I have some good news. Would you like to be more in touch, more emphatic and sympathetic to the human condition? You can! While the path is not what you would have chosen, the chances are good you’re going to end up there anyways. Come on inside and allow me to be your guide on this journey (dot dot dot)
Psych! Made you look! I have some bad news. Over 50% of Canadians will experience a permanent or temporary disability in their lifetime. Aboriginal peoples are 2.5 times more likely to experience such disability than the rest of Canada.
Mental illness, drug addiction, alcoholism, broken limbs, diabetes, HIV, depression, arthritis, alzheimers, FASD, paralysis, PTSD, autism, AIDS, disabilities at birth, cancer, the list is too long. You, someone you know, or someone you’re related to is disabled or will be.
But wait, there’s more! I have some FABULOUS NEWS! Your rights just got a whole lot stronger
On December 6th, 2006 the United Nations finalized the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). This convention makes the current disability rights, policies and laws on the books in any country in the world look like it was written in crayon by comparison. (I’m looking at you Ottawa) This convention is 50 acts of sheer beauty, hope and promise. To this day, as a person with a disability, I find it almost impossible to read more than 4 or 5 acts without being moved to tears of happiness.
A lot of work went into this by a lot of very dedicated people from around the world. I applaud and thank them.
As of this writing so far there are: 153 signatories and 106 ratifications of the convention and 90 signatories and 63 ratifications of the optional protocol.
Core thinking – what’s new? There is a shift in how persons with disabilities (pwd) are viewed. Back in the bad old days pwd were viewed as defective and needing to be fixed, if possible – the medical model. Then we became objects of pity who needed to be helped – the charity model.
Today, the tide has turned. Now the accepted thinking is that pwd only experience disability is because the attitudes and environments in which they live are not inclusive. To illustrate: The stairs I can’t walk up, disable me. The employer who won’t employ me, disables me. The school that doesn’t have the equipment to facilitate my learning, disabled me. Not including the disabled in every facet of the decision and policy making processes that affect us is disabling. Nothing about us, without us.
The World Health Organization in their 2011 World Report on Disability estimates that there are 1 BILLION people world-wide who are disabled. The percentages range anywhere from 12-20% per country at any given time.
Ask about the UNCRPD when you speak to your politicians, employers, medical providers, ask what they’re doing TODAY to make it a reality. You need to demand your rights. You owe it to yourself, your friends and your relatives and the rest of humankind. Be joyous and enthused that such progress has been achieved, make sure it is being implemented. We are all so fortunate to have such a tool.
For the full text of the UNCRPD click here.
