When people who express their abilities in another manner do not have access to the same opportunities as the general population, because they use wheels to roll, because they hear with their eyes, speak with their hands or read with their fingers, they are more likely to be socially isolated, have higher rates of unemployment and live below the poverty line. These factors produce the disability and the lack of accommodation in employment, education, transportation etc and the removal of the barriers present a further challenge. Equality and full participation are human rights. All persons are entitled to equal access to the basic rights and fundamental freedoms that most people take for granted, e.g. health care, employment, education, participation in cultural activities etc. The Human Rights tools such as the “UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, and the “Standard Rules for the equalization of opportunities of Disabled Peoples” adopted by the UN General Assembly are good guidelines, but the challenge is still there for society. If the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities give to society a clear engagement on what has to be done, on what rights have to be protected, for whom and with which specific attentions, but still society does not know how to do it. In that sense, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will not simplify the job but makes it more complete and it makes it enriching for all. That is why it is difficult and that is why it is exciting. When the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be ratified, and we hope this will happen early this year, our slogan “Nothing about us without us” will be more current than ever. Public administrations which will have to make the convention concrete don’t know disability issues, don’t know how to work with people with a disability and in many cases are not aware of their obligations and up-to-now don’t really have the desire to do it. In this objective, disabled people have to be motivated for being the experts in all of the concerned domains, and that it is why we have to insure the participation of disabled people at all levels. Governments has to understand this priority and must ensure that there are adequate resources to train people, with the objective being to launch national training programs for experts with a disability who will have the knowledge to train public administrations workers, and to experiment with them the different solutions for everyone’s inclusion at all stage of the life. That’s the real challenge for the next few years
January 2008
Disabled people face many barriers and challenges.
Society's attitudes can create obstacles to inclusion and there is a failure, on many occasions, to recognize the social and economic contributions of people with disabilities, and a tendency to see only the negatives, the problem, the loss, the impairment, rather than the person, his/her capabilities and the best way to ensure he/she can make it and be in a position to take part to the collective movement by expressing it.