A life sentence …
I was listening to a podcast from the BBC last September which referred to an article in a British newspaper which announced that there were some 10 million people who were disabled in Britain, and yet more than 90% of people had never invited a disabled person into their home for a social occasion.
Apparently, one of the regular listeners to the “More or Less” programme on Radio Four, (which “investigates numbers in the news”), wrote in and asked them to look into these claims. She pointed out that 10 million people represented about a sixth of the population and she thought this was quite a high figure.
For the record: The United Nations estimate that approximately 10% of the population are disabled – and in some devolping communities or amongst those “living below the poverty line” this may rise as high as 20%
The presenters accepted the challenge and reported that both figures contained in the report were accurate – or at least came from reputable sources – but they might actually represent different things.
The first statistic came from the Office of Disability Issues and was based on work undertaken by the Department of Works and Pensions as part of their Family Resources Survey. This is a telephone survey in which respondents are asked, amongst other things, if they have a disability. As it was a telephone survey it was basically asking to “self assess” and “self report”. I wonder how many people really think of themselves as “disabled”. To help them answer, however, the interviewer would read to them from guidance notes … something like: “Do you have a disability as defined by the Disabilities Discrimination Act – that is someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. To help them further, it was pointed out that normal day-to-day activities might include such things as eating, walking, washing or shopping and the abilities affected might include mobility, manual dexterity, speech, hearing, seeing or memory. Now, it seems to me that this definition is pretty “broadbrush” and could encompass all sorts of impairment – such as my bad back which sometimes makes it painful to walk and carry heavy bags of shopping back from the supermarket. It almost invites people to say, “Yes”.
The second statistic came from a survey conducted by a reputable market research company for a charity for the disabled called Scope. It seems that it was simply posed as a straight question with no definition of what was meant by the term “disability”. What image of “disability” did they have in their minds when they answered this question? and, as another commentator in the same newspaper reported a few days later, how would they know? – not all disabilities are visible.
So the two statistics appear to be valid although the population of “people of disabilities” envisaged in the two surveys may be quite different.
My mind went back to this podcast this week because Tomorrow, (Friday, December 3rd), is the International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
For the record: The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed annually with the aim of promoting the awareness of disability issues, (the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities and their integration in the main stream of all aspects of the social, political, economic and cultural life of their communities), It was inaugurated by the World Program of Action for Disabled Persons, and adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1982, following the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) in 1981, the main theme of which was “full participation and equality”. A convention has been agreed which outlines the right of disabled persons to: participate entirely in the life and development of their respective societies, enjoy good living conditions similar to those of other people; have an equal share in developed conditions after socio-economic development and establish organizations through which they can manifest their views and promote activities to improve their conditions, as well as providing for the enhancement of public awareness, knowledge and acceptance of the disabled.
The International Day for Persons with Disabilities, like most of these International Days declared by the United Nations, is also marked here in Kyrgyzstan with a variety of activities and press conferences. For example: there was a special event held in the Seitek Youth Center attended by the Mayor of Bishkek and two of the local choirs, (Krasnaya Gvozdika and the Tartar Choir), have been to homes for the disabled to give concerts. In fact, this year, events got underway a whole month early, with a month of sporting activities for the disabled, (the Tourist Sport Union of the Kyrgyz Republic, for example, organized a special orienteering competition in Karagachovaya Rosha – Elm Grove), and there was a rally where nearly 200 people took part in 20-odd vehicles, including some 80 children “with special needs”.
We’ve also received a number of requests from charities for sponsorship to help fund activities for the day. As one of them pointed out, this year they are facing particular difficulties in raising financial support because many of the charitable donations have been directed towards thos who suffered in the various upheavals that took place earlier in the year.
To make matters more difficult, not all disabilities are visible or immediately obvious. Occasionally you see someone in a wheelchair, or someone with a limb amputated. In the center of Bishkek you can see groups of youths who a gesticulating to one another as they walk along the street … “signing”. (Although I can’t say that I meet examples on such a frequent basis, one American blogger has commented that he comes across this “every day”.) On the other hand, a blind or partially sighted person, or someone with an incapacitating industrial injury may not exhibit outward signs of their disability.
Apparently, in Kyrgyzstan there are about 124,000 people with disabilities, 60% of them are of “working age”, but 90% of them are unemployed. This is despite the fact that the legislation includes a 5% quota for the employment of people with disabilities. This rule does not actually work, however, because of a lack of enforcement mechanisms, no measures of tax incentives for employers, and no advisory support for persons with disabilities” noted one of the speakers at a “round table”, “For equality in work for all“, (involving leaders of civil society, heads of government agencies, international and business organizations), held to discuss the institutional and legal mechanisms for the employment of persons with disabilities in the country.
In the capital city, Bishkek, there are 14 specialist institutions caring for children and pre-school children with disabilities of different sorts. There are, for example, special facilities for those with impaired vision and hearing.
“Targeted” social assistance of various kinds is available for more than 12 thousand visually impaired and hearing impaired, by illness as a result of industrial and domestic trauma and injuries of the Great Patriotic War, the war in Afghanistan, as well as liquidators of the Chernobyl accident.
Despite all this provision, one survey has shown that more than 50% of children with disabilities are almost always at home. In more than half of the families the father, (the main breadwinner, of course), has left home, and more than 80% of mothers do not have permanent or regular work. As a result, many of the children live with a sense of isolation and loneliness which is only emphasized by the lack of transport, adaptation of many buildings, (especially public buildings – like schools – where they encounter barriers like high and narrow staircases, the lack of entrance ramps) and, of course, public attitudes.
As one recent report put it, “a debilitating handicap can mean a lifetime sentence of frustration.”
Bishkek