Providing for the needs of the disabled

Description

Providing for the needs of the disabled involves identifying and removing barriers that restrict participation, independence and wellbeing. It includes accessible environments, transport, communication, education, employment, healthcare, social protection, assistive technologies and appropriate support services. The strategy addresses discrimination, exclusion, poverty, isolation and dependency by ensuring reasonable accommodation, inclusive planning, personal assistance and equal access to rights and opportunities, enabling disabled people to exercise choice and contribute fully to society.

Context

Concern for providing for the needs of disabled people emerged from charitable and medical responses to war injuries, industrial accidents and congenital conditions, but gained international recognition after the Second World War. From the 1970s, disability organizations challenged institutionalization and paternalism, advancing participation, accessibility and equal rights. The 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons and the 1982 World Programme of Action helped establish disability provision as a global policy responsibility, later strengthened by the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Claim

Public and private expenditures (including costs for special housing, hospital and institutions) can be reduced by 'mainstreaming' elderly and disabled people -- that is allowing them to live normal lives rather than providing them with parallel and special systems of housing, transportation and employment.