ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS
REGARDING
DISABILITY
Although they are entitled to every
human right, persons with disabilities often face serious discrimination based
on attitudes, perceptions, misunderstandings, and lack of awareness. For
example, the misconception that people with disabilities cannot be productive
members of the workforce may lead employers to discriminate against job
applicants who have disabilities, even if they are perfectly qualified to
perform the work. Or it might mean that buildings where jobs are located are
not constructed in a way that people with mobility impairments can access them.
Such limitations can affect other
population groups as well. For example, in some societies attitudes toward
women prohibit them from owning property or participating in public life.
Members of racial or ethnic minorities are often forbidden to speak their own
language or practice their religion. A person with a disability who also belongs
to another group that experiences discrimination (e.g., a disabled woman who
belongs to an ethnic minority) may face multiple layers of discrimination and
barriers to realizing human rights.
In addition to attitudes and
perception coming from external sources, each individual&3039;s attitude
directly affects how he or she exercises human rights. A person who believes a
disability makes her or him somehow different in respect to human rights will
claim - or not claim - those rights very differently.
Destructive Attitudes and Concepts
The Medical Model of Disability:
Perhaps the most significant and widespread myth affecting human rights and
disability is the idea that disability is a medical problem that needs to be
solved or an illness that needs to be "cured." This notion implies
that a person with a disability is somehow "broken" or
"sick" and requires fixing or healing. By defining disability as the
problem and medical intervention as the solution, individuals, societies, and
governments avoid the responsibility of addressing the human rights obstacles
that exist in the social and physical environment. Instead, they place the
burden on the health profession to address the "problem" in the
person with the disability.
The Charity Model of Disability:
Another major misperception is that people with disabilities are helpless and
need to be cared for. It is much easier for people to offer pity and charity
than to address the fear or discomfort they themselves feel when it comes to
people with disabilities. It is also often easier to do something for somebody
than to make sure that they have the resources to do it for themselves.
The result of both the medical and
charity approach is to strip people with disabilities of the power and
responsibility for taking charge of their own lives and asserting their rights
on an equal basis with others.
Positive Attitudes and Concepts
Disability as a Natural Part of
Human Diversity:
Everyone is different, whether that difference relates to color, gender,
ethnicity, size, shape, or anything else. A disability is no different. It may
limit a person's mobility or their ability to hear, see, taste, or smell. A
psycho-social disability or intellectual disability, may affect the way people think,
feel, or process information. Regardless of its characteristics, disability
neither subtracts from nor adds to a person's humanity, value or rights. It is
simply a feature of a person.
Reasonable Accommodation:
A person with disabilities may require a reasonable accommodation, such as a
wheelchair or more time to accomplish a task. A reasonable accommodation is
simply a resource or a measure designed to promote full participation and
access and to empower a person to act on his or her own behalf. This approach
is not the same as trying to fix the person or fix the disability (the Medical
Model) or assuming that people with disabilities are incapable of acting for
themselves (the Charity Model).
The Social Model of Disability:
This model focuses on eliminating the barriers created by the social and
physical environment that inhibit the ability of persons with disabilities to
exercise their human rights. This includes, for instance, promoting positive
attitudes and perceptions, modifying the built environment, providing
information in accessible formats, interacting with individuals with
disabilities in appropriate ways, and making sure that laws and policies
support the exercise of full participation and non-discrimination.
THE HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO
DISABILITY
The social model of disability,
which focuses on the responsibility of governments and society to ensure
access, inclusion, and participation, sets the stage for the emergence of the
Human Rights Approach to Disability, which focuses on the inherent human rights
of persons with disabilities. This approach:
- Identifies persons with disabilities as rights holders
and subjects of human rights law on an equal basis with all people
- Recognizes and respects a person's disability as an
element of natural human diversity, on the same basis as race or gender,
and addresses the disability-specific prejudices, attitudes, and other
barriers to the enjoyment of human rights
- Places the responsibility on society and governments
for ensuring that political, legal, social, and physical environments
support the human rights and full inclusion and participation of people
with disabilities.
The UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has summarized the rights-based approach
as follows:
"A human rights approach asks
what are the long term or underlying reasons why a section of society is
vulnerable, marginalized or experiences discrimination.
A human rights approach then provides strategies based in international human
rights law and standards which address these root causes of
discrimination."
In particular the OHCHR stresses the
following ideas:
Empowerment: A human rights approach
to disability aims to empower people with disabilities to make their own
choices, advocate for themselves, and exercise control over their lives.
Enforceability and Remedies: A human rights approach to disability means that
people with disabilities should be able to enforce their rights at the national
and international levels.
Indivisibility: A rights-based approach to disabilities must protect both the
civil and political rights as well as economic, social, and cultural rights of
people with disabilities.
Participation: A human rights approach to disabilities says that people with
disabilities must be consulted and participate in the process of making
decisions that affect their lives.
Barriers to exercising human rights
can stem from attitudes, prejudice, a practical issue, a legal obstacle, or a
combination of factors. But a disability itself does not affect or limit a
person's entitlement to human rights in any way. Defining persons with
disabilities first and foremost as rights holders and subjects of human rights
law on an equal basis with others is an extremely powerful approach to changing
perceptions and attitudes, as well as providing a system for ensuring the human
rights of persons with disabilities.
On July 30, 2009, the President of the United States signed
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(CRPD), which is a treaty defining the rights of persons with disabilities
under international human rights law, which affects more than 600 million
persons with disabilities around the world.
