The Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum (CDPF) began in Kampala, Uganda in the run-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2007 to provide an organised voice for Disabled ...People's Organisations across the Commonwealth. In truth, it started on the floor of the adhoc Committee on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in New York in 2005/6, when I, as the representative of the UK Disabled People's Council, met up with James Mwanda representing Kenya as a Kenyan Disabled Parliamentarian. In March 2008, at a meeting in London of delegates from 19 countries, organised largely by Mark Harrison who raised the money from the then UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Commonwealth Secretariat, CDPF was formally set up, a constitution was adopted, and an Executive Committee was elected. An office was established in India and the CDPF was registered there. In June 2009, a four-day meeting was held in Kampala, Uganda on the UN CRPD and to develop future plans. In 2009 and 2010 respectively, the Chair (Mwanda) and Vice-Chair (George Daniels of Trinidad) sadly died, which led to a hiatus.
Ghati discusses the role of Commonwealth Parliamentarians in advancing people with disabilities. The Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) network exists to support Parliamentarians ...with disabilities to be more effective in their roles. As Chairperson of the CPwD network, she notes with gratitude the role that the network plays in promoting the representation of persons with disabilities in democratic institutions. The Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities Strategic Plan 2021-2024 places at its centre issues that persons with disabilities across the Commonwealth face in a rapidly changing environment.
ABSTRACT People with disabilities is one of the most vulnerable groups in any society. The objective of this paper is to reflect about the inclusion and exclusion of people with disabilities in ...Mexico and specifically in the state of Guanajuato, which helps to understand what happens with government initiatives to provide assistance and support to this sector, population, which is still far from fully exercising its right to work and an independent life. The conclusions suggest that societies are increasingly aware of diversity, however, exclusion still prevails for people with disabilities in different spheres, especially labor, which is reinforced by stereotypes that limit the exercise of their human rights. La disminución o carencia de alguna capacidad física o mental deriva en desigualdad, exclusión, rezago social y pobreza, lo cual dificulta la integración de este sector de la población al mercado laboral, de modo que se considera población vulnerable.
Pillay discusses how parliaments can be more accessible to persons with disabilities. Parliaments can contribute enormously to raising public awareness on the human rights, issues and concerns of ...marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities. That is why this year, we are hosting the first open day for persons with disabilities with the aim of achieving greater awareness and engagement on the subject. This event is also being organized in partnership with two key national actors, namely, the Fiji Association of the Deaf (FAD) and the Fiji Disabled People's Federation (FDPF), recognizing that partnerships with civil society organizations (CSOs) and relevant stakeholders provide the impetus for greater awareness and success.
Little is known about China's disabled people's organizations (DPOs) in the current research literature. This article, partly in response to the prior journal article by Zhang (Disability & Society ...32 (7): 1096-1101, 2017), attempts to map the four main types of DPOs in China and analyze their current status using the case of Shanghai. In addition to the Disabled Persons' Federation, the other types include five specialized associations, nonprofit organizations, and voluntary groups. This study preliminarily presents the number of DPOs, their government funding and changing registration management system. It is hoped that researchers will pay more attention to DPOs in non-Western settings and perform more comparative studies between China and other developed countries in the future.
The study aims to explore inclusion policies related to disabled people promoted by some companies from the technological field. In particular, the website sections devoted to disability of three ...tech giants, including Apple, Microsoft and Google will be explored. Methodology will be based on studies from Multimodal analysis (Jewitt et al., 2016; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996, 2001; O'Toole, 2011; Wignell et al., 2018) and the use of metaphors in corporate branding (Csaba & Bengtsson, 2006; Koller, 2009; Morgan, 1986). Specifically, the study will attempt to analyse corporate awareness related to disability and the promotion of inclusiveness while offering job opportunities to disabled people. Outcomes of the study have revealed some different strategies enacted by the three companies under scrutiny to build up their own identity whenever their inclusion policies are promoted.
While numerous environmental justice (EJ) studies have found socially disadvantaged groups such as racial/ethnic minorities and low-income individuals to be disproportionately affected by ...environmental hazards, previous EJ research has not examined whether disabled individuals are disproportionately exposed to natural hazards. Our article addresses this gap by conducting the first distributive EJ study of the relationship between flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey and locations of people with disabilities in Harris County, the most populous county in Texas that was severely impacted by this disaster. Our objective is to determine whether the areal extent of flooding at the neighborhood (census tract) level is disproportionately distributed with respect to people with any disability and with specific types of disabilities, after controlling for relevant socio-demographic factors. Our study integrates cartographic information from Harvey's Inundation Footprint developed by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency with data on disability and socio-demographic characteristics from the 2012–2016 American Community Survey. Statistical analyses are based on bivariate correlations and multivariate generalized estimating equations, a modeling technique appropriate for clustered data. Results indicate that the areal extent of Harvey-induced flooding is significantly greater in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of disabled residents, after controlling for race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and clustering. Disabled individuals with cognitive and ambulatory difficulties are more likely to reside in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of flooded area, compared to those facing other types of difficulties. These results represent an important starting point for more detailed investigation on the disproportionate impacts associated with Hurricane Harvey for people with disabilities. Our findings also highlight the growing need to consider individuals with physical and mental disabilities in future EJ research, as well as planning and management of natural disasters.
•People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.•Environmental justice (EJ) studies on disasters have not focused on the disabled.•Disabled populations faced overrepresented in areas flooded by Hurricane Harvey.•People with cognitive and ambulatory difficulties faced greater risks.•The disabled must be incorporated in future EJ research and disaster planning.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) affirms a right to education for disabled persons and aims to ensure braille instruction for blind individuals. ...However, there is evidence that braille instruction is often circumvented or abandoned early in CRPD nations because it is perceived as an inefficient learning medium for blind students. This perception persists despite insufficient empirical evidence and a lack of understanding of the efficiency of reading versus listening for learning in sighted individuals. We therefore investigated the efficiency of learning written versus spoken words in blind and sighted samples. Participants (23 blind, 20 sighted) studied the written definitions of 70 rare English words in successive rounds, presented in conjunction with written or spoken wordforms. Blind participants learned with equal efficiency across modalities, whereas sighted participants learned spoken words more efficiently. The findings indicate the inefficiency argument against teaching braille is groundless, both because braille word learning is not less efficient than auditory word learning for blind individuals, and because reading is valued in the education of sighted individuals despite its apparent inefficiency in that population.
Age-related macular degeneration is a leading cause of visual impairment and severe vision loss. Clinically, it is classified as early-stage (medium-sized drusen and retinal pigmentary changes) to ...late-stage (neovascular and atrophic). Age-related macular degeneration is a multifactorial disorder, with dysregulation in the complement, lipid, angiogenic, inflammatory, and extracellular matrix pathways implicated in its pathogenesis. More than 50 genetic susceptibility loci have been identified, of which the most important are in the CFH and ARMS2 genes. The major non-genetic risk factors are smoking and low dietary intake of antioxidants (zinc and carotenoids). Progression from early-stage to late-stage disease can be slowed with high-dose zinc and antioxidant vitamin supplements. Intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy (eg, ranibizumab, aflibercept, or bevacizumab) is highly effective at treating neovascular age-related macular degeneration, and has markedly decreased the prevalence of visual impairment in populations worldwide. Currently, no proven therapies for atrophic disease are available, but several agents are being investigated in clinical trials. Future progress is likely to be from improved efforts in prevention and risk-factor modification, personalised medicine targeting specific pathways, newer anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents or other agents, and regenerative therapies.
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