‘Empower people with disabilities’

MANILA, Philippines – Governments are urged to empower people living with disabilities and remove the barriers that prevent them from participating in their communities, getting quality education, finding decent work, and having their voices heard.

In a joint global report, the World Health Organization and the World Bank noted that people with disabilities across the world have poorer health outcomes, lower education achievements, less economic participation, and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities.  

Released on Nov. 30 in Manila, the “World Report on Disability” noted that more than one billion people all over the world suffer from various forms of disability, with 200 million of them experiencing “significant difficulties”

Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO director general, noted that people with disabilities experience barriers in accessing services that many of us have long taken for granted, including health, education, employment, and transport as well as information.

Dr. Soe Nyunt-U, WHO representative in the Philippines, said “Assisting people with disabilities to access opportunities and better participate in their communities will show us how much they have to offer.”

WHO’s Soe said, “We must all do more to break down barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the margins of society.”

Poor, old and ill

The old and the poor feel the brunt of the problems linked with disability, the report said.  

WHO’s Chan said the increasing prevalence of disability through the years poses “a greater concern” due to the aging population. The risk of disability is higher among older people.

“These difficulties are exacerbated in less advantaged communities,” she added.  

Chan also noted that the risk for becoming disabled is also linked to the global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental health disorders.

The “World Report on Disability” provides global estimates of persons with disabilities and an overview of status of disability in the world.

WHO’s Soe and World Bank’s Chiyo Kanda presented a copy of the report to President Benigno S. Aquino III during the Nov. 29 opening ceremonies of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Community-based Rehabilitation Congress, which runs until Dec. 1.

The Philippine launch of the World Report on Disability is the first in the Western Pacific region. The report was globally launched in New York last June.

Not an obstacle

“Disability need not be an obstacle to success,” stressed Prof. Stephen W. Hawking, who has a motor neurone disease practically all his adult life.

The world famous theoretical physicist recalled how fortunate he is to have access to first class medical care and to have a complex support system to attend to his needs such as computer experts which developed his assisted communication system, speech synthesizer, and a house and a work-place which have been especially made accessible for him.

“It is very clear that the majority of people with disabilities in the world have an extremely difficult time with everyday survival, let alone productive employment and personal fulfillment,” Hawking said in his preface to the report.

“We have a moral duty to remove the barriers to participation and to invest sufficient funding and expertise to unlock the vast potential of people with disabilities. Governments throughout the world can no longer overlook the hundreds of millions of people with disabilities who are denied access to health, rehabilitation, support, education, and employment, and never get the chance to shine,” Hawking said.

The report recommended the following:

• enable access to all mainstream systems and services such as education, health, social services, and employment
• invest in specific programs and services for people with disabilities such as rehabilitation, support services, or training
• adoption of a national disability strategy and plan of action
• involve people with disabilities
• improve human resource capacity
• provide adequate funding and improve affordability of services
• increase public awareness and understanding of disability
• improve disability data collection
• strengthen and support research on disability

– Move.PH