Rolling Rains Report:: White Paper on Disability for Antigua and Barbuda

May 04, 2005

White Paper on Disability for Antigua and Barbuda

By this point, before most lecture trips, I am well settled on what I will say and begining to anticipate the relaxation phase that comes after delivering the presentation. Perhaps because I will do both an opening and a closing bit or perhaps because I am anticipating the launch of an Asian Pacific network on inclusive travel, I am still quite involved in the research phase.

Reviewing the history of the "Inclusive Development" component of "Inclusive Destination Development," I came across a document from Antigua and Barbuda written in 2001. It is instructive to review the care with which this "White Paper on Disability for Antigua and Barbuda" lays out a national agenda.

I found sections three and four to be especially helpful:

DISABILITY
Disability has traditionally been viewed as either a medical or a social issue. As a medical issue the community�s response has traditionally been to address the immediate issue associated with or causing disability by medical intervention either in the short or long term.

Upon the sufficient application of medical procedures to the immediate or apparent cause of disability, the community�s response to the disabled person was a social, or welfare response, often involving institutional or other care, as a benevolent response which resulted in separation of a disabled person from the general life of the community.

While the medical response is essential, and the social or welfare response desirable to a certain extent, to another extent these responses are in fact so limited that they have resulted in exclusion and segregation, the typical responses to disability issues. The traditional community response has been based on a balance of convenience which often does not take into consideration the rights of the disabled person to full participation in the society to the extent of his ability.

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DISABILITY AS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE

Today, due to the efforts particularly of the United Nations and of core groups all over the world and the initiative of some countries, disability is no longer seen as a purely medical issue, neither is the focus on the social or welfare aspect of disability requiring a benevolent response. Disability issues are now classified as human rights issues with reform in disability laws focusing on providing equal opportunities for persons with disabilities so that they can reasonably address the disadvantages of exclusion, institutionalization and segregation which are the traditional and typical forms of discrimination practiced against person with disabilities.

The United States has been a front runner in the world in encouraging this shift in focus and the Americans with Disabilities Act that was signed into law on July 26, 1990 is a key example of civil rights legislation for disabled persons. This Act has been very effective in replacing the focus on disability issues from welfare law to civil rights law.

Disability law, viewed from the perspective of the civil rights movement, has led naturally and gradually to the recognition of the human rights of disabled people, a matter that is being increasingly embraced by governments the world over.

It is therefore timely and appropriate for the State of Antigua & Barbuda in addressing Constitutional Reform to embrace disability issues as human rights issues, the appropriate starting point being our Constitution, the supreme law of our land.

I am wondering if there is a special signifcance then, a sort of self-conscious identity realignment, implied as a charitable organization such as the Eden Social Welfare Foundation rises to take the leadership in creating an organization to promote social participation from a human rights basis and further evolve the scope of Inclusive [Destination] Development.