Persons with Disabilties

Group 5: Baltazar – Enriquez – Merilo – Liveta NSTP-CWTS

A disability is caused by impairments to various subsystems of the body - these can be broadly sorted into the following categories.

Indicators of a person who is considered to have disabilities:

• Physical

• Cognitive

• Mental

• Sensory

• Emotional

• Developmental

TYPES OF DISABILITIES

Physical Disability

-Any impairment which limits the physical function of limbs or fine or gross motor ability is a physical disability.

Sensory Disability

- is impairment of one of the senses. The term is used primarily to refer to vision and hearing impairment, but other senses can be impaired.

Visual impairment Hearing impairment Olfactory and gustatory impairment Somatosensory impairment Balance disorder

Intellectual Disability

- is a broad concept that ranges from mental retardation to cognitive deficits too mild or too specific to qualify as mental retardation. Intellectual disabilities may appear at any age.

Mental Health and Emotional Disabilities

- is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which are not a part of normal development or culture.

- The recognition and understanding of mental health conditions has changed over time and across cultures, and there are still variations in the definition, assessment, and classification of mental disorders, although standard guideline criteria are widely accepted.

Developmental Disability- is any disability that results in

problems with growth and development.

- Congenital medical conditions that have no mental or intellectual components, for example spina bifida (Congenital disorder: Not fully formed vertebrae overlying the spinal cord).

Magna Carta for Disabled Persons of the Philippines

-- important Sections

Chapter 1. Basic Principle

Section 2. Declaration Policy. The Grant of the rights and priveleges for disabled persons shall be guided by the following principles:

a) Disabled Persons are part of the society, thus State shall give full support to the improvement of the total well-being of disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream of the society. Toward this end, the state shall adopt policies ensuring them to complete favorably for available opportunities.

b) Disabled persons have the same rights as other people to take their proper place in the society. They should be able to live freely and as independently as possible. This must be the concern of everyone, the family, the community, and all the government and non-governmental organizations. Disabled persons’ rights must perceived as welfare services by the government.

c) The rehabilitation of the disabled persons shall be the concern of the government in order to foster their capacity to attain a more meaningful, productive, and satisfying life.

d) The State also recognizes the role of private sector in promoting the welfare of disabled persons and shall encourage partnership in programmes that address their needs and concerns.

e) To facilitate integration of disabled persons into the mainstream of society, The State shall advocate for and encourage respect for disabled persons. The State shall exert all efforts to remove all social, cultural, economic, environmental, and attitudinal barriers that are prejudicial to disabled persons.

Section 4. Definition of Terms. For purposes of this Act, these terms are defined as follows:

a) Disabled persons are those suffering from restriction or different abilities, as a result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment, to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.

b) Impairment is any loss, diminution or aberration of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure.

c) Disability shall mean 1. a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more psychological, physiological or anatomical function of an individual or activities of such individual; 2. a record of such an impairment; or 3. being regarded as having such an impairment.

d) Handicap refers to a disadvantage for a given individual resulting from an impairment or a disability, that limits or prevents the function or activity, that is considered normal given the age and sex of the individual.

e) Rehabilitation is an integrated approach to physical, social, cultural, spiritual, educational, and vocational measures that create conditions for the individual to attain the highest possible level of functional ability.

f) Social barriers refer to the characteristics of institutions whether legal, economic, cultural, recreational or other, any human group, community, or society which limit the fullest possible participation of disabled persons in the “life of the group”.

g) Auxiliary aids and Services

h) Reasonable accommodation

i) Sheltered employment refers to the provision of productive work for disabled persons through workshops providing special facilities, income producing projects or homework schemes with a view to giving them the opportunity to earn a living

Main Issues faced by the Sector

- An estimated 386 million of the world’s working-age people are disabled, says the International Labor Organization (ILO). Unemployment among the disabled is as high as 80 per cent in some countries. Often employers assume that persons with disabilities are unable to work.

- A U.S. survey of employers conducted in 2003 found that the cost of accommodations was only $500 or less; 73 per cent of employers reported that their employees did not require special facilities at all.

- Thousands of people with disabilities have been successful as small business owners, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The 1990 national census revealed that people with disabilities have a higher rate of self-employment and small business experience (12.2 per cent) than people without disabilities (7.8 per cent).

Employment

- For every child killed in warfare, three are injured and permanently disabled.

- In some countries, up to a quarter of disabilities result from injuries and violence, says WHO.

- Persons with disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence or rape, according to a 2004 British study, and less likely to obtain police intervention, legal protection or preventive care.

- Research indicates that violence against children with disabilities occurs at annual rates at least 1.7 times greater than for their non-disabled peers.

Violence

Education

Ninety per cent of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school, says UNESCO.

The global literacy rate for adults with disabilities is as low as 3 per cent, and 1 per cent for women with disabilities, according to a 1998 UNDP study.

Around 10 % of the world’s population, or 650 million people, live with a disability. They are the world’s largest minority.

In countries with life expectancies over 70 years, individuals spend on average about 8 years, or 11.5 per cent of their life span, living with disabilities.

The World Bank estimates that 20 per cent of the world’s poorest people are disabled, and tend to be regarded in their own communities as the most disadvantaged.

According to UNICEF, 30 per cent of street youths are disabled

Facts

REFLECT…