Livingstone Thompson, Guest Columnist
WITH THE International Day of Persons with Disabilities, December 3, coming so close to the World HIV/AIDS day, there is the possibility that the issue of disability will be overshadowed in our effort to digest the data relating to the AIDS pandemic.
It is critical, though that we do not lose sight ofissues that persons with disability are raising, which are not limited to the provision of wheelchair ramps, automatic doors and lifts.
DISABILITY ON THE UN AGENDA
In the wake of the increasing awareness of the human rights of all persons, the UN adopted, over 30 years ago, the Declaration of the Rights for mentally retarded persons. This was soon followed with the adoption of the Rights of Disabled Persons, in which the whole spectrum of human disability was highlighted. The aim of these declarations was to challenge the ill-treatment being experienced by such persons in several countries, Jamaica being no exception. Thirty to thirty-four years on, there is still the need to raise this awareness, as persons with physical, mental, or other disabilities, continue to experience discrimination and hardships. Children in general have not yet learned that they must not mock and jeer their peer who is suffering from cerebral palsy.
We have come a long way from the time when persons with disabilities would be hidden by their families to avoid stigmatising. The Government has recently signalled its intention to raise the profile of persons with disabilities by making appointments to its decision-making machinery and by the amendment of the Road Traffic Act to enable deaf persons to acquire a driving licence. These acts will certainly help to end the discrimination against disabled persons, which the UN declaration highlighted.
The UN standardisation rules envisage two approaches to the education for persons with disability, which will depend on the financial ability and education tradition in the state. Some states have opted for the integrative approach, in which persons with disability are educated in mainstream schools. The School of Hope in St. Andrew is a good example of this mainstreaming approach. The alternative model is the provision of special schools, which is the model used in most countries. The Salvation Army School for the Blind and the schools for the deaf are good examples of the other approach.
EDUCATION POLICY
The critical issues to assess, though, is whether the schools that respond to the special needs of persons with disability get the additional funding to respond to the greater costs for providing resources and equipment. The UN gave particular attention to this matter in the Standard Rules for an Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, which the UN adopted in 1993. What was envisaged is that states would ensure, among other things, "that the public education programmes reflect in all their aspects, the principle of full participation and equality."
The Government may say that the vision enunciated in the report of the task force pays sufficient regard to persons with disability, as it clearly states the goal of education as including "acquisition of social and life skills for all." [my emphasis] Notwithstanding this laudable assertion, it is clear that the policy enunciated in the Education Task Force Report should be reviewed to take issues specifically affecting disabled persons more into consideration. This would be a way in which we might indicate a mature awareness of the whole range of issues relating to disabilities.
The problem is that when one reads the report, the impression is formed that the Jamaican about whom the report speaks is presumed to be someone with all normal abilities. The failure to make special reference to persons with disability at critical points is a de facto exclusion of these persons because they are not, by and large, covered in general references.
If one were to argue that the enunciated policy has in mind the needs of persons with disability, then one would need to show where in the task force report that the issues are mentioned. The report shows awareness of persons with physical disability, mentioning the need for facilities for the physically challenged. However, the challenge to provide adequate access and support services, designed to meet the needs of persons with different abilities seemed not to have entered the equation at all. In chapter two, which deals with underachievement in education, where one would have expected to find the highlighting of issues related to disability, the focus is on curriculum and behavioural issues. The implications for persons with disability are not even implied. One irony is that the section dealing with access to schools is concerned only with accessibility in terms of distance from school.
GREATER NEED FOR SUPPORT SERVICES
For persons with disability, there is a greater need for support services, whether in the form of individual assistance or with the provision of special equipment to facilitate learning. For example, when we speak of the use of computer technology, we should be mindful of the fact that needs are different for those who have full use of both hands from those who are unable to use their hands at all. Similarly, a computer screen is of very little value to someone who is totally blind. The financial and social implications of these facts must be given visibility in a report of this kind.
Dr. Livingstone Thompson, a former president of the Moravian Church in Jamaica may be contacted at lthompson@citc.ie.
