DiSU

Sunday, 9 April 2017

Convention of Rights 30: Right to take part in political life

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 29 of the CRPD says PWDs have a right to a political life, the State undertakes:

a, to ensure PWDs can take part in public and political life either through freely chosen representatives or having the opportunity to vote or be elected by:

i, ensuring voting is accessible and easy to use.

ii, ensuring PWDs have a right to a secret vote without intimidation, they can stand for office and perform all public functions at any level of government using assistive technologies as appropriate.

iii, PWDs are guaranteed the right to freely express themselves as electors and can nominate a person of their choice to assist with voting.

b, to promote an environment where PWDs can participate fully in public affairs and encourage participation, including:

i, participating in non-government organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country and in activities of political parties.

ii, forming or joining PWDs organizations to represent PWDs at international, national, regional and local levels.

PWDs are often excluded from discussions that affect their lives. Their absence from these discussions reinforces barriers to participating fully in society. The workbook Human Rights: Yes! says this article guarantees the following rights to PWDs:

To vote in elections on a non-discriminatory basis.
To access an effective, impartial, and non-discriminatory procedure for the registration of voters.
To have equal and effective access to voting procedures and facilities in order to exercise their right to vote, including the provision of reasonable accommodation.
To cast their ballot in secret.
To have assistance in order to exercise their right to vote or to stand for election as a candidate for public office.
To participate in the conduct of public administration, including the administration of political parties and civil society.
To participate in the work of international organizations, including serving as a representative of government in international organizations.
To form and join disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) at all levels.

The right to vote is of fundamental importance in every democracy and PWDs have the right to vote freely and equally with everyone else. It the right of PWDs to vote without facing barriers to access. Obstacles to voting include things like inaccessible polling places which often have environmental barriers like lack of parking, narrow doorways, stairs, or no easy to read signs (see The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A commentary). Other barriers are often present, like inaccessible information on public meetings, political parties and voting procedures; or inaccessible voting technologies because there is no paper ballot; or other obstacles like small voting booths. Failure to provide any of these facilities, means that PWDs are being denied the right to vote.

The 2014 paper Sucessful Inclusion of PWDs in Democratic Governance, Structures and Processes - Case of Uganda discusses the history of democratic institutions in Uganda. It focuses on the history of PWDs political representation and in particular what inclusion in the democratic process means. It presents the following lessons on inclusion of PWDs in democratic processes. It says the:

Disability movement is a key pillar in the success of inclusion. Sustained mobilisation, lobbying and advocacy to create the awareness and the conviction that persons with disabilities can contribute to the development of our society is of the backbone of the inclusion crusade...
It is quite evident that if the potentials of PWDs are harnessed to the fullest by providing opportunities to them enables them to participate fully in all matters concerning development in the social, economic and political aspects.
In order to promote an effective inclusion of PWDs it is imperative of any group, organisation or Government to advocate for formulation of appropriate legislations and support its implementation...
Without increased commitment and political will to implement a rights based agenda to disability issues, it is unlikely that sufficient human and natural resources will be made available for disability service provision. The political climate of the day goes a long way in influencing the growth and sustaining of the disability agenda...
Representation of PWDs cannot be complete if it does not fall under the political structures right from the top to the bottom...
Affirmative action goes a long way in effecting inclusion. This applies more in promotion of gender inclusiveness especially women with disabilities...
Access to education at all levels is essential for PWDs. It has been variously said that the easiest and the most systematic way of keeping a people marginalised and denied all opportunities is by denying them education...
Financial resources can play pivotal role in implementing the policies and making PWD actively participate in governance issues. This can be achieved through budgeting processes and creation of special ministries to deal with disability issues...
Enactment of laws that promote inclusion is of prime importance in the process of inclusion. However for many countries that may get inspired by the achievements recorded in Uganda should be able to appreciate that it is one thing to enact laws and another one to ensure they are implemented and Uganda has performed excellently in this regard.
The leadership of organisations of PWDs should also make an effort to study, internalize the laws and advocate for their implementation at all levels of societal organization. The major reason why most laws are not implemented is because the people and the state machinery are not aware of them.

If you are a PWD, you have the right to vote and you have the right to take part in the political process.

Uganda’s reserved elected seats for persons with disabilities.
Uganda’s Constitution of 1995 rules that the State shall ensure fair representation of marginalized groups – including persons with disabilities – on all government bodies. As a result, legislators have passed several acts to increase the representation of persons with disabilities in the public sphere. Parliament has reserved five seats for Members who represent persons with disabilities; and every village, parish, sub-county, and district council has to include at least one man and one woman with a disability. Uganda’s 47,000 representatives with disabilities are easily the largest group of politicians with disabilities in the world.

This is written in Article 29 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 29

Participation in political and public life

States Parties shall guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others, and shall undertake:

(a) To ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives, including the right and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected, inter alia, by:

(i) Ensuring that voting procedures, facilities and materials are appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use;

(ii) Protecting the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums without intimidation, and to stand for elections, to effectively hold office and perform all public functions at all levels of government, facilitating the use of assistive and new technologies where appropriate;

(iii) Guaranteeing the free expression of the will of persons with disabilities as electors and to this end, where necessary, at their request, allowing assistance in voting by a person of their own choice;

(b) To promote actively an environment in which persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in the conduct of public affairs, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and encourage their participation in public affairs, including:

(i) Participation in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country, and in the activities and administration of political parties;

(ii) Forming and joining organizations of persons with disabilities to represent persons with disabilities at international, national, regional and local levels.

Saturday, 8 April 2017

Convention of Rights 29: Right to an adequate standard of living

Article 28 of the CRPD says 1, PWDs have the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their family. That includes food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

2, PWDs have the right to social protection through the following measures:

a, equal access for PWDs to clean water, and appropriate devices and other assistance for disability needs.

b, Ensuring access by PWDs more particularly women and girls with disabilities and the elderly with disabilities to social protection and poverty reduction programs.

c, For PWDs living in poverty access to State assistance with disability related expenses, including training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care.

d, PWDs should have access to public housing.

e, PWDs should have equal access to retirement benefits and programs.

The right to an adequate standard of living is a fundamental right for all PWDs. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Without this right, other rights cannot be accessed. For instance, a PWD who cannot find work to earn money might not be able to attain an adequate standard of living; or a PWD living independently might need support to achieve an adequate standard of living; or not having an adequate standard of living may require a PWD to live in institutional care to get water, food or shelter (see Human Rights: Yes!).

The 2016 report Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Uganda offers the following examples of how this right is not met. In these cases discrimination on the basis of age leads to missing out on the right to an adequate standard of living:

141. The Uganda Constitution’ Objectives and State Principles on standards of living and social protection are focused mainly on the aged. E.G., Objective VII addresses the protection of the aged where the State undertakes to make reasonable provision for their welfare and maintenance. Objective XIV mentions pension and retirement benefits which apply to the aged whilst there is no provision for PWDs. The Government of Uganda has yet to develop any form of social assistance for PWDs. PWDs are further excluded from the law on housing which aims to provide housing accommodation for citizens of Uganda at an economical cost. Such assistance would greatly improve the standard of living and social protection of PWDs.

142. Although programmes exist to improve the standard of living in the community, the select criteria used generally discriminate against PWDs. One such criterion is for beneficiaries to work in groups. Due to the perception that PWDs are incapable of working, few groups can recruit them.

Members of Parliament (MP's) are actively engaged in establishing universal social welfare as this 2017 report MPs in Uganda make case for universal social protection programme shows:

Parliaments have a key role in advancing the social protection agenda and encouraging the progressive realization of the rights to social security and an adequate standard of living.

An example of the active engagement of legislative bodies in setting the social protection agenda was a recent event organized by the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection, held in Kampala on January 16th 2017. The session focused on making the economic case for social protection and building an inclusive national social security system. In Uganda, in recent years, the Expanding Social Protection Programme (ESP) – funded by DFID and Irish Aid – has been engaging with Parliament to build support for Uganda’s pilot Senior Citizen’s Grant (SCG), a universal social pension for those over-65 years.

If you are a PWD you are entitled to an adequate standard of living.

All you need to Know: Expanding Social Protection Programme Phase I (ESP1).
The purpose of the ESP1 Programme was to embed social protection into Uganda’s national planning and budgeting processes. Critical to this embedment is funding by the Government of Uganda to the extension and and roll out of the Senior Citizens Grants beyond the initial 15 districts. The objectives of the pilot were twofold: First, to provide lessons from which the government could take decisions to build and expand social protection in the country. The second was to build systems to support the development of the social protection framework for Uganda.

This is written in Article 28 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 28

Adequate standard of living and social protection

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right without discrimination on the basis of disability.

2. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures:

(a) To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs;

(b) To ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes;

(c) To ensure access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care;

(d) To ensure access by persons with disabilities to public housing programmes;

(e) To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to retirement benefits and programmes.

Friday, 7 April 2017

Convention of Rights 28: The right to work

Article 27 of the CRPD says 1, PWDs have the right to work the same as anyone else. That includes the right to earn a living by work freely chosen in a work environment that is inclusive and accessible. The right to work should be safeguarded and promoted, including for those that become disabled whilst working. This should be done by laws that:

a, prohibit discrimination in all matters relating to employment.

b, protect the rights of PWDs to be treated equally regarding pay, safe and healthy work conditions, not being harassed and the redress of grievances.

c, ensure PWDs can exercise their labour and trade union rights equally with others.

d, enable PWDs to have access to technical and vocational guidance and continuing training.

e, promote work opportunities and advancement for PWDs as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment.

f, promote opportunities for self employment, entrepreneurship, cooperatives and starting businesses.

g, encourage employment of PWDs in the public sector.

h, promote the employment of PWDs through policies and measures like affirmative action, incentives and other measures.

i, ensure work spaces are accessible.

j, promote the acquisition by PWDs of experience in an open labour market.

k, promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for PWDs.

2, PWDs should not be held in slavery or servitude and and protected equally from forced or compulsory labour.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) highlights the following trends that negatively affect PWDs in their work. The report, Study on work and employment of persons with disabilities: Human Rights Council in March 2013, ILO contribution, lists the following:

People with disabilities are less likely to be in full time employment than non-disabled persons;

The unemployment rates of persons with disabilities are up to twice as high as for non-disabled people, in countries for which data is available

The labour force participation rate of people with disabilities is significantly lower than among the population as a whole, with almost half of working age people with disabilities neither in employment nor actively looking for work in countries in Europe – and also in OECD countries. Many people with disabilities are not registered either as employed or as unemployed, and are thus invisible in the labour market, surviving either through the support of their families or through social security payments; this represents a serious bank of untapped potential in these countries.

Where they are employed, workers with disabilities are more likely to be in low-paid jobs with poor promotional prospects and working conditions.

Disabled women are less likely to have a decent job than either non-disabled women or men with disabilities.

People with certain types of disability – such as intellectual disability and mental health disabilities are reported to face greater difficulties in finding decent work.

Linked to their low labour force participation in higher income countries and their concentration in low paid work with poor prospects, often in the informal economy - people with disabilities and their families are more likely to be among the poor in society, due to a bi-directional link between disability and poverty.

Article 27 is designed to redress the imbalance and inequality in the labour market for PWDs. Article 27 is about creating a labour market that is open, inclusive and accessible to everyone equally. It is about the right to the opportunity to work and not the right to a job. The 2017 book, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A commentary has this to say about disability in the work place:

Practically, all people experience periods in their lives with reduced working capacity linked to health problems or to familial obligations. Also, disability may in some instances be associated with reduced working capacity. A labor market that allows for flexibility for employees will therefore permit all other things to be more inclusive to persons with disabilities. Some labor markets have stronger traditions for allowing employees to choose to work part time. Flexibility also concerns the possibility for receiving pay while being on sick leave. The rules governing flexibility of working hours and access to leave from work are not just governed by private agreements between the employee and employer but are also governed by public laws and policies, as well as by collective agreements. Consequently, the State should play an active part in promoting flexible working hours for employees in the labor market.

The 2014 National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) report Alternative Report to the UN Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the CRPD gives the following criticism of the right to work:

132. Whereas Section 13 (3) of the Persons with Disabilities Act (2006) gives the Minister authority to determine a quota or percentage of PWDs to be employed; this has not been enforced by statutory instrument. The State Report does not provide any policy to support the employment of PWDs in the informal sector; although this is where majority of PWDs are employed.

133. The Persons with Disabilities Act (2006) initially provided for a 15% tax deduction to private companies that employed 10 or more PWDs. This has been reviewed to 2% tax deduction for any employer whose workforce comprises of at least 5% of PWDs, which is no longer sufficiently attractive to employers...

136. Field findings indicated that majority of the people that become disabled while at work are dismissed and are unable to benefit under the provisions of the law on compensation. E.G., a Head Teacher in Arua district who lost her sight was demoted to a class room teacher (UNAB Case Study).Another teacher with psychosocial disability at Okuvu Primary School was dismissed in 2000 and now works as a security guard (MHU case Study).

Many organizations are working to improve the lives of PWDs in Uganda. The Disabled Entrepreneurs of Uganda site says: “When you do not find the accommodations you need among employers - make your own”. The organization aims to teach PWDs the entrepreneurial skills they require to start their own businesses:

There is prevalent chronic poverty among Persons with Disabilities due to institutionalized, discrimination and infrastructural unemployment.

People with disabilities are experiencing various forms of material hardship-including food insecurity, not getting needed medical or dental care, and not being able to pay rent, mortgage, and utility bills-than people without disabilities.

The current National measures of income poverty fail to take disability into account and therefore, underestimate the income people with disabilities need to meet basic needs.

People with disabilities need to be helped to become productive members of society because this will improve the welfare and well-being of the entire community. Sometimes solutions are relatively simple, such as providing reading glasses to those with visual impairments, giving wheelchairs to those in need or making a little contribution to help them start up a small income generating venture or a micro-enterprise in order to live an independent life.

Every PWD has the right to work free from discrimination and on an equal basis with other people.

The right to work is important because it is a the opportunity to escape poverty:
CAN MARKETS HELP ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY?
Susan and her family have always been poor. Living in an area of conflict where large areas of land are strewn with hidden mines, their situation became even more precarious when Susan lost her leg after standing on a landmine.
However, after her accident, Susan joined the self-help group in her village run by the Gulu disabled people’s organisation (DPO) Women with Disabilities and received business training and seed capital to start her own enterprise selling produce at the local market.

This is written in Article 27 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 27

Work and employment

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on
an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. States Parties shall safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to, inter alia:

(a) Prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions;

(b) Protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;

(c) Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;

(d) Enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training;

(e) Promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment;

(f) Promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives and starting one’s own business;

(g) Employ persons with disabilities in the public sector;

(h) Promote the employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector through appropriate policies and measures, which may include affirmative action programmes, incentives and other measures;

(i) Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace;

(j) Promote the acquisition by persons with disabilities of work experience in the open labour market;

(k) Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.

2. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forced or compulsory labour.

Thursday, 6 April 2017

Convention of Rights 27: Right to habilitation and rehabilitation

Article 26 of the CRPD says 1, PWDs have the right to attain their maximum physical, mental, social and vocational ability and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. This should be achieved through comprehensive habilitation (see below) and rehabilitation programs organized to strengthen and extend skills in areas of health, employment, education and social services so that these services and programs:

a, begin at the earliest possible stage and are based on a multidisciplinary assessment of needs and strengths.

b, support participation and inclusion in all aspects of society and community. They should be voluntary and available to PWDs as close as possible to their own communities.

2, the development of training for staff and professionals working in rehabilitation and habilitation services should be promoted. And 3, the availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies for PWDs should be promoted.

The rights discussed in this article are the rights to habilitation and rehabilitation. Habilitation is to enable, or make able it is a process that helps PWDs gain new abilities and knowledge. Generally speaking this process is for children with disabilities who have a limited amount of time to learn new skills. Rehabilitation is to restore condition, operation or capacity and refers to the the regaining of capacities lost after disabling accident or change in the condition of an existing disability (see The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A commentary).

The report Human Rights: Yes! offers an interesting contrast of the terms Habilitation and rehabilitation, which it says:

are often linked with health-related issues and consequently addressed along with policies related to the right to health. In reality, rehabilitation is much more complex and far-reaching. While health-related rehabilitation can be a vital aspect of strategies to achieve these goals, many other elements are equally important, including those related to employment, education, or simply life skills. To ensure that habilitation and rehabilitation are understood to include the full range of measures necessary to equip persons with disabilities to attain their goals, the CRPD addresses the subject in a separate article.

It is important to move away from the health model of disability. Disability is not a health problem to be cured. The social model of disability says: A person with impairments meets barriers, like stairs or social stigma, it is these barriers that cause disability.

The role of habilitation and rehabilitation is to eliminate barriers as far as possible through things like knowledge, tools or equipment to enable work, education or social and community activities. Habilitation and rehabilitation are not the same as reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodation has the goal of making an area accessible. Habilitation and rehabilitation are about being able to move around in that area using aids. For instance, an employer is required to make a work space accessible (reasonable accommodation) but is not required to supply a wheelchair. In rehabilitation the PWD learns to move around in their wheelchair.

The 2014 National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) report Alternative Report to the UN Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the CRPD offers the following criticism of habilitation and rehabilitation:

120. The legal framework in Uganda does not recognize habilitation as provided under the CRPD. This denies children with disabilities (CWDs) an opportunity to transit from community to school life and vice versa.

121. There is limited training of professionals in community based rehabilitation (CBR); only offered at Kyambogo University. Even the few professionals have limited government employment. Field experience indicates a general lack of awareness among PWDs and NGOs of the CBR guidelines; hence little direct participation in the programme. The cost of rehabilitation at the National and Regional Referral Hospitals, and even at private actors like CORSU, is very high for an ordinary user.

122. The CBR programme is limited to 18 out of the 112 districts of Uganda, and it relies heavily on the support of family members and does not promote independent living for PWDs. 80% of PWDs live in rural communities with limited access to water points, hospitals, firewood, shops and markets, which denies them the right to access their basic needs. This situation is harder for individuals living alone.

123. Whereas the CRPD promotes CBR as the best approach to independent living, Uganda currently promotes both CBR and institutional based rehabilitation. But rehabilitation institutions lack appropriate programmes suiting the current labour market trends.

124. MoGLSD (Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development) had planned providing assistive devices to about 1000 PWDs from 2008 onwards. This was insignificant compared to the 3 million PWDs who need assistive devices (Draft Rehabilitation and Health Care Policy on Disability, 2009). In some instances many who received the devices have out grown them for lack of follow up.

If you are a PWD you have a right to access rehabilitation and successfully integrate or reintegrate into society so that you can lead an independent, productive and happy life.

Children with disabilities, parents get second chance at life.
These families are part of more than 500 beneficiaries of the home-based rehabilitation approach by Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation (CDR).
The centre equips parents with occupational and nutritional skills to help their disabled children. Parents are also taught how to home school children.

This is written in Article 26 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 26

Habilitation and rehabilitation

1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures, including through peer support, to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. To that end, States Parties shall organize, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes, particularly in the areas of health, employment, education and social services, in such a way that these services and programmes:

(a) Begin at the earliest possible stage, and are based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths;

(b) Support participation and inclusion in the community and all aspects of society, are voluntary, and are available to persons with disabilities as close as possible to their own communities, including in rural areas.

2. States Parties shall promote the development of initial and continuing training for professionals and staff working in habilitation and rehabilitation services.

3. States Parties shall promote the availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies, designed for persons with disabilities, as they relate to habilitation and rehabilitation.

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Convention of Rights 26: The right to health

Article 25 of the CRPD says PWDs have the right to the best standard of health, the same as anyone else and without discrimination. Appropriate measures should be taken to ensure access to health services that are gender sensitive, particularly:

a, PWDs shall have the same range, quality and standard of health care at affordable prices as other people, including sexual and reproductive and general health programs.

b, PWDs that require health services because of disability should have them provided. That includes early identification and intervention, and services designed to limit further disability, that includes children and older persons.

c, health services should be provided in the people's community, including rural areas.

d, health professional's are required to provide the same quality care to PWDs as others, including providing informed consent, educating about human rights, dignity, autonomy and meet the needs of PWDs through their training and high ethical standards in public and private health care.

e, PWDs should not face discrimination in the provision of health insurance and life insurance where permitted by the law, and it should be provided in a fair and reasonable manner.

f, neither health services nor health care, nor food and fluids should be denied through discrimination because of disability.

No one can guarantee health, but the government and society can tackle many of the underlying determinants of health. This right therefore, is about the right to access the institutions that are put in place by laws, policies and programs that promote and protect health. This right is about the right to live in a healthy environment with things like a clean supply of water and good sanitation.

The right to health is not an isolated right, it interacts with other rights, like the right to access education, employment and a good standard of living. Foreinstance, poor and uneducated people are more likely to suffer from ill health than people with economic security and good living conditions. Governments are not responsible for ensuring good health but they are responsible for maintaining the factors in the social, economic, legal, and physical environment that affect health (see Human Rights: Yes!).

In the past disability was viewed as a health issue. In reality PWDs experience disease and sickness in the same way as other people. Of course some disabilities make people more vulnerable to health issues or may cause secondary problems like pressure sores; and some health problems can cause disability too. When disability is seen as a medical issue that can be cured, the underlying social problems like discrimination and barriers are not tackled. For this reason the CRPD looks at disability as a social issue (see The Social Model of Disability).

This 2014 qualitative report Perceptions and experiences of access to public healthcare by PWDs and older people in Uganda used focus groups and interviews with older people in Uganda’s Kamwenge district, and PWDs from the Gulu region. The report looks at the perceptions of health care this section of the population has, its findings are summarized as follows:

Our findings show that a sense of community marginalization is present within both older persons and persons living with disabilities. These groups report experiencing political sidelining, discrimination and inequitable access to health services. This is seen as the key reason for their poor health. Clinical services were found to be of low quality with little or no access to facilities, trained personnel, and drugs and there are no rehabilitative or mental health services available.

People were also interviewed for the report and their comments were analyzed under 5 themes. These themes reflect the underlying concerns of PWDs and the elderly about the health services they access and want to access:

Theme 1: Marginalized and Stigmatized: `When somebody gives birth to a disabled child, that child is not treated the same as other children and they are segregated and usually marginalized. This does not stop there but persists into later states of life. This greatly affects the health of disabled people’.

Theme 2: Political Marginalization: `The community leaders don’t care about us. They never invite us to their meetings or even inquire from us… it’s like we never existed… the leaders only come during election time… the community leaders go and tell us to form committees for old people, persons with disabilities, youths, we do so… they even bothered us to make a constitution, we got a certificate and then they asked us for money –asked us to make circles- we paid! But we have never heard from them until now. We have never got money or heard from them since’.

Theme 3: Inequity in health: `I think there are different levels of healthy, and we as disabled persons, we have the lowest level of health’... `For instance, if a blind person goes for a HIV/AIDS test, instead of helping that person, the health workers instead ridicule that person and ask them `even you with your blindness, how could you get someone to give you HIV/AIDS?’ this discourages us from testing and so most of us don’t know our HIV/AIDS status’.

Theme 4: Lack of access to appropriate medicine and health services: `We get prescriptions but cannot afford to buy the medicines. You walk to the health center, they write you a paper. Now, where to we get the money to buy the medicines?’

Theme 5: The need to expand quality rehabilitative and mental health services: `I use a wheelchair but at times it breaks down. The chair was a donation but when it breaks down, I have no means to repair it because it is very expensive to carry out repairs and what I earn cannot cover this’.

The report concludes that the government is failing to provide adequate health care because the right to health as well as interrelated rights are not being promoted, fulfilled or protected for the elderly or PWDs. Furthermore the Ugandan government is not progressively realizing its obligations in international law following its ratification of the CRPD and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

If you are a PWD you have a right to high quality medical care the same as everyone else.

In Uganda: Disabled Women Experience Double Discrimination.
Giving birth in Uganda is a dangerous and dirty business. The clinics where the impoverished can afford to give birth are so awful, unclean and ill equipped that many women would rather take the chance and birth at home, even though they may not have the proper or sanitary instruments necessary to guarantee a healthy and safe delivery. As a result, both infant and mother mortality are heartbreakingly high because of infection and lack of proper care. Often the mothers are left alone, in their pain and without support, only to be treated indifferently and harshly during the birth itself.

This is written in Article 25 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 25

Health

States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including health-related rehabilitation. In particular, States Parties shall:

(a) Provide persons with disabilities with the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programmes as provided to other persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and population-based public health programmes;

(b) Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;

(c) Provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;

(d) Require health professionals to provide care of the same quality to persons with disabilities as to others, including on the basis of free and informed consent by, inter alia, raising awareness of the human rights, dignity, autonomy and needs of persons with disabilities through training and the promulgation of ethical standards for public and private health care;

(e) Prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the provision of health insurance, and life insurance where such insurance is permitted by national law, which shall be provided in a fair and reasonable manner;

(f) Prevent discriminatory denial of health care or health services or food and fluids on the basis of disability.

Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Convention of Rights 25: The Right to education

Article 24 of the CRPD says:

1, PWDs have the right to education in an inclusive system that allows lifelong learning directed to:

a, the full development of human potential, dignity and self-worth, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and diversity.
b, the development of personality, talents and creativity, as well as mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.
c, enabling effective participation in a free society.
2, The following should be ensured:

a, PWDs should not be excluded from any education on the basis of disability.
b, PWDs should be able to access an inclusive primary and secondary education in their community.
c, reasonable changes should be made to accommodate PWDs.
d, PWDs receive the support required to facilitate their education.
e, effective individualized support is given to maximize academic and social development.
3, PWDs should learn life and social skills to facilitate equal participation in education and the community. Through:

a, learning braille and other means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, providing peer support and mentoring.
b, learning sign language and promoting linguistic identity of the deaf.
c, ensuring the education of the the blind, deaf and deafblind in the most appropriate languages and means of communication to maximize academic and social development.
4, Appropriately trained teachers including teachers with disabilities should be employed at all levels of education. The training should include disability awareness and appropriate communication skills, education techniques and materials to support PWDs.

5, PWDs should have access to tertiary education, vocational training and lifelong learning without discrimination on an equal basis. To ensure this, reasonable alterations should be provided for PWDs.

Many children with disabilities (CWDs) in developing countries do not attend school. Uganda is no exception, despite universal primary education (UPE), almost 4 out of every 5 CWDs fail to start school (see Educating Children With Disabilities). The right to education is of fundamental importance to CWDs, it is the basis of a their future. Through education a child is able to exercise their rights, education has a direct impact on all other rights.

The concept of inclusive education is new to international law and relies on reasonable accommodations being made for the PWD. Making the classroom accessible is of fundamental importance to achieving inclusive education. The book Human Rights: Yes! makes the following points about access:

Reasonable accommodation in the context of education requires discussions between the educational provider, the student with a disability, and depending on the student’s age, parents and/or family members in order to ensure that the accommodation meets the access needs of the student and can be implemented by the provider. If a student with a disability is seven years old, then it is important for parents or family members to be involved in these discussions. However, if a student with a disability is a 20-year-old university student, he or she should be able to advocate directly to the university for appropriate accommodations.

In Uganda, by law (PWDA) says that 10% of the total education budget should be spent on educating CWDs. In reality the 2015-16 special needs budget was a paltry 0.12% of the total education budget. This 2014 newspaper article Of all the world's children deprived of education, two-fifths are disabled sums up the situation in Uganda:

Of the total education budget – itself only 14% of the government's annual spending – one-tenth is supposed to be for special needs education, but even that sum, campaigners say, doesn't materialise in full. In the field of visual impairment, there is a dismal lack of equipment such as braille machines, and of teachers trained to deal with pupils' needs. Special needs teachers are badly paid and looked down on, says Sightsavers' Uganda programme officer, Juliet Sentongo. Too often no effort is made to help children who cannot see what is being written on a board, and with class sizes sometimes topping 100, it's hard for teachers to identify children needing extra attention.

CWDs have a right to a free education. All PWDs have a right to an education.

Inclusive education: The missing link.
Despite all the commendable efforts to make education accessible to all children, those with disabilities continue to face challenges. Poor planning and lack of funds are at the heart of this ongoing situation. It will take more than just government action or non-governmental organization involvement to solve this problem, which has now made our hopes for education for all even more distant.

This is written in Article 24 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 24

Education

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to:

(a) The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;

(b) The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential;

(c) Enabling persons with disabilities to participate effectively in a free society.

2. In realizing this right, States Parties shall ensure that:

(a) Persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability, and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability;

(b) Persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live;

(c) Reasonable accommodation of the individual’s requirements is provided;

(d) Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education;

(e) Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.

3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:

(a) Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;

(b) Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

(c) Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.

4. In order to help ensure the realization of this right, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train professionals and staff who work at all levels of education. Such training shall incorporate disability awareness and the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.

5. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. To this end, States Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.

Monday, 3 April 2017

Convention of Rights 24: Respect for home and the family

Article 23 of the CRPD says 1, PWDs should not face discrimination in marriage, family, parenthood and relationships:

It is the right of PWDs who are of marriageable age to make a family on the basis of free and full consent.
It is the right of PWDs to decide the number and spacing of their children. PWDs should also have access to age appropriate family planning education which is recognized as the way to achieve this right.
PWDs should retain their fertility at all stages throughout their life.

2, PWDs have the same rights over children in their care as anyone else, in all cases the best interests of the child is of utmost importance. PWDs should be given appropriate assistance with their child rearing responsibilities.

3, children with disabilities (CWDs) have equal rights in family life. Concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation should be prevented for the realization this right. The government undertakes to provide early and full information, services and support to CWDs and their families.

4, children should not be separated from their families against their will except there the appropriate rules have been followed. In no case shall a CWD be separated from their family because of the disability of the child or the parents.

5, where the family is not able to care for the child alternative care should be found in the wider family or within the community in another family.

There is no definition of the term family, but it is accepted to be the natural and fundamental group unit of society. The rights of the family given in this Article are summarized by the education book Human Rights: Yes! in the following way:

The right to marry on the basis of the full and free consent of both intended spouses, assuming partners are of “full age”;
The right to have equal rights with their spouses during their marriage, during legal separation, or if the marriage is dissolved;
The right to “found a family,” meaning the right of people to live together, to have children, and not to be subjected to discriminatory or compulsory State family planning policies;
The right to be reunited with their family if they are separated because of political, economic, or other reasons; and
The right to have the family protected by society and the State.

This 2014 report “We have a right to love”: The Intersection of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Disability for Urban Refugees in Kampala, Uganda discusses the sexual rights of refugee women with disabilities (WWDs). The report focuses on the health rights of WWDs, it has some interesting things to say about the perception of the rights of the family and the right to family planning education:

Researchers found that persons with disabilities, depending on the degree and nature of their impairment, were often denied the right to establish relationships or were forced into unwanted marriages.
RLP (Refugee Law Project) has installed screen-reader software for persons with vision impairments in its resource center and has piloted the Global Disability Rights Library, providing refugees with disabilities, their families and many others with access to resources on disability rights.
Regarding SRH (sexual and reproductive health) services, an adult male participant in a Swahili-speaking physical, vision and mental impairment group complained, “Health workers think persons with disabilities do not have a right to sex, yet they are also normal like other people.”
Only one person among all consulted in group activities felt “It’s no problem if she [unmarried girl with disabilities] becomes pregnant;” no one else shared the assumption that the pregnancy could have been a result of love. Further, only one group—Swahili-speaking women with mild intellectual impairments—defended refugees with disabilities and their ability to have subsequent pregnancies, claiming: “No one can stop because it is her rights. Although she is a person with a disability, she has a right to produce.”
On the other hand, surprising comments of typically acceptable behavior scenarios included comments such as: “Persons with disabilities in a safe, happy romantic relationship is unacceptable because if you have a physical disability and you have to get married and you get pregnant, you are increasing your problems.” However, all participants except for one group of Swahili-speaking women with mental impairments agreed that persons with disabilities have “a right to love.”
Scenarios around an unmarried pregnant woman with disabilities also showed little belief that persons with disabilities could have become pregnant as a result of love, despite most groups agreeing that they have a right to equal, romantic relationships.

If you are a PWD you have the right to have a family the same as any other person.

Little People Uganda's (LPUs) programmes are inspired by the many challenges little people face, which impede them from exploiting their full potential as valued citizens. Some of these challenges include the following:

1. Discrimination in families, disability community and society in general
3. Stigma – based on misconceptions like little people are from Congo not Uganda, they are subhuman, they have personality disorders, are a bad omen in the family, are clowns and only good for entertainment, are a burden, who cannot live independent lives etc.
4. Death at the hands of parents and caregivers
5. Paternity denial
11. Exploitation and abuse in relationships, employment etc

This is written in Article 23 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 23

Respect for home and the family

1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships, on an equal basis with others, so as to ensure that:

(a) The right of all persons with disabilities who are of marriageable age to marry and to found a family on the basis of free and full consent of the intending spouses is recognized;

(b) The rights of persons with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to age-appropriate information, reproductive and family planning education are recognized, and the means necessary to enable them to exercise these rights are provided;

(c) Persons with disabilities, including children, retain their fertility on an equal basis with others.

2. States Parties shall ensure the rights and responsibilities of persons with disabilities, with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship, adoption of children or similar institutions, where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the best interests of the child shall be paramount. States Parties shall render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities.

3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have equal rights with respect to family life. With a view to realizing these rights, and to prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation of children with disabilities, States Parties shall undertake to provide early and comprehensive information, services and support to children with disabilities and their families.

4. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. In no case shall a child be separated from parents on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents.

5. States Parties shall, where the immediate family is unable to care for a child with disabilities, undertake every effort to provide alternative care within the wider family, and failing that, within the community in a family setting.

Sunday, 2 April 2017

Convention of Rights 23: Respect for privacy

Article 22 of the CRPD says: 1, no PWD shall be the subject of illegal interference with their personal privacy, family, home, correspondence or other types of communication. No PWD shall be the subject of unlawful attack on their honour or reputation. PWDs have the right to protection from such attacks or interference. 2, The privacy of personal health and rehabilitation records is protected the same as anyone else.

The right to privacy is everyone's right and has implications in many settings, like for instance, health, education, work, banks and care institutions. The education book Human Rights: Yes! divides privacy into four elements that bring out some of the ramifications of the right:

Privacy of information: The right of individuals to decide for themselves what information about them should be communicated to others and who those others may be. This information includes thoughts, opinions, actions taken when a person should reasonably expect to be acting in private, and personal information such as that related to a person’s health or finances.
Privacy of communication: Related to privacy of information, privacy of communication refers to the security of people’s private interactions with others, including letters, telephone conversations, private face-to-face conversations, e-mails, and other forms of communication. In other words, neither the State nor private actors have a right to read your correspondence or listen to your private discussions. There are some exceptions, such as when somebody is suspected of having committed a crime, but even then there are laws that govern these exceptions to ensure that such interference is both necessary and properly handled.
Personal environment: The right to privacy applies to one’s personal environment, primarily meaning where he or she lives, such as their home, and their family or others with whom they live. It can also apply to other personal spaces, such as a person’s car or other personal property.
Freedom from attacks on a person’s honour or reputation: The right to privacy protects people from personal attacks on their honour or reputation. For example, unless it is true, people do not have the right to claim to others that you have engaged in some socially unacceptable or other behaviour that might be damaging to your reputation.

This Article is about respect for the private living space of everyone however they may live. For instance, the phrase in paragraph 1, regardless of place of residence, means that the right to privacy applies to anyone living in residential care as well as other types of dwelling. People living in residential care are entitled to their own private living space.

Paragraph 1 of this Article refers to family and home. The 2017 book The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A commentary makes the following observations about the social and cultural dimensions of these words:

The CCPR (Human Rights Committee) has further highlighted that the terms family and home must be understood in conformity with the meaning that these terms have in the society of the State concerned. These concepts have indeed different meanings depending on the socio-cultural contexts and the national legal systems, therefore, they cannot be defined at international level.

Privacy is an issue for people with mental health problems in Uganda because mental health services are underfunded and over crowded. The 2016 paper Towards understanding governance issues in integration of mental health into primary health care in Uganda describes the following case:

At national level, Butabika National Referral Psychiatric hospital was renovated. In each region, a mental health unit was constructed. However, this is not the case at district level. It was noted that the district is under-resourced in terms of infrastructure, with most of the facilities having insufficient space to provide various services. At some of the health facilities, the staff can hardly find space and privacy to deliver mental health services.

If you are a PWD, you have the right to respect and privacy the same as any other person.

This community toilet block in the city of Jinja, Southeast Uganda, has facilities for disabled people.
It is important to accommodate diversity within resident groups, such as disabled people (taken into account in the community toilet block shown in Jinja, Uganda) and the elderly.
It is equally important to consider factors such as privacy, security, cleanliness and maintenance, rather than seeing construction as the end of the story.

This is written in Article 22 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 22

Respect for privacy

1. No person with disabilities, regardless of place of residence or living arrangements, shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence or other types of communication or to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation. Persons with disabilities have the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

2. States Parties shall protect the privacy of personal, health and rehabilitation information of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

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