Convention of Rights 31: Right to culture and sport

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) forms the foundation of disability rights laws in Uganda and is the model for the Persons With Disabilities Act (PWDA) 2006. The CRPD underlines and recognizes that persons with disabilities (PWDs) are entitled to all the human rights enunciated in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you are a PWD the rights in the CRPD are your rights, if you do not have a disability it is your duty to uphold and promote these rights.

Article 30 of the CRPD says:

1, PWDs have the right to take part in cultural activities and measures will be taken to ensure PWDs:

a, have access to cultural materials in accessible formats.

b, have access to TV, films, theaters and other cultural activities in accessible formats.

c, have access to cultural performances and other services like theaters, museums, cinemas, libraries, tourist services and as far as possible enjoy national monuments and sites of cultural importance.

2, PWDs should be able to develop and use their creative, artistic and intellectual potential for their own benefit and the enrichment of society.

3, PWDs are ensured that the laws that protect intellectual property  rights are not unreasonable or a discriminatory barrier for PWDs to access cultural materials.

4, PWDs are entitled to recognition and support for their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.

5, PWDs should be enabled to participate on an equal basis in recreational, sporting and leisure activities. Measures will be taken to:

a, encourage participation in mainstream sporting activities at all levels.

b, ensure PWDs have the opportunity to organize, develop and participate in disability specific sports and recreation activities, and to encourage instruction, training and resources.

c, ensure PWDs have access to sports, recreation and tourist venues.

d, ensure children with disabilities have the same access as other children to play, recreation, leisure and sports activities including activities in school.

e, PWDs have access to services from those who organize recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities.

Being able to take part in sport, recreation and cultural activities is an important part of inclusion in any community. PWDs are often denied the right to take part and more often children with disabilities (CWDs) are denied the right to play. Discrimination takes many forms, for instance people in wheelchairs are denied access to movies and theaters because their wheelchair are said to be fire hazards. Hotels and tourist activities have barriers and buses are not equipped for wheelchairs (see Human Rights: Yes!).

The rights in the CRPD are all linked together, no right is separate or independent. This can be seen clearly, for instance, where legal and policy barriers cause exclusion when schools and universities do not have inclusion policies for PWDs in sport and recreation activities. Or when information announcing cultural events is not available in an accessible format. Community participation is also an important tool for social mobilization in community public health campaigns. Inaccessible sports facilities prevent the inclusion of PWDs in sports programs which are a valuable way of promoting peace and social inclusion (see Human Rights: Yes!).

Sport is a valuable tool for CWDs to gain self respect and confidence says the 2017 report Building an inclusive community through disability sport. The report continues, describing the success of the project:

At the end of the three-year project 587 disabled children had participated in sport and benefited from the additional peer support. Evaluations found that 95% of these children showed increased confidence; at least 78% had an increased awareness of their rights and how to defend themselves; all children showed increased levels of independence and empowerment and about 50% shared stories of advocacy actions; and, crucially, all of these children made new friends with able bodied children with 70% feeling more included in community activities. We also saw children enrolling in school for the first time and parents became much more aware of the abilities of their children.

The following comment from the report shows the importance of sport and leisure activities to CWDs:

14-year-old Vincent was one of the children that we worked with: “I didn’t know disabled sports existed. Now I realise I am capable of taking part in sport, I have potential. I’ve learned to respect myself. I have made friends with other disabled children. I see the coaches as role models; they have taught me that disability does not mean inability."

This 2016 news article, First Ugandan Paralympic Medal Winner Returns Home a Winner, about David Emong's silver in the 1500 meters in the Paralympics in Rio shows the importance of sport to everyone in Uganda. Emong is quoted as saying: 

“I really worked very hard to pave a way for other upcoming athletes that are coming behind me. And I really thank those who have prayed for me. I thank the Uganda National Council of Sports for supporting me. And other members who have been giving me support... my dream now is to bring the gold medal for my country.”

If you are a PWD it is your right to take part in the cultural life of your community. Sport can bring a whole nation together recognizing achievement.

This video provides an insight in deaf culture in Uganda:

An important aim of this right is to ensure the recognition of deaf culture. Deaf Link Uganda (DLU) works to:

promote the welfare of deaf and hard of hearing people in Uganda. We operate projects in urban, semi-urban and rural areas providing intervention services that enable deaf and hard of hearing individuals realise and utilise their potentials to become self-reliant citizens capable of contributing to community and national development. Deaf Link Uganda is committed to overcoming all forms of barriers through supporting inclusive societies that recognise and celebrate deaf people’s diversity.

This is written in Article 30 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 30

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport 

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities:

(a) Enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats;

(b) Enjoy access to television programmes, films, theatre and other cultural activities, in accessible formats;

(c) Enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries and tourism services, and, as far as possible, enjoy access to monuments and sites of national cultural importance.

2. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, not only for their own benefit, but also for the enrichment of society.

3. States Parties shall take all appropriate steps, in accordance with international law, to ensure that laws protecting intellectual property rights do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials.

4. Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.

5. With a view to enabling persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States Parties shall take appropriate measures:

(a) To encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels;

(b) To ensure that persons with disabilities have an opportunity to organize, develop and participate in disability-specific sporting and recreational activities and, to this end, encourage the provision, on an equal basis with others, of appropriate instruction, training and resources;

(c) To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues;

(d) To ensure that children with disabilities have equal access with other children to participation in play, recreation and leisure and sporting activities, including those activities in the school system;

(e) To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to services from those involved in the organization of recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities.