Mainstreaming disAbility has been there since the UN first started the UN Enable movement and Maldives has never touched on implementing it.

Under this year’s main theme of IDPD 2011, “Together for a better world for all: Including persons with disAbilites in development”, are some sub-themes which are:

1. Mainstreaming disAbility: including a disAbility perspective in all development processes (more)
2. Gender: including women and girls with disAbilities in development (more)
3. Including children and youth with disAbilities in development (more)
4. Accessibility: removing barriers and promoting disAbility-inclusive development (more)
5. Promoting data collection and statistics on disAbility (more)

When we talk about Mainstreaming disAbility in the development agenda of our country, there are lots of important aspects we have to consider to even acheive the Millenium Developmental Goals.

In order for a person using a wheelchair to access decent work, the person needs to be able to physically move in and out of his or her home; needs to be able to access the public space and transportation; and needs to be able to access the work facilities, in terms of both the built environment and its information and communications systems.

Different entities need to ensure that their respective spheres of responsibility provide the necessary opportunities and access to persons with disAbilities, on an equal basis with others. If any one element of the network fails in this obligation, persons are not able to reap the benefit from the other elements. In order for them to be integrated and included in the development agenda, a comprehensive and holistic approach is required. Mainstreaming disAbility in development or disAbility-inclusive development is a useful and necessary strategy.

There is a strong bidirectional link between poverty and disAbility. Poverty may cause disAbility through malnutrition, poor healthcare, and dangerous living conditions. Case studies in developing countries show that higher disAbility rates are associated with higher rates of illiteracy, poor nutritional status, lower immunization coverage, lower birth weight, higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, and lower occupational mobility. disAbility can cause poverty by preventing the full participation of persons with disAbilities in the economic and social life of their communities, especially if the appropriate supports and accommodations are not available.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established a unifying set of developmental objectives for the global community which includes our little but vibrant Maldives. Bringing together United Nations agencies, governments and civil society around eight key development issues, the MDGs foster collaborative action to reduce poverty, improve health and address educational and environmental concerns around the world’s most pressing development problems. The MDGs are specifically designed to address the needs of the world’s poorest citizens and the world’s most marginalized populations.

The high numbers of persons with disAbilities who are disproportionately represented among the world’s most marginalized groups have a profound significance with respect to the achievement of the MDGs, which thus far seems to have gone largely unnoticed in the international discourse on the Goals. Eighty per cent of persons with disAbilities live in developing countries, and the failure to include and integrate them in all development activities will mean failure to achieve the MDGs.

Furthermore, given the wide scope of contexts, actors and activities required to fully include persons with disAbilities in the development agenda, it may be helpful to consider the process in the light of the “no-gap policy”. The no-gap policy is a concept which illustrates that no entity, whether it be part of the United Nations system, a Government ministry or a non-governmental organization (NGO), can achieve the goal of equality for persons with disAbilities on its own. Rather, an interconnected network of actors is required to reach this goal.

Increased access to data and statistics will increase the ability to ensure that programmes are targeting the areas of greatest need. The development and dissemination of such data, as well as knowledge including good practices, lessons learned, and sources of expertise, will assist all actors in the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disAbilities at the local, national and international levels. The integral involvement of civil society, including of organizations of persons with disAbilities, in national and international mechanisms is an essential ingredient in effectively guiding the development agenda towards integrating and including persons with disAbilities. Efforts to incorporate and include persons with disAbilities into the development activities have been gaining momentum over the past several decades.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with disAbilities offers an ideal opportunity to consolidate disAbility-related activities, and to develop policies and structures that ensure that persons with disAbilities are mainstreamed within the United Nations system. Lessons learned from gender and HIV/AIDS mainstreaming can provide valuable guidance, and there are an increasing number of tools to inform and guide this process, which when coupled with strong political will can lead to significant positive gains.

Furthermore, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disAbilities also provides the opportunity for human rights and development actors to actively combine and integrate these two areas. New and innovative thinking and collaboration are required to utilize the Convention so as to bring the maximum benefit to persons with disAbilities and society. It is both a human rights and a development instrument that elucidates how all categories of rights apply to persons with disAbilities, and identifies practical measures to create development programmes that are inclusive of, and accessible to, persons with disAbilities.

Resources and Documents

Selected examples: best practices at the international, regional, subregional and national levels for including persons with disabilities in development efforts (Updated: 8 July 2011)

“Mainstreaming disability in the development agenda” Note by the Secretariat to the Forty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development to the, 6-15 February 2008 (E/CN.5/2008/6)

Panel Discussion: Mainstreaming Disability in the Development Agenda, United Nations Headquarters, 12 February 2008

Disability Dimension in Development Action: Manual on Inclusive Planning United Nations in collaboration with the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES) in Finland (Revised online version 2003)

Keeping the Promise: Realizing MDGs for Persons with Disabilities Towards 2015 and Beyond: Report of the Secretary-General (A/65/173)

Priority Themes: Mainstreaming disability in the development agenda

Photo Credit: Hani Amir http://www.flickr.com/photos/haniamir/3972177053/

Minister Shakir preceded his official remarks by stating “Let me initially say that I deliver this statement with a heavy heart having just heard the news of the tragic drowning deaths of four Maldivian school children and their principal during a fisheries science trip. My heart, along with the hearts of all Maldivians, is with the victims and their families. May god bless their souls.”

In his official statement the Minister reiterated that Maldives fully supports the purpose of this important human rights instrument, namely, to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Minister highlighted the remarkable progress made in the short span of two years since the first democratic election in 2008, these include acceding to numerous international human rights instruments and the landmark ratification of the Disabilities Act (Bill 8/20) on 9 July 2010.

The Minister expressed the eagerness of Maldives to engage with civil society, other states and international organizations to work on these important issues.

He also noted that the Maldives must work to protect and promote the rights of the most vulnerable citizens through the mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities.

He concluded his remarks by unequivocally stating that Maldives is firmly committed to meet its responsibility to ensure that persons with disabilities are supported and encouraged to fully participate in Maldivian society and called upon the international community to work with Maldives to develop and implement programs and policies that protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

via: Miadhu news (link)

I was going through the Telecom Policy 2006 – 2010 and its objective to Establish reasonable communication means for People with disAbilities under Infrastructure Development caught my attention. It says;

Objective

2.7: Establish reasonable communication means for people with special needs (PWD’s)

Action

2.7.1 Study the telecominication needs of the people with special needs.

2.7.2 Provide awareness on the available technologies to the people.

2.7.3 Monitor the use of such technologies by PWDs and success of the program.

My point in highlighting this is, our Internet Service Providers and Mobile Operators should rather than use up their Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) on expensive football tournament sponsorships, should spend on important “social” objectives like the one in their existing policies. I hope they take this seriously.

This blue book can be used as a reference of listing Impairments and how DGFPS of the Health Ministry could partially decide if someone has a disability. It can help ensure a healthcare professional furnish sound decisions on disability claims. I understand there are also other things to consider such as severity of medical conditions, age, and work skills.

BUT

• The ‘disability guideline’ that Health Ministry following is outdated!

The said document at Health Ministry website is the Blue Book January 2003! The latest edition after many technical revisions is Blue Book September 2008 (http://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/) the latest version contains new ‘Special Senses and Speech Listings’ effective 02 August, 2010. I don’t really understand why the Health Ministry should follow an older version!

• The ‘disability guideline’ is the Part B – Childhood listings of Impairments!

Childhood listing or Part B provides medical criteria for the evaluation of impairments of children under age 18 (where criteria in Part A – Adult listings provide medical criteria applicable to individuals age 18 and above.) Are adults not included in the disability allowance?

I’d like to urge Health Ministry, specifically its DGFPS to be more professional in their research and knowledge in the area of disability and to be more careful in their decisions towards pwd’s. They should not underestimate the technical capacity of the general public or think that their work would go un-analyzed. Please refer to the right documents as most of them are readily available on the internet.

Last month, the “Disabilities Act”(Bill 8/2010, hereafter referred to as “disAbility Bill”) got ratified by President Nasheed. This disAbility Bill was a direct result of ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability or CRPD. One of the things that CRPD urge ratified countries is to pass legislature supporting rights of PWDs. It also made it compulsory for the state to form a “Committee on Rights of People with Disabilities”(CRPD: Article 34, Clause 1). So the disAbility Bill which got ratified on 9th July 2010 consisted a “Council to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities”(<–Person first Language not used there!, hereafter referred as “the Council”) and has representations from;

1. President’s candidate
2. Ministry of Health and Family
3. A Doctor from Maldives Medical Association
4. A Psychiatrist
5. A Non-governmental organization
6. A Person with a disability
7. A Parent of a PWD

Yesterday, President Mohamed Nasheed established “the Council to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities” [16 August 2010 | Ref #: 2010-619 EN] – [ Ref #: 2010-619 DV]

This very first “Council to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities” in Maldives, in my personal opinion is a very capable team and consisted of experienced members in the field of disability in Maldives. They are;

1. Mr Ahmed Athif (EDC)
2. Ms Zimna Thaufeeq (Health)
3. Dr Yoosuf Shan
4. Dr Fathimath Nashida
5. Ms Shidhatha Shareef(CARE Society)
6. Mr Hamid Nasheed Mohamed (Person wt a disAbility)
7. Mr Hassan Nizam (Parent of a PWD, ADD)

I hope that the Council, at the time of entry into force, knows their responsibilities (disAbility Bill: Article 12 [a] to [m]) and shall serve their best in their personal capacity to benefit all PWD’s. I personally know almost everyone on the council and I would like to assure everyone that as an individual, I am happy to help in anyway I can.

I would also like to Congratulate all the members on getting appointed.

Update: 30 August 2010

Council President and Vice President appointed among its members. Mr. Ahmed Athif was elected as the President and Mr. Hassan Nizam as Vice President.

The disAbility Act or disAbility Bill has been ratified by the President. The bill protected rights of Persons with disabilities and promises a financial assistance for them. It was ratified after being sent back to the Parliment for the second time.

The bill was first passed by the parliament on 21 December 2009. But it had many clauses which wasn’t agreed by stakeholders and it was not even inline with the UNCRPD(UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and some NGO’s  with Parents called the disAbility Act to be sent back to Parliament. So, President Nasheed returned the bill for reconsideration, stating that the bill contained articles that contradicted international standards and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Now that the bill has been passed, and the legislature is there to protect Persons with disAbilities; the Government, the people, the community has a role in making our small country an example for others. First, we have to start with the term we use for it. Haveeru states that it is the ‘Special needs bill’ that was ratified. Which is not! It is the disAbility Act isn’t it?

In the news:

• Haveeru, English: http://www.haveeru.com.mv/english/details/31361/Special_needs_bill_ratified
• Haveeru, Dhivehi: http://www.haveeru.com.mv/?page=details&id=98265

The final disAbility Act: Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

1 April 2010, New York; The Maldives has today lodged its instrument of ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD). Having signed the Convention on 2 October 2007, with the ratification today the Maldives becomes the 85th UN Member State to formally accept the obligations contained in the treaty…

Read more at Ministry of Foreign affairs website http://www.foreign.gov.mv/v3/?p=news&view=sep&nid=3236

3rd March 2010, Maldivian Parliament votes approval to ratify the UN CRPD or UN Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities. Maldives signed the UN CRPD on the 2nd of October 2007 at the UN’s annual Treaty Event in New York. This treaty was signed by the Minister of Foriegn Affairs(2007), Abdulla Shahid who is now the Parliament Speaker(above). Since then, Handicap International played a major role in helping the government, NGO’s in trying to get policies inline with the CRPD. It was the Sensitization meeting held at the Henveiru Youth Center which made most of the general public aware that there was a convention signed by Maldives on disability.

Since then, the faint voice started growing and we have raised concern over the slow process of this convention to be ratified. Our hopes were high when the new government’s health minister mentioned about the UNCRPD on the disability day, 3rd dec 2008 and that the new government would ratify it within a year. The disability day of 2009 was one of the least marked disability day to my memory and CRPD was not ratified! But I knew there was work being done on the convention(translation, terminology…etc.) At the end of 2009, we were also suprised to hear about a bill submitted by the government on disabilities rather than ratifying the UNCRPD first. It was also found that this bill was not in anyway inline with this convention and it had many flaws.

Anyway, when ratified, CRPD marks a milestone in the process of disability rights and it gives a considerable amount of weight to our amendments to the re-submitted disability bill(act). Now that it’s going to be ratified soon hopefully before the disability bill’s revision gets into the Parliament floor, our hopes of a rightful disability bill is in sight.

I’d like to thank all those who have been involved, directly or indirectly in making UN CRPD happen, specially the Handicap International and the staff at Health ministry(to be precise, Zimna Thaufeeq and Shifaza Wajeeh).

And I would also love to ask fellow MP of Kulhudhuffushi Uthuru Dhaaira, Abdul Gafoor Moosa why he’s the only one against ratifying the UNCRPD MP’s like him should read and be familiar with the Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. UN Enable(un.org)

A couple of years back, I shared a post at Yafaau.info on “How to influence local politics” and I’d like to share this with the readers at Yafaau’s blog too.
Very often you wish you could change the way things are without becoming a politician. One of the disadvantages of becoming a politician is that you become a target for the news media. Perfection is expected of politicians. However, as a private citizen, you are given much more leeway by the press. Here are a number of ways you, as a private citizen, can influence local politics.

1. Attend Public Meetings

This is a very simple but very effective way to influence local politics. By being present at meetings, you will know what is going on in your community. What is more important, the politicians will get to where they will recognize you, and be more apt to listen when you voice your opinion…

2. Write Letters

Most local politicians get very few letters. Letters are often reserved for government and party politicians. Because of this, letters are given significant weight when considering issues.

3. Make Phone Calls or SMS messages

This has essentially the same effect as writing letters, except it is more immediate. Even if you do not get to speak directly with the politician, ask the telephone receptionist to take a message and give your opinion in as few words as possible. Better yet, ask for the politician

Photo (C): Haveeru News

President Nasheed, sends back the bill on People with Special Needs or the Disability Act which we have been lobbying not to be ratified due to it’s lack of provisions in health sector and the importance of the bill to be in line with the UNCRPD.

I’d like to congratulate ADD, CARE Society, MDA and those brave parents who took part in the ‘Silent Appeal’ near the President’s Office and thank President Nasheed for sending it back to Parliament so that we, Civil Society Organizations can persuade the MP’s into creating a more collaborative Bill, involving all stakeholders.

Here’s some of the important documents we should get familiar with;

1. Disability act _high lighted__comparison_22 Dec
2. Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities