here's a good report on the benefits and the absolute need to form
organizations of disabled people, like many of us have done with adapted
technology, for mutual support and joint action. it was a great lift up
for me.
kelly
this is from the web page
http://www.independentliving.org/LibArt/RoleofOrgDisPeople.html
The Role of Organizations of Disabled People:
A Disabled Peoples' International Discussion Paper
by Henry Enns
A. Introduction
In the last ten years disabled people have organized
themselves into their own organizations in 100
countries. Disabled people's organizations are those
controlled by a majority (51%) at the board and
membership levels. Disabled Peoples' International
(DPI) considers the role of organizations of disabled
people to be the most fundamental issue for the
disabled person's movement. The World Programme of
Action Concerning Disabled Persons concurs in
paragraph 28:
The role of these organizations includes providing a
voice of their own, identifying needs, expressing
views on priorities, evaluating services and
advocating change and public awareness. As a vehicle
of self development, these organizations provide the
opportunity to develop skills in the negotiation
process, organizational abilities, mutual support,
information sharing and often vocational skills and
opportunities. In view of their vital importance in
the process of participation, it is imperative that
their development be encouraged. (WPA, p. 8)
This paragraph outlines the role of organizations of
disabled people, which will be discussed in this
paper. First, however, as a background, it is
important to define disabled peoples' organizations,
to describe the worldwide situation of people with
disabilities, and to discuss the evolution of key
philosophical tenets of the disabled people's movement.
B. The situation of disabled people
1. Scope of disability
The World Program of Action states that:
"More than 500 million people in the world
are disabled as a consequence of mental,
physical or sensory impairment. These
persons are entitled to the same rights as
all other human beings and to equal
opportunities. Too often their lives are
handicapped by physical and social barriers
in society which hamper their full
participation. Because of this, millions of
children and adults in all parts of the
world often face a life that is segregated
and debased." (WPA, p. 1)
It is estimated that one person out of ten is disabled
by physical or mental or sensory impairment, and at
least 25% of any population is adversely affected by
disability. At least 350 million disabled persons are
living in areas where they do not receive the services
needed to enable them to overcome their limitations.
(WPA, p 11)
Disabled people in the developing world often face
more acute barriers than those in developed nations.
Up to 80% of disabled persons live in isolated rural
areas in the developing world. In some countries 20%
of the population are disabled. Thus, it can be
estimated that, when disabled people's relatives are
included, 50% of the population is affected by
disability. In addition, disabled people are the
poorest of the poor. They often do not have access to
adequate medical services. As a result disabilities
are often not detected in time to minimize disability
affects. By the time they receive medical attention,
if at all, impairment may have become irreversible.
(WPA, pp. 13-14)
In addition, the number of elderly people is rising
around the world. Thus, disabling conditions, that are
not common to younger people, such as strokes, heart
disease and deteriorating vision or hearing, are
becoming more prevalent. (WPA, p. 14)
Another disabling factor is war and violence. The arms
race costs 600 billion dollars a year or one million
dollars a minute. These funds could be used towards
socially useful programs to prevent disability and
provide services. In addition war causes countless
other physical and psychological disabilities.
On a larger scale the economic structure of society
may be decimated by war leading to malnutrition,
housing, sanitation and other problems -- all
increasing the risk of acquiring or compounding the
problems of disability. (Heath, 1984, p. 4)
Disabled women face a situation of double jeopardy.
They are both disabled and women. They are handicapped
by both situations:
"There are a great many countries where
women are subjected to social, cultural and
economic disadvantages which impede their
access to, for example. health care,
education, vocational training and
employment. If, in addition, they are
physically or mentally disabled their
chances of overcoming their disablement are
diminished, which makes it all the more
difficult for them to take part in community
life." (WPA, p. 14)
For example, a woman with a disability is often not
considered "marriageable" by a family. They often
cannot fulfill the usual role as a worker in the field
and home. In the case of children, impairments often
lead to their rejection and isolation for experiences
that so-called normal children experience. This may be
exacerbated by community and family attitudes that
disabled children are abnormal, and cannot participate
like everyone else. This has an affect on children's
self-image development.
There are, in addition, over 100 million disabled
refugees in the world. Many of them have been disabled
physically or psychologically by their persecution.
Most of these refugees live in the developing world,
where services are limited. Being a disabled refugee
is a double handicap.
2. Societal Attitudes
Add to the foregoing situation the perception of
society that disabled people are sick, and helpless
and in need of being taken care of, and one has a
situation that is indeed deplorable. As Jim Derksen
states:
"The individual who becomes permanently
physically disabled today find himself in a
bewildering world, a new and different
world. A world where he is no longer
responsible for his family, for his personal
financial needs, for his behaviour, for most
of the things he had been responsible for as
an adult person in society. Gone with these
is his right to expect equal social
acceptance as a responsible adult human
person. The right of political and economic
involvement in society; the right of access
to public buildings and programs; the right
to equal access to private services and
facilities; the right to travel freely; the
right to choose his employment and
associations; the right to sexual expression
and so on. All are gone, or at least
diminished." (Derksen, 1980, p.1)
The situation is buttressed by societal attitudes that
reinforce the passivity and dependence of disabled
people. These attitudes can be classified in two
different ways. The first, the "medical model", is
more often found in developed countries, and the
second, religious factors, are more prevalent in
developing countries.
a) The medical model
This point of view is that people with disabilities
are sick patients who need to spend their lives trying
to get well. This "sick role" deprives disabled people
of the responsibilities of so-called normal people in
society. As Jim Derksen, a Canadian, relates:
"This [sick role] relieves him of all
responsibilities but regaining his health.
The 'patient' or 'sick' disabled person is
allowed and even expected to behave in a
childlike manner. Like a child, however, he
must follow orders; in this case the orders
of doctors and the agents or proxies of
doctors. Full participation in social,
sexual, political, economic and other forms
of adult behaviours are denied or at the
very least discouraged on the 'patient'."
(Derksen, 1980, p.5)
The medical model became more entrenched in the
post-World War II world. In the developed nations the
rehabilitation professions arose in response to the
disabled veterans of World War II. As a result of
medical advances, more and more young people with
post-polio disablement, spinal cord injuries and other
disabilities began to live longer. Improved technical
aids, such as electric wheelchairs and portable
respirators meant that people with disabilities could
move around more independently. Young disabled people
had their whole lives in front of them. They began to
want to live in the community like everyone else. This
did not coincide with the prevailing medical model
upheld by doctors, social workers and rehabilitation
experts, that disabled people should spend their lives
getting better.
b) Religious Factors
In many developing countries religious practices
impact on society's attitudes about disabled persons.
These attitudes have tended to limit the role that
disabled people could play in society. In the Hindu
and Shinto religions of Asia, disabled people are seen
to be disabled because of some sin committed in the
past, or due to a sin committed by the family. As a
consequence, many disabled people beg, as it is
expected of them.
Dropping coins into the blind beggar's bowl may lead
to avoidance of punishment in the after life. Disabled
beggars in Asia do not hesitate to remind the public
of this possibility, nor do they thank the donor since
they are aware that the interaction is merely to
acquire credit.. Begging is seen as the rightful duty
of the disabled person. If a family has a disabled
child they see it as their duty to exploit the
disability for financial gain. (Miles, 1983, p. 27)
These attitudes limit the role people with
disabilities can play in society.
C. The Growth of Organizations
Ultimately, disabled people began to form their own
organizations to represent themselves. They revised
society's definitions of them as "sick" and as being
punished by God. They redefined themselves as citizens
with rights -- the same rights as all other human
beings -- to medical and social services, education,
transportation, employment, housing and family life.
The first organizations of disabled people were blind
uni-disability groups, and some deaf groups, and then
multi-disability organizations were formed in many
countries. The organizing process began in the 1950's
in some countries. By 1980 there were at least
uni-disability organizations in some 50 countries.
(Driedger, 1987)
Uni-disability, international organizations such as
the International Federation of the Blind and the
World Federation of the Deaf, were founded in the
1950's and 1960's. By 1980, a multi-disability
international organization was conceived in Winnipeg
-- Disabled Peoples' International. Since 1980,
particularly through DPI's Leadership Training
Program, new multi-disability local and national
organizations have sprung up in an additional 50
countries.
The philosophy of these organizations is one of
"self-representation" and a "rights" orientation. They
also believe that all disabilities united into one
organization provides a stronger voice for change than
each disability group speaking out separately. What,
then, is the role of organizations of disabled people?
D. The role of organization of disabled people
1. Self-representation - "A voice of our own"
Disabled people's organizations believe that people
with disabilities are their own best spokespersons.
DPI's motto is this, "A voice of our own". This
premise is the backbone of the movement. For too long,
medical and social work professionals, and extended
families, have spoken for people with disabilities. In
the words of Ed Roberts, a disabled American, "...when
others speak for you, you lose." (Roberts, 1983, p. 7)
Disabled people believe that they best know the needs
and aspirations of disabled people. They will
represent themselves to governments, service
providers, the United Nations and the public. As
mentioned earlier, people with disabilities redefined
themselves as citizens with rights, not as patients
and clients of professionals, nor as beggars asking
for hand-outs. As the National Council of Disabled
Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ) believes, "Our role is to
act as a voice of the disabled. We are a 'civil
rights' organization of the disabled formed to
conscientize the disabled about their rights and to
fight for the right to access to all community
services". (NCPDZ "A Voice", 1983, p. 1)
To assert their rights, disabled people believe that
all disability groups must be united into national
disabled people's organizations, and of course, DPI,
an international united front. As Jim Derksen urged
disabled Canadians in 1975:
"Let us reason together, let us deliberate
on our problems and needs, let us consider
our abilities, and when we have agreed on
the problems and solutions let us articulate
our opinions and ideas in a strong and
united voice." (Derksen, 1975, p.1a)
2. Identifying grassroots needs
Organizations of disabled people arise in response to
a group of people's perception that there are barriers
to participation for disabled people in society that
need to be addressed. These organizations are based on
the needs and aspirations developed by the disabled
grassroots community. The disabled people who start
such organizations are usually educated and are better
off financially than the majority of disabled persons
in their countries. Their educational advantage causes
these disabled persons to identify and analyze the
barriers that bar the participation of people with
disabilities in society. They have learned the tools
that the rest of society uses and they turn them
towards the benefit of all disabled people, who are in
some developing countries, 99% illiterate. Furthermore
it is disabled people who must identify their own
needs and how to meet them. Paulo Freire explains in
Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
"... those who recognize, or begin to
recognize themselves as oppressed must be
among the developers of the pedagogy. No
pedagogy that is truly liberating can remain
distant from the oppressed by treating them
as unfortunates and by presenting for their
emulation models from among the oppressors.
The oppressed must be their own example in
the struggle for their redemption." (Freire,
1970, p. 39)
Indeed, disabled people in their organizations
identify the forces that oppress them, and organize to
overcome those forces -- physical and attitudinal
barriers.
Disabled persons' organizations around the world have
forged mechanisms to hear from the grassroots disabled
constituency. There are three ways this can be
accomplished.
a) Organizing local chapters
DPI's members have made it a priority to establish
local chapters of their organizations throughout their
countries. This is important, not only to build the
infrastructures of their organizations, but to solicit
and represent the views of all people with
disabilities in a country. In countries such as
Argentina the disabled people's organization realizes
that it must reach out into the rural areas beyond
Buenos Aires to help disabled people organize. Through
outreach the needs and aspirations of rural people
with disabilities are learned.
In Zimbabwe the National Council of Disabled Persons
(NCDPZ) started a rural outreach program in 1984. It
sends development workers into rural areas to locate
people with disabilities. They meet with local chiefs
and village leaders to discuss the need to locate and
to integrate disabled people into everyday life. In
the process of organizing local chapters disabled
people previously hidden away in the community are
discovered and so are their needs and aspirations:
"Rural members usually meet in small groups
or cells which form part of the branch.
Members try to locate disabled people in
their villages and introduce them as new
members. They inform their branch
secretaries of children or adults in need of
treatment and education. Sometimes a branch
is able to refer these cases to suitable
hospitals or schools themselves; if they are
unable to do this they request help from the
headquarters office of NCDPZ." (NCDPZ, ca.
1984, p. 2)
b) Open forums
Disabled people's organizations also hold open forums
to discuss issues of concern to disabled persons. Over
the last ten years the Coalition of Provincial
Organizations of the Handicapped (COPOH) in Canada has
held six forums on various issues. Some 100 disabled
people have attended each forum along with government
officials, business people and members of the
community. The forums have dealt with barriers to
disabled persons' participation in employment,
transportation, rehabilitation and independent living.
(Driedger, 1986, pp. 9-10)
The forums help disabled Canadians to identify the
barriers to their participation in each area and
formulate strategies for changes. For example:
The first forum held in Winnipeg in 1978 focused on
employment. Disabled people affirmed that employment
was a right of every citizen in society. And disabled
people agreed that working in the community with all
other citizens was the best option for them.
(Driedger, 1986, p. 9)
c) Democratic representation
Both the forums and outreach activities of
organizations of disabled persons provide direct input
from grassroots disabled people. Democratic
representation also provides another kind of input
which is more indirect. Organizations of disabled
people, by definition, are controlled at the board and
decision-making levels by disabled persons. People are
elected to the decision-making bodies of organizations
by their membership. Thus, the disabled people elected
to the disabled persons organizations' boards
represent those people's concerns to governments,
service providers and the public. Frank Bowe, an
American disabled advocate explains the process of
representation:
"Before I can represent a group of people, I
must first consult with them. This process
involves sharing with these people my
knowledge or expectation that certain issues
among the many which concern these people
are likely to become subject to public
debate in the near future. I must solicit
from these individuals informed opinions on
these issues and receive from them
instructions to represent these views. These
instructions constitute my authority as a
representative." (Bowe, 1980, pp. 13-14)
As a genuine representative, he or she then returns to
report to the group, "In order to complete my work as
a genuine representative, I must then return to my
group and represent to these people the views,
decisions and other deliberations of the people with
whom I met on the groups behalf." (Bowe, 1980, p. 14)
This is how the system of representation would ideally
work. Indeed, the views of the group are represented
by individuals to other bodies. DPI is the
international manifestation of such a representative
system.
3. Representations to government service providers,
and U.N. bodies
Organizations of disabled people fulfill the role of a
vehicle to represent the needs of disabled people to
decision-makers and service-providers at the local,
national and international levels. Their
representatives make presentations to decision-makers.
In the case of DPI its members are multi-disability
organizations of disabled people, and thus
decision-makers can hear a united voice. In the past,
in many countries, before the advent of
multi-disability groups, many uni-disability groups
would present their varying points of view without
consulting other groups of people with disabilities.
Government found it difficult to know which group to
give priority to in the consultation process. As
O'Rourke of the American Coalition of Citizens with
Disabilities (ACCD) stated:
"For a long time was a big problem with
disabled groups in America because when the
legislation was brought before the Congress,
perhaps forty different groups would go to
Congress. Each had a different position.. It
became very difficult for the people within
the government themselves to make
decisions." (O'Rourke, 1978, p. 51)
The American disabled citizens formed a
multi-disability coalition to surmount this problem.
Forrester, of the Combined Disabilities Association in
Jamaica reiterates the important role of organizations
in the consultation process:
"It is more convenient and advantageous to
make representatives to government
concerning change or to lobby political
leaders as associations, since politicians
are more liable too act where they perceive
that proposals are being made by
associations rather than individuals".
(Forrester, 1985, p. 7)
Indeed, government planners can discover what the
majority of disabled people want. Too often priorities
are set in social services that have little to do with
the actual needs of disabled people. It, thus, is good
economic and policy planning to include disabled
persons in the planning process because they are the
ones that best know the needs of disabled people:
"Most frequently in the past, programs, even
in America, were designed by people who
themselves were not very close to the
problem. Disabled people themselves often
know how to deal with situations when people
who are not disabled need to think about how
this problem should be handled. This thought
itself is still only theory because they are
not disabled themselves, and lacking
experience they have difficulty coming up
with simple solutions." (O'Rourke, 1978, p.
50)
4. Evaluating and monitoring services
Since disabled people themselves best know their own
needs, organizations of disabled people play a role in
evaluating and monitoring services. This process would
perhaps take place more often in developed countries,
where there were more services, than in developing
countries. It would also happen more often in
countries where there was an expectation from their
citizens that their social needs should be served by
government as a right. This attitude appears in
countries such as Canada and Sweden where their social
welfare states provide subsidized medical care and
technical aids. The monitoring of services takes place
in Sweden through HCK, its multi-disability
organization. In Canada, the Coalition of Provincial
Organizations of the Handicapped (COPOH), as its first
lobbying effort, worked to obtain accessible public
transit services for disabled people in 1975.
(Driedger, 1983, pp. 9-12) The group perceived that
there was a need for disabled people to have the same
right to affordable, public transit as other citizens:
"The City of Winnipeg now provides a public
transportation system, available to all
non-handicapped persons who wish to use it
during hours of operation. It is therefore
an established city policy: a) to make
public means of transportation available;
and, b) to charge only a minimal fare to the
user." (Jim Derksen quoted in Driedger,
1983, p. 10)
5. Self-development
Organizations of disabled people play a role in the
development of disabled people's skills in the
negotiation process, organization, management, and
proposal and letter-writing. They also provide a forum
for mutual support, while the above skills are being
developed.
Organizations give disabled people the opportunity,
through being volunteer committee members or salaried
employees, to learn skills which would benefit them in
the open employment market. Indeed, much of the skills
training has taken place in local and national
organizations where disabled people learned new skills
because they had to do those things at the time to
further the aims of their organization. There was no
one else to take on these jobs, especially when groups
started out with few monetary resources.
The skills development of disabled people in the
developing world is one of DPI's main arms. DPI
established a Self-Help Leadership Training Program in
1982 for this purpose. DPI has raised monies from
agencies such as the Canadian International
Development Agency and the UN Trust Fund to help fund
these seminars. Since 1982, DPI training seminars have
been held in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean. These week-long seminars deal with
budgetting, management, fund-raising, writing letters,
project proposals and reports, and establishing local
self-help businesses.
Similar seminars are taking place in some developed
countries on the initiative of local and national
organizations of disabled people. In June 1987 the
Saskatchewan Voice of the Handicapped, a provincial
member of COPOH, hosted a seminar focussing on
leadership training.
6. Mutual support and solidarity
Organizations of disabled people, at all levels, are a
vehicle for mutual support and solidarity. Disabled
people who belong to these groups find that they have
a common purpose, that of promoting their right to
live as citizens in society. This common purpose
engenders feelings of mutual support and solidarity in
a common cause. Indeed, the DPI Development Program
Evaluation discovered that disabled people, who were
given the opportunity to meet and discuss issues of
concern with each other experienced this:
Seminar participants:
* learned from the presence of persons with
different disabilities that all had problems which
were largely common, and that solidarity of effort
was a natural outcome;
* developed a deeper appreciation of the strength
that can come from groups of disabled persons
joining together with the purpose of seeking to
have their rights as people met. (Neufeldt,
et.al., p. 15)
The seminars and membership meetings of local,
national and international organizations indeed
bolster the feelings of solidarity in disabled people,
as participants in the DPI Asia/Pacific Regional
Convention in 1984 felt:
It helped create power for people.
Knowing that you are not on your own is a very
empowering bit of knowledge. It gives you a
strange sense of security and the will to
create change.
It was a wonderful experience for me. I felt I
was part of the majority and normal again, not
just a "poor thing" in a wheelchair. (Heath,
1984, p. 20)
Also, as Alan Simpson of the Canadian Coalition of
Provincial Organizations of the Handicapped (COPOH)
reiterates:
"... the local consumer group is a
fellowship -- a chance to enjoy common
activities, concerns and frustrations. This
group often evolves into a combination of
social-recreation programs and periodic
social-action thrusts to meet various
personal needs..." (Simpson, 1980, p. 4)
7. Vehicle for self-help projects
Disabled people's organizations play the role of
initiators of self-help projects aimed at integrating
disabled people into the mainstream of society. The
projects have been initiated in two main areas:
independent living and employment.
In the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom
organizations have investigated the need for
independent living of disabled people in the community
like everyone else. Organizations controlled by
disabled people, called independent living centres,
have arisen to ensure that disabled people live as
independently as possible. In some cases, as in the
United Kingdom, the development of these centres is
spearheaded by multi-disability organizations of
disabled people at the local level. The centres were
needed to fill gaps in services that disabled people
identified. They needed to live independently in the
community: "They [independent living centres] are
needed because they are a practical and imaginative
way of correcting the historical omission of disabled
people in the past, and to ensure that future service
developments correspond to disabled peoples'
legitimate aspirations". (Davis, 1983, p. 4) Indeed,
independent living centres which are controlled at the
board level and managed by disabled people can
identify what are the real needs of disabled people.
The first centre was initiated in Berkeley, California
in the early 1970's:
After graduating some disabled students realized that
once they left the university they would no longer
have access to the services they depended upon in
order to live in the community. They required such
services as attendant care and accessible
transportation. To solve this problem, they organized
cooperatively to guarantee the provision of the
services they required. (Driedger and D'Aubin, 1985,
p. 51)
This center, and others in the U.S. and Canada, were
established by groups of individuals who saw that
their needs were not met by existing service agencies.
These centers, depending on the local situations,
provide accessible housing with attendant care,
advocacy, peer counselling and information on existing
services.
Many disabled people's organizations, mostly in the
developing countries, have also initiated self-help
employment projects. These businesses have proven
immensely successful in terms of job skills training
for disabled people, demonstrating that disabled
people can work as efficiently as nondisabled people,
providing a living for disabled people, and in making
a profit, which is often used to fund the self-help
organization.
All of the above elements are present in DEEDS
Industries run by the Combined Disabilities
Association in Kingston, Jamaica. This is a factory
which employs 50% disabled workers and 50% nondisabled
workers. Thus, it is not a sheltered workshop. The
Board of Directors consists of disabled people and
nondisabled business people. The factory produces
wooden toys and gift items, which it markets in the
U.S. and other places. It has proven to be a
successful business venture which is reflected in the
quality of the products and its economic viability.
Profits go towards financing the projects of the
Combined Disabilities Association. (Forrester, 1985,
p. 7)
In Guyana, the Coalition of Citizens with Disability
have embarked on a chicken hatchery cooperative
project. Again, disabled people are employed in this
venture.
In Mauritania, disabled people learn sewing,
embroidery, secretarial skills and rug-making in
training centres. These centres also market the
products, thus providing a living for the disabled
people at the centres.
8. Networking mechanisms
Organizations provide the opportunity for disabled
people to share ideas and information, especially at
the international level. DPI has played an important
role in facilitating information-sharing among
organizations of disabled people from different
countries. DPI's Leadership Training Seminars and
regional meetings of World Congresses provide forums
for formal an informal information exchange. For
example, delegates from the organization in Guyana
attended a Training Seminar in Barbados in 1983 and
returned home inspired to create a multi-disability
organization in their country. After Guyanese
delegates attended another DPI Leadership Training
Seminar in Barbados in 1985, they returned home to
start a chicken hatchery cooperative run by disabled
people. They had heard of the projects that other
disabled people were starting in the Caribbean; they
saw that disabled people's businesses were both
possible and successful enterprises.
DPI's Regional Development Officers in South America,
Central America, and the Caribbean have also served as
networking vehicles. For example, the Regional
Development Officer for the Caribbean, Derrick Palmer,
has travelled extensively in that area providing
information and tools on how the disabled people can
organize more effectively for social change. In some
countries the Regional Development Officers have met
with representatives of the disabled people's
organizations and government officials. This has
served to lend credibility to local groups, as DPI
backing adds credibility to fledgling groups; DPI has
consultative status with UN/ECOSOC and other
international agencies. Thus, DPI through its Regional
Development Officers provides an information tool for
groups, which also lends them added credibility with
governments.
9. Promoting Public Awareness
Organizations of disabled people also create public
awareness about the needs, aspirations and abilities
of people with disabilities. This awareness is
promoted through many of the activities of disabled
people's organizations: lobbying government,
monitoring service agencies, publishing a newsletter,
speaking in the national media, conferences, etc. For
example, the Council of Disabled Persons in Zimbabwe
promotes awareness about the needs and abilities of
disabled people and the need for their integration
into community through its Outreach Program as
described earlier. Village leaders are sensitized to
begin to look at including disabled people in
community life. Many organizations undertake specific
"public awareness" campaigns which are usually carried
out in the media (radio, newspapers, television) or in
the schools with children. Organizations often operate
speakers' bureaus which send disabled people out to
speak at community events. Others have school
programs, which promote awareness. In Canada, the
Manitoba League of the Physically Handicapped in
conjunction with the Mennonite Central Committee, ran
such a program. Disabled people spoke to school
children about disabled people's issues. The premise
behind such a program is that children will be exposed
to a disabled person and hear that person's point of
view. Many children do not have this opportunity when
they are young. Children's attitudes about disabled
people often have not had the chance to become as
negative as those of adults, who may often view
disabled people as "sick", "helpless", and "childlike".
E. Conclusion
Disabled people's organizations play many roles at the
local, national and international levels for disabled
people, governments, service providers and the general
public. In many cases, the organizations of disabled
people are the best vehicle to carry out the
aspirations of people with disabilities. After all,
disabled people, from their own personal experiences
best know their needs, aspirations and abilities. One
of the main themes of the World Programme of Action is
the importance of Organizations of Disabled Persons.
It calls upon governments to encourage their
development and utilize their expertise.
Sources:
Bowe, Frank, "Who Represents Disabled People?"
In 1980 World Congress Plenary Session Papers,
pp. 13-15. Edited by Rehabilitation
International, New York: Rehabilitation
International, 1980.
Combined Disabilities Association,
"Development Programs 1982-85", Kingston, 1982.
Derksen, Jim, The Disabled Consumer Movement:
Policy Implications for Rehabilitation Service
Provision. Winnipeg: Coalition of Provincial
Organizations of the Handicapped (COPOH), 1980.
Derksen, Jim, "Editorial Comment", Challenger
1 (July 1975): 1-2.
Derksen, Jim, "Independent Living Movement and
the Self-Help Process", in The Engines are
Ready, Let's Go!, Report of DPI Asia/Pacific
Leadership Training Seminar, April 20-24,
1983, pp. 78-86. Edited by Yukiko Oka. Tokyo:
DPI Asia/Pacific Regional Council, 1983.
Driedger, Diane, "Organizing for Change: A
History of the Manitoba League of the
Physically Handicapped", unpublished, 1983.
Driedger, Diane, "The Origins and History of
Disabled Peoples' International (DPI),
1945-85", Masters Thesis, University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, 1987.
Driedger, Diane and D'Aubin, April, "Disabled
Women: International Profiles", Caliper XLI
(March, 1986): 16-19.
Driedger, Diane and D'Aubin, April, "So You
Want to Start an Independent Living Centre? A
Winnipeg Case Study", Caliper XL (December,
1985): 51-53.
Enns, Henry, "Contradictions Between and
Relations with Service Providers",
Presentation to Leadership Development
Seminar, Zimbabwe, June 29 - July 6, 1983.
Enns, Henry, "The Historical Development of
Attitudes Toward the Handicapped: A Framework
for Change", In Treating Families with Special
Needs. pp. 175-85. Edited by David S. Freeman
and Barry Trute. Ottawa: Canadian Association
of Social Workers, 1981.
Forrester, Huntley, "Why Organizations of
Disabled People?" African Rehabilitation
Journal 2 (March, 1985): 7.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. New York:
The Seabury Press, 1970.
Heath, Jeff, "Disability and
Under-Development: Discussion Paper Number
Two", Australia, 1984.
Malinga, Joshua, T., "Disabled Peoples'
International Development Policy and
Strategy", Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 1985.
Mauss, Armand L, Social Problems as Social
Movements, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott,
Co., 1975.
Miles, Mike, "Why Asia Rejects Western
Disability Advice", Quad Wrangle (December,
1983): 27-29.
National Council of Disabled Persons of
Zimbabwe, "Outreach Program Project
Description", Bulawayo, Ca., 1984.
Neufeldt, Aldred., et al. An Emerging Voice:
Report to Disabled Peoples' International
Regional Leadership Training Programme,
Barbados, July 15-22, 1985, pp. 5-7. Kingston,
Jamaica: DPI North American and Caribbean
Region, 1985.
Roberts, Ed, "When others speak for you, you
lose", In 'When Others Speak for You, You
Lose': Proceedings of the First National
Assembly Disabled Peoples' International
(Australia), Melbourne, January, 1983. Edited
by Jeff Heath. Adelaide: Disabled Peoples'
International (Australia), 1983.
Simpson, Alan J. Consumer Groups: Their
Organization and Function. Winnipeg: Coalition
of Provincial Organizations of the Handicapped
(COPOH), 1980.
Swedish Institute, "Support for the Disabled
in Sweden", In Facts Sheets on Sweden.
Stockholm: Swedish Institute, 1981.
United Nations. World Programme of Action
Concerning Disabled Persons. New York: United
Nations, 1983.
----------
End of Document
|
