their quality of life and transforming societies into being more inclusive of their diverse members, including survivors and other people with disabilities and families of casualties

Victim assistance in the context of mines and explosive remnants of war

HOTTENTOT, Elke
July 2014

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This policy paper presents background information on victim assistance in the context of landmines and cluster munitions. It describes how it is rooted in two instruments of international humanitarian law and guided by the CRPD, and reviews the current situation in terms of Handicap International’s day-to-day interventions and outlines a vision of VA that is in line with their 2011 – 2015 strategy. Overall, it aims to contribute to a common position and coherent communication on VA among Handicap International staff, whether at the operational, advocacy, communication or campaigning level and to instigate new ways of operating in order to capitalize on the opportunity presented by VA at this point in time
PP 1

Writing the rights : highlighting the international standards on the rights of victims of armed violence

ČEVRA, Nerina
HUNTER, Jane
March 2014

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This report is an analysis of international and regional legal and policy provisions on the rights of victims of armed violence. This study highlights different themes related to the rights of victims of armed violence and notes the evolving trends or emerging (or existent) norms evident in international law and policy relating to that particular theme. It is aimed at scholars, advocates, activists and government representatives working to further the rights of victims of armed violence as an international policy agenda. The report concludes that much more needs to be done by states to ensure that the rights of all victims of armed violence are protected and that assistance is provided in a way that addresses victims’ particular circumstances and specific needs

Torture in healthcare settings : reflections on the Special Rapporteur on torture's 2013 thematic report

ANTI-TORTURE INITIAITIVE
February 2014

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This resource is a collection of articles focused upon the treatment of people with psycho-social disabilities in health-care settings, particularly with regard to torture, abuse and ill-treatment, and reflecting on the Special Rapporteur on Torture’s 2013 thematic report.

It brings together contributions by more than thirty international experts in response to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez’s thematic report, providing insights into essential topics and highlighting issues at the forefront of the intersecting medical, legal, and policy fields. It supports a commitment to tackling the challenges that continue to arise in promoting and protecting the human rights of persons in diverse healthcare settings globally

India’s Disability Policy – Analysis of Core Concepts of Human Rights

O'DOWD, J
MANNAN, H
MCVEIGH, J
2014

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Purpose: To analyse India’s National Policy for Persons with Disabilities (2006), using a Human Rights approach.

 

Method: A framework analysis was carried out using EquiFrame, which analyses policies for inclusion and quality of Core Concepts of Human Rights and inclusion of Vulnerable Groups.

 

Results: India’s National Policy for Persons with Disabilities scored 67% for Core Concept Coverage, 24% for Core Concept Quality and 42% for Vulnerable Group Coverage. This gave the policy an overall ranking of Low quality.

 

Conclusions: The current policy for persons living with disabilities in India would benefit from being updated to encompass the Core Concepts of Human Rights.

Victim assistance issue briefs : how to ensure mine/ERW survivors benefit from and participate in disability-inclusive development

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
2014

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Following on from the Way Forward Paper, this paper is a set of three issue briefs proposing specific efforts and recommendations for informing and influencing policy to ensure mine and explosive remnants of war survivors participate in, and benefit from, disability-inclusive development. The three topics are locating and identifying survivors, improving access to services, and measuring progress on the implementation of victim assistance

Youth with disabilities in law and civil society: Exclusion and inclusion in public policy and NGO networks in Cambodia and Indonesia

MEYERS, Stephen
KARR, Valerie
PINEDA, Victor
2014

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Youth with disabilities, as a subgroup of both persons with disabilities and of youth, are often left out of both legislation and advocacy networks. One step towards addressing the needs of youth with disabilities is to look at their inclusion in both the law and civil society in various national contexts. This article, which is descriptive in nature, presents research findings from an analysis of public policy and legislation and qualitative data drawn from interviews, focus group discussions, and site visits conducted on civil society organizations working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Jakarta, Indonesia. Data was collected during two separate research visits in the Spring and Summer of 2011 as a part of a larger study measuring youth empowerment. Key findings indicate that youth with disabilities are underrepresented in both mainstream youth and mainstream disability advocacy organizations and networks and are rarely mentioned in either youth or disability laws. This has left young women and men with disabilities in a particularly vulnerable place, often without the means of advancing their interests nor the specification of how new rights or public initiatives should address their transition to adulthood.

 

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1 No. 1

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1, No. 1

2014

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Articles include:

  • EDITORIAL :  Introducing Disability and the Global South (DGS): we are critical, we are open access!
  • Youth with Disabilities in Law and Civil Society:  Exclusion and inclusion in public policy and NGO networks in Cambodia and Indonesia
  • Performing the Stare in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People  
  • Disability Sport in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Economic Underdevelopment to Uneven Empowerment
  • Does Africa Dream of Androids?
  • Mendicidad y discapacidad en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires: un síntoma de nuevas formas de  vulnerabilidad social
  • Facilitating Disability Inclusion in Poverty Reduction Processes: Group Consensus Perspectives from Disability Stakeholders in Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone
  • Disability, poverty and Education: perceived barriers and (dis)connections in rural Guatemala 

Disability and the League of Nations: the Crippled Child’s Bill of Rights and a call for an International Bureau of Information, 1931

GROCE, Nora
2013

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In Disability Studies the evolution of conceptual models is often portrayed as linear, with a nineteenth-century charity model shifting to the medical model that dominated disability discourse in the twentieth century. This is then assumed to be largely unchallenged until the 1970s, when an emergent Disability Rights Movement re-framed issues into the social model, from which evolved a rights-based model. This paper documents two early efforts to address disability issues submitted to the League of Nations: the Crippled Child’s Bill of Rights in 1931 and a ‘Memorial’ requesting the establishment of an International Bureau of Information on Crippled Children in 1929. Neither submission achieved its stated goals, yet both reflect early attempts to place disability within wider social contexts.

Seeking care for epilepsy and its impacts on households in a rural district in southern Malawi

MUNTHALI, Alister
BRAATHEN, Stine H
GRUT, Lisbet
KAMALERI, Yusman
INGSTAD, Benedicte
2013

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Background: Epilepsy is a disability as defined in the 2012 Disability Act of the Government of Malawi.

 

Objectives: This article explores the health-seeking behaviour of people with epilepsy in a rural town in southern Malawi and how having a person with epilepsy impacts on the households’ productivity.

 

Method: A snowball approach was used to identify persons with various forms of disabilities. The article is based on a bigger study carried out in Malawi which explored how persons with disabilities seek health care. In this bigger study, a total of 63 interviews were done with persons with disabilities or their guardians. Eight of the 63 interviews were with persons with epilepsy and this article is based on these interviews.

 

Results: The study found that persons with epilepsy seek both traditional and modern medicines to treat the condition. Informants mentioned that barriers to accessing western treatment include lack of medicines, congestion at health facilities, lack of knowledge about epilepsy, misdiagnosis by health workers and the belief that epilepsy caused by witchcraft cannot be treated by western medicine. The study also highlights the wider impacts of epilepsy on the household such as the failure of children to attend school, children dropping out of school, stigma and discrimination and households being driven deeper into poverty as a result of seeking care for members with epilepsy.

 

Conclusion: The existing barriers to accessing treatment for epilepsy can be addressed by using a combination of public education, simple treatments and regular reviews. Ensuring constant availability of drugs for the treatment of epilepsy is key to effective treatment of the condition. This would contribute to closing the treatment gap for epilepsy as advocated by the Global Campaign against Epilepsy.
 

Fulfilling potential : making it happen

OFFICE FOR DISABILITY ISSUES (ODI)
July 2013

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This report emphasises the need for innovative cross sector partnerships with disabled people and their organisations and promoting new ways of working to deliver meaningful outcomes. It underscores the UK Government’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People to bring about the changes needed in communities that have a real and lasting effect on the day-to-day lives of disabled people. It also harnesses the inspirational power of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to deliver further lasting change to attitudes and aspirations
Note: links are available for PDF, RTF, easy-to-read and audio version; for Braille, Large Print formats and a summary in BSL with audio voice-over and subtitles, please contact the publisher

Disability orientation

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
May 2013

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"This web-based disability orientation for staff is a multi-media, 40-minute video that includes interesting and thought provoking statements, resources and good practices from UNICEF and partners from across the globe. The objective of the orientation is to strengthen understanding of, and capacity to support, programming for children and women with disabilities. The Disability Orientation consists of two main modules, each module has five lessons. The first part of the Orientation provides an overview of the disability movement and what disability means according to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The second part of the Orientation focusses on how to mainstream disability through our work. The Orientation on Disability can be taken individually or in groups"
Note: Video is available with English subtitles as well as accessibility options like voice over and American Sign Language

Reading the National Disability and Rehabilitation Policy in the light of Foucault’s technologies of power

LESHOTA, Lekholokoe P
2013

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In the area of disability studies, models have been at the centre of debates, influencing social policies, practices and legal frameworks. The former Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in the Kingdom of Lesotho was not an exception. In its efforts to tackle issues of disability, it produced The National Disability and Rehabilitation Policy: Mainstreaming persons with disabilities into society in 2011. This policy document is rooted in the social model and seeks to address long-standing problems and challenges of people with disabilities in the Kingdom. Using ideas from Foucault, particularly the technologies and regimes of power, which work through language and practice, this article examined ways in which people with disabilities are constituted through state knowledge and government policies, and concluded that these constructions form the basis for alienation and marginalisation in society.

Challenges Faced by Malaysians with Disabilities in the World of Employment

TA, T L
LENG, K S
2013

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Purpose: This paper aims to explore and understand the challenges that are encountered by Malaysians with disabilities in the world of employment.

 

Method: A survey was undertaken in four Northern Malaysian states (Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak) to obtain the primary data. Two sets of questionnaires were formulated. The first questionnaire was addressed towards Malaysianpeople with disabilities, while the second one was for the employers. Descriptive statistics were used to explore, summarise and describe the data collected.

 

Results: This paper argues that integrating people with disabilities into the mainstream workforce should be the way forward, given that they are a pool of untapped human resources. Crucially, this study also highlights some of the key challenges faced by Malaysian people with disabilities, such as discrimination and exploitation at work.

 

Conclusions: This paper concludes that equal employment and training opportunities should be extended to Malaysian people with disabilities, in an effort to integrate them into the mainstream workforce. The existing Disability Act 2008 should be revised to address the challenges and issues highlighted in this paper.

Risks to Client Confidentiality when Communicating Health Information to Blind and Partially Sighted Persons

THURSTON, M
THURSTON, A
2013

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Purpose: This research was carried out to give a more accurate picture of the particular needs of the blind and partially sighted people living in Scotland. It explores the risks to client confidentiality if information is not provided in accessible formats.

 

Method: Data were gathered from a survey of 228 blind and partially sighted persons in 15 Health Authorities across Scotland. The survey reported NHS clients’ experiences of receiving health information in accessible reading formats.

 

Results: The data indicated that about 90% of blind and partially sighted persons did not receive communications from various NHS health departments in a format that they could read by themselves.

 

Conclusions: The implications for client privacy, confidentiality and the wider impact on life and healthcare have been highlighted. The implications for professional ethical medical practice and for public policy are discussed, and recommendations for improved practice are made.

Adult ward should have right to vote : court

JAPAN TIMES
March 2013

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This short article reports on a landmark ruling in Tokyo where the court ordered that an adult woman with Down Syndrome, who had been barred from voting due to her intellectual disability, was entitled to vote in all elections. The law barring persons with intellectual disabilities from voting was held to unconstitutional. This article will be of interest to anyone interested in the right of people with disabilities participating in political and public life

The right to vote of persons with disabilities in Chile : Law no 20.183 as a factor of progress for inclusive democracy

REYES, Maria Soledad Cisternas
March 2013

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"This article describes the process of adoption of Law 20.183 of 2007, which recognises the right of persons with disabilities to have support in the act of voting. The process began with a lawsuit which inspired legal research conducted at the national level. A project of civil society advocacy was subsequently developed and implemented to promote the right to vote of persons with disabilities. The process resulted in a legislative initiative and culminated in the adoption of the 2007 Constitutional Act on voting and elections which recognized the right to support in the act of voting for persons with disabilities"
IDA Human Rights Publication Series, Issue 1, The Right to Vote and to Stand for Election

The role of Germany’s National CRPD Monitoring Body in implementing Article 29

PALLEIT, Leander
March 2013

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"This article aims to briefly describe the actions taken by the National CRPD monitoring body in Germany (Monitoring-Stelle zur UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention) in order to promote the implementation of Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)"
IDA Human Rights Publication Series, Issue 1, The Right to Vote and to Stand for Election

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