Resources search

With the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006, disability as an issue of human rights and international law can no longer be ignored. The history of this convention can be traced back to the 1970s, when disability was framed in United Nations (UN) declarations as a human-rights issue at the global level. One of the recurrent topics of debate during this trajectory was the right of people with dis- abilities to found a family. This right was far from self-evident and was evaluated very differently by various stakeholders.

This study follows the right to have a family in UN disability policy since the 1970s. The history of the family in relation to disability at the global level has been a neglected field of enquiry compared to other concepts such as gender and race. This study investigates how and why the right to found a family was framed in the Declarations on the Rights of Mentally Disabled Persons (1971) and Disabled Persons (1975), the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981), the International Decade of Disabled Persons (1983 − 1992), the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993) and the UNCRPD in 2006.

The trajectory of the right of people with disabilities to found a family that emerges from these cases shows a change in the 1990s from a social-policy to a human-rights approach towards disability – which reflects a broader trend in global and local histories of human rights. In the case of reproductive rights of people with disabilities this change meant that the emphasis was laid more on providing a legal protection for the individual against the interference of others (so-called negative freedom) than on enhancing the opportunities for disabled people to practice their (positive) freedom.

The past twenty years in India have seen significant legal and political commitments towards universalization of education and the right to education. This report documents the considerable effort undertaken in the country to protect the right to education of children with disabilities (CWD) and outlines what remains to be done to achieve its full realization. 

The report is based on extensive research of national and international literature and attempts to provide comprehensive information on the current status of education of CWDs, evidence of achievements and continuing concerns. It extensively draws upon a series of thematic research studies between 2017 and 2018. 

The report has taken a participatory approach with contributions, in the form of case studies, from specialists and those working directly in the field. 

This is a rapid assessment of the Kenyan labour market which was commissioned to understand how the labour market functions in Kenya within the context of disability. This assessment provided opportunity to validate existing data on employment of persons with disabilities thus generating a solid baseline on which to anchor the programme’s targets and assumptions.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the UK government or members of the Inclusion Works consortium.

This paper was developed by the World Bank in partnership with Leonard Cheshire and Inclusion International. It is an attempt to add knowledge to the current understanding of the importance of learning achievements, with a focus on children with disabilities. While the premise is that inclusive education refers to the inclusion of all children, the focus of this paper is on children with disabilities.

The aim of the paper is to:

• Provide an evidence-based review of educational participation of children with disabilities.
• Establish a case for focusing on learning achievements for students with disabilities.
• Take stock of current mechanisms of measurement of learning outcomes and review their inclusivity.
• Explore evidence of practice and systems which promote disability-inclusive learning for all. 

Four case studies are provided - from Pakistan, South Africa, Canada and UK.

The aim of this systematic review is to critically appraise the existing orthotic/prosthetic health economic evaluation literature and therefore determine evidence gaps, critical method design issues and the extent to which the literature informs orthotic/prosthetic policy and investment decisions

Systematic Reviews volume 8, Article number: 152 (2019)

doi:10.1186/s13643-019-1066-9

Purpose: Physical accessibility is one of the fundamental rights of wheelchair users in order to ensure their integration into society. After Bangladesh ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on November 30, 2007, there has been a paradigm shift in the government’s approach to ensure the welfare and rights of persons with disabilities through legislative and policy actions. This study assesses how accommodative the public buildings are for wheelchair users in Khulna, Bangladesh.

Method: All the public buildings in Khulna city - including government offices, public schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, libraries, post offices and court buildings -  were visited to assess the presence and suitability of facilities for wheelchair users, such as accessible parking, ramps, elevators, doors, and essential interior facilities like water closets and drinking-water fountains.  Bangladesh has no specific accessibility guidelines document, but accessibility requirements have been included in the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) 2008. The study made its assessment using an abridged form of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) and BNBC 2008.

Results: Only 6.7% (5) of the 75 public buildings were found suitable for wheelchair users. There is scope for modifications to be made in 28% (21) of the buildings which are currently unsuitable for wheelchair users.

Conclusion: The study revealed that public buildings are, in general, not very accommodative of wheelchair users. There is a need for modifications in infrastructure to ensure inclusive development of these individuals.

This report aims to examine the extent to which Rwanda’s activities aimed at achieving the goals and targets set out in the SDGs include and consider people with disabilities and comply with its commitments under the CRPD. 

Information for this report was obtained from two sources: the first source was the available documents including government policies, laws and reports, as well as a variety of other documents and reports from other sources. The second source of information was interviews conducted with people with disabilities from three different regions of the country, namely Musanze district, Nyagatare district, and the city of Kigali.

This report focuses on five SDGs which were selected after a series of consultations with people with disabilities and their organisations. These are:

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Background: Whereas most narratives of disability in sub-Saharan Africa stress barriers and exclusion, Africans with disabilities appear to show resilience and some appear to achieve success. In order to promote inclusion in development efforts, there is a need to challenge narratives of failure.

Objectives: To gather life histories of people with disabilities in three sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone) who have achieved economic success in their lives and to analyse factors that explain how this success has been achieved.

Methods: Qualitative research study of economic success involving life history interviews with 105 participants with disabilities from both urban and rural settings recruited through disabled people’s organisations and non-governmental organisation partners, framework analysis of transcripts to chart success and success factors.

Results: Participants had faced barriers in education, employment and family life. They had largely surmounted these barriers to achieve success on an equal basis with others. They were working in private and public sectors and were self-employed farmers, shopkeepers and craftspeople.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that, given the right support, disabled people can achieve economic success, with the implication being that investment in education or training of disabled people can be productive and should be part of overall development efforts for economic reasons, not solely to achieve social justice goals.

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

This replication guidebook is a tool that aims to highlight the link between social exclusion and poverty and is based on the premise that a country cannot achieve its development targets, if a section of its people is left behind.

This guidebook aims to show practitioners practical ways of working on economic development that inclusive of socially excluded groups such as women, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, etc. It provides corresponding concepts, explains the steps and suggests tools that may help practitioners use and adapt to their context. The context of this book are based on field level experience of the project team of the Inclusive Economic Development project.