Contribution towards the High-level Meeting on Disability and Development Outcome Document

The outcome document of the High-level Meeting is expected to lead to a disability-inclusive post-2015 agenda developed in a transparent and participatory manner that includes listening to voices of persons with disabilities from around the world. Hence regional and national consultation meetings are of importance for the process of the High-level Meeting.

The Millennium Development Goals did not include persons with disabilities, which should not be repeated in the post-2015 development framework. More recently, persons with disabilities were excluded and not mentioned in the Millennium Development Goals Report 2012. Even as poverty reduction and access to water targets may be achieved and steady progress has been observed on reducing child mortality, decreasing malaria and other global diseases, children and persons with disabilities are still largely excluded from these efforts. The progress has been uneven. The human rights principles such as equality and non-discrimination, concern for the most marginalized in particular, have not been paid enough attention to in this context.

Moreover, my observations of disability inclusive development show that many governments fail to provide the proper infrastructure for disability inclusive development by the lack of appropriate coordinating mechanisms within government and at the highest level. This results in a lack of influence from the disability mechanism within government to impact on budget processes and other resources and capacity to implement and monitor disability inclusive development. The lack of high-level infrastructure at a national level also weakens the monitoring of disability related policy implementation and often results in a lack of consultation with DPOs. Thus I strongly recommend that disability inclusive development would become one of the Sustainable Development Goals so that persons with disabilities are finally mainstreamed at all levels.

Secondly, the outcome document needs to reflect on priorities among persons with disabilities particularly those of the global South. In my capacity as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Disability, I would like to present four priority areas: 1) education, 2) employment, 3) health, and 4) social protection. These are the most acutely expressed needs and rights of persons with disabilities around the world as far as I have observed.

Thirdly, progress of these priority areas should be regularly measured and followed up so as to make sustainable and positive changes in lives of persons with disabilities. For that, I would like to suggest the following possible indicators for each priority learning from existing indicators including the Incheon Strategy for the Third Asia and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, among others:

1. Education

·      Number of children with disabilities receiving early childhood intervention

·      Primary education enrolment rate of children with disabilities

·      Secondary education enrolment rate of children with disabilities

·      Proportion of children who are deaf that receive instruction in sign language

·      Proportion of students with visual impairments that have educational materials in formats that are readily accessible

·      Proportion of students with intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, deafblindness, autism and other disabilities who have assistive devices, adapted curricula and appropriate learning materials

·      Duration of teacher training

2. Employment

·      Proportion of persons with disabilities living below the US$ 1.25 (PPP) per day international poverty line as compared to the overall population

·      Ratio of persons with disabilities in employment as compared to the general population in employment

·      Proportion of persons with disabilities who participate in government-funded vocational training and other employment-support programmes as compared to a proportion of all people trained

·      Proportion of persons with disabilities living below the national poverty line

3. Health

·      Proportion of persons with disabilities who use government-supported health-care programmes, as compared to the general population

·      Proportion of girls and women with disabilities who access sexual and reproductive health services of government and civil society, as compared to women and girls without disabilities

·      Proportion of pre- and antenatal care facilities that provide information and services regarding early detection of disability in children and protection of the rights of children with disabilities

4.    Social Protection

·      Coverage of persons with disabilities within social protection programmes, including social insurance and social assistance programmes

·      Availability of government-funded services and programmes, including for personal assistance and peer counselling, that enable persons with disabilities to live independently in the community

·      Number of government-supported programmes for care services, including for respite care

·      Availability of national community-based rehabilitation programmes

·      Availability of health insurance for persons with disabilities

·      A decrease in the unmet need for assistance and support 
services

Lastly, I would also like to share the voices from Africa based on the consultation meeting that I convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2012. Some of the key points include following:

1.     The High-level Meeting on Disability and Development should have a broad and inclusive preparatory process, including regional consultations, with clear timelines and guidance on how the voices of organizations of persons with disabilities, especially those in Africa and other developing countries, can be included.

2.     The High-level Meeting should address the situation of persons with disabilities in Africa as a priority issue both because Africa is often left out of such global meetings and because challenges to advancing the situation of persons with disabilities are greatest in Africa.

3.     The High-level Meeting should also specifically address the situation of particularly marginalized persons with disabilities, as well as the specific needs of youth, older persons, children and women with disabilities, and persons with psychosocial disabilities.

4.     The outcome document of the High-level Meeting should also address the issue of how resources may be made available to states that need them in order to advance implementation of the CRPD and of the outcome document itself.

All the new Sustainable Development Goals, targets and indicators should properly include persons with disabilities by learning from the mistake made in the Millennium Development Goals.

Shuaib Chalklen

UN Special Rapporteur on Disability

* This position paper was endorsed by FIDIDA, Finnish Disabled People's International Development Association. 
* This paper was placed at the on-line consultation site:  http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/317006#comment-49969

On-line Consultation till 28th March

(<--The Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on the left and the Rapporteur on the right.)

On-line consultation for the forthcoming High-level Meeting on Disability and Development goes on till 28th March at the following site: http://www.worldwewant2015.org/enable

Message by the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability at the Inaugural World Down Syndrome Day at the UN Headquarters, 21 March 2013

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I’m writing this short statement to wish you well for your World Down Syndrome Day and for your conference on the right to employment.

It is important for us to have these conferences and meetings both globally and especially locally to raise the awareness of the public of disability and Down Syndrome in particular so that we can dispel the many myths that prevents the inclusion of people with Down Syndrome in society.

We face severe challenges in Africa, especially for people with developmental disabilities and the strong and persistent myths and disinformation continue to obstruct our efforts to ensure inclusive development.

On 23^rd September 2013, the UN will be hosting its High-level Meeting on Disability and Development, and this will provide us with an opportunity to put our issues on the agenda. This Meeting is important and the themes of the High-level Meeting will influence the discussion on the post MDGs global development goals.

Employment of people with disabilities is one of our key demands as people with disabilities. It is at the same time one of our most persistent challenges and is linked directly to the attitudes that society have about people with disabilities and especially people with developmental disabilities.

The High- level Meeting will provide us with the opportunity to place the issue of education, training, and employment high on the agenda of the global development challenges and it is therefore critical that we collectively make our voices heard. We must ensure that the delegations to the High-level Meeting include as many people with disabilities as possible and this means that we must start to lobby our governments that they include us in their delegations.

I wish you well for your conference and for the future success of the Down Syndrome International.

Shuaib Chalklen

UN Special Rapporteur on Disability