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This volume of the African Disability Rights Yearbook is divided into four sections presenting articles, country reports, commentaries on regional developments and a book review. The first section A of the journal presents a number of articles on issues affecting people with disabilities in Africa, ranging from education and rights of children with disabilities to albinism. Section B presents country reports on Djibouti and Madagascar. Section C presents two articles: one on mental health and the other on disability rights developments in the East African Community post-2012. Finally a review of E. Barnes’s 2016 book "The minority body: A theory of disability" is given.

This publication intends to draw lessons learned from the set-up of a Social Work (SW) unit in the PRC in Kampong Cham province of Cambodia using the Personalized Social Support (PSS) process and provide an example of person-centered approach in rehabilitation service delivery, to be considered by PWDF and other rehabilitation I/NGOs and promoted within other PRCs in Cambodia. The specific objectives of this publication are: 

• To identify recruitment strategies and clinical activities conducted by the SW unit 
• To consider the capacity development of SW staff along the development of a SW unit
• To outline how SW and PSS are linked to the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Guidelines on Physical Rehabilitation in Cambodia4 (also known as the Standard Working Procedures -SWP) with reference to its application.
• To consider how SW interventions and PSS contributes to service users’ social participation and rights.

Capturing best practices through a ‘’lessons learnt’’ process can be utilized to advocate for the adoption and replication of such a model within wider rehabilitation services in Cambodia.

This publication was developed by a mixed methods approach on the basis of various sources and tools, including:

• Desk review including collection of documents and tools used by the SW unit, and field visit reports
• Workshops/meetings with the PRC Manager, PRC Unit heads and Focal Clients (FC) to gain reflections on the process and map a reverse pathway of change
• Key Informant interviews: Interviews with members of the project team and local authorities.
• Case study frames were designed and used as well as some questions from SCOPEO5 Quality of life linked to social and personal relationships during the interview. 
• Interviews with 15 beneficiaries (SW Clients at the PRC) to assess the impact of SW input over a 13 month period from June 2015 to July 2016

"To mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December), the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), IRU (World's Road Transport organisation) and EDF jointly publish an 'Accessibility Guide' to improve customer service for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.

The publication aims to show that service quality and inclusiveness are of paramount importance for the public transport sector.

The guide is one of the initiatives that we are undertaking to raise awareness amongst staff about the barriers still existing to a fully inclusive public transport system and how to best overcome them. It is targeted at public transport staff regularly interacting with passengers and can be used in the context of disability awareness trainings.

Gunta Anca, EDF Vice-President: “With this accessibility guide we want to give simple tips and advice on how to improve service for persons with disabilities. There is really nothing to be afraid of – we are passengers like everyone else, just sometimes we need a little bit more of your support and understanding.”

Thomas Avanzata, Director of the European Department at UITP: “An average person does not know much about persons with disabilities. With this guide, we hope to close the knowledge gap for our bus drivers and be able to offer an improved service to persons with disabilities. We are very happy about the cooperation with EDF and IRU and optimistic that such small initiatives can make a difference on the ground, especially at times where financial resources for costly infrastructure works are scarce.”

Rémi Lebeda, who leads IRU’s work on passenger transport in Europe: “This accessibility guide is an excellent tool to improve the quality of service offered to people with disabilities by drivers and operators. We thank EDF and UITP for their excellent cooperation in working on this important issue. In further recognition of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities the guide will also be available in accessible format.”

This article explores the significance of disability for social justice, using Nancy Fraser’s theory of justice as a guideline. The article argues that the disability perspective is essential for understanding and promoting social justice, although it is often disregarded by critical thinkers and social activists. The article looks at three prominent strategies for achieving social justice under conditions of capitalism: economically, by decommodifying labour; culturally, by deconstructing self-sufficiency; and politically, by transnationalising democracy. The disability perspective reveals that decommodification of labour requires enhancement of disability support, deconstruction of self-sufficiency requires valorisation of disability-illuminated interdependence, and transnationalisation of democracy requires scrutiny of the transnational production of impairments. The article discusses each of these strategies in theoretical and practical terms by drawing on disability studies and Fraser’s analyses.

Society at a Glance 2016 aims to address the growing demand for quantitative evidence on the social situation, its trends, and its possible drivers across OECD countries. One objective is to assess and compare social outcomes that are currently the focus of policy debates. Another is to provide an overview of societal responses, and how effective policy actions have been in furthering social development. This edition of Society at a Glance discusses policy actions in response to the situation of youth Neither in Employment, Education, nor Training (NEET). Indicators on youth are therefore a particular focus

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264261488-en

Inequalities are multi-dimensional, multi-layered and cumulative. The Report makes clear that understanding and acting effectively upon inequalities requires looking beyond income and wealth disparities to capture their political, environmental, social, cultural, spatial, and knowledge features. Untangling such complexity is a challenge we must fully take on – if we are to develop policies and solutions that are feasible and sustainable.

The Report also emphasizes that the costs of inequalities are very high and borne by all – not just by the deprived and the excluded, but collectively, by current and future generations, in the form of heightened conflict and instability, economic and fiscal losses, environmental degradation, and political tensions. Reducing inequalities is thus everyone’s concern.

Countering inequalities requires robust knowledge – but knowledge alone is not enough. The challenge is to improve the connection between what we know and how we act: to mobilize the knowledge of the social and human sciences to inform policies, underpin decisions and enable wise and transparent management of the shift towards more equitable and inclusive societies. In this sense, investment in knowledge is a down-payment for informed change.

And in some respects, even the knowledge we have is not fully adequate. Social science research agendas equally require revisiting. The Report calls for a step change towards a research agenda that is interdisciplinary, multiscale and globally inclusive, creating pathways for transformative knowledge.

"The aim of the research was to investigate the social, cultural and institutional factors which contribute to the high incidence of sexual abuse of persons with disabilities in East Africa and to identify interventions which could change detrimental attitudes, beliefs and practices which perpetuate this high incidence. The study used a qualitative participatory action research approach and worked with local partner organisations and Ugandan and Kenyan field level researchers to collect data. Survivors of sexual abuse were not interviewed but instead the research investigated the understandings, beliefs and practices of a range of service providers and key responders who are involved in the prevention of and response to sexual abuse against persons with disabilities in their communities. Groups consulted included police, teachers, health-care workers, government administrators, faith and community organisations and traditional leaders, as well as persons with disabilities and their parents. Participatory workshops were run with a reference group of people with disabilities (with a range of impairments and experiences) and relevant specialists at the initial stage and during the participatory analysis process. After initial orientation and training the field researchers undertook a total of 52 individual interviews and 9 focus group discussions with a range of stakeholders". Powerpoint slides of the research findings and posters are also available.

The booklet is a simple guide written to support victims of sexual abuse and their families to know their rights and to understand what services are available to them. 

This book offers concrete ideas and examples to those interested in driving a radically different approach to supporting people with dementia and their families. "We have explored a number of approaches with people who have been leading their development. We have been keen to look at both approaches that emerge from working directly to improve support for people with dementia and others that have different roots, but we think are potentially very transferable. None of the approaches is yet being used at any significant scale". Discussions and examples are all UK based. There is an introduction detailing current problems and issues with care and support for people with dementia. 10 approaches are described for housing and support, 4 concerned with enabling people to have good days and 7 associated with enabling people to connect with their community. 

Employment rates amongst disabled people reveal one of the most significant inequalities in the UK today: less than half (48%) of disabled people are in employment compared to 80% of the non-disabled population. Despite a record-breaking labour market, 4.6 million disabled people and people with long-term health conditions are out of work leaving individuals, and some large parts of communities, disconnected from the benefits that work brings. People who are unemployed have higher rates of mortality and a lower quality of life. This green paper sets out the nature of the problem and why change is needed by employers, the welfare system, health and care providers, and all of us. Proposed solutions are set out  and views requested. (Consultation now closed)

04101608 10/16