Social Structures
Author Ana Maria Sanchez Rodriguez – ALL Institute member, Irish Research Council and a Marie Skłodowska- Curie Actions’ fellow at Maynooth University
The author is grateful for the insights provided by Marité Fernández.
On the 3rd of December we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations proclaimed this day in 1992 and this year the theme is: “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”.
While this is a day to observe and to commemorate, there is not much to celebrate. In the past few days, the international community, United Nation agencies, intergovernmental organizations and international organizations have organized virtual conferences to address what the main challenges are in order to realize the rights of persons with disabilities recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights Persons of Disabilities and other regional human rights treaties.
While I am happy to see all these events organized, I can’t help thinking on the real impact that they will have in the disability population. These events do raise awareness but mostly only among a convinced group of people working on disability rights; yet we need to reach out to unconvinced policy makers, business and all the civil society sectors.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a day to reeducate us all and to acknowledge and cope with the present challenges; it is a call to act. This year, the commemoration day comes in a challenging time. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the existing inequalities experienced by the disability population from the richest to the poorest countries. People with disabilities were already experiencing lack of care, of decent work and living arrangements and of technological access amongst other deprivations; the pandemic has aggravated all this and their living conditions.
The COVID-19 and the rights of persons with disabilities: guidance addressed the impact of the pandemic with particularly emphasis on the right to health, of persons with disabilities to live in community, education, and protection from violence. For instance, persons with disabilities living in the community are disproportionally been affected in their daily lives because of the restrictions such as physical distancing when they require care support. People living in long-term facilities are isolated and the care staff lack institutional support to make referrals and to cope with the physical and mental stress. With respect to children with disabilities, UNESCO has remarked the impact of distance learning is higher facing lack of accessible, adaptable and individualized learning plans. Women Enabled report on: The COVID-19 at the Intersection of Gender and Disability: Findings of a Global Human Rights Survey, March to April 2020 found that women and girls with disabilities experiencing all kinds of violence are facing more obstacles to access support and emergency services and to reproductive and sexual health.
The UN Policy Brief: A Disability- Inclusive Response to COVID-19 addressed sectoral actions and recommendations for a disability-inclusive COVID-19 response and recovery. The measures in the UN policy brief offer an understanding of the key actions to protect persons with disabilities in the following areas: health, in institutional settings, support services, social protections and employment, education, prevention of and response to violence and in humanitarian contexts. The brief highlights four areas of action applicable to all with emphasis on ensuring consultation and participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations; an issue that has been raised by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee recognized on the General Comment No. 7 that: “Often, persons with disabilities are not consulted in the decision-making about matters relating to or affecting their lives, with decisions continuing to be made on their behalf.” The lack of accessibility and adequate modes of communication to access the information prevent persons with disabilities to participate.
In this context, Danlami Basharu, chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, remarked the effects of the lack of participation in the pandemic as: “One obvious learning from the past few months is the conspicuous lack of consultation with people with disabilities, their representative organisations and human rights defenders with disabilities, in shaping the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems that were wholly predictable were missed and this negatively affected both the legitimacy of immediate responses and their effectiveness.” Participation remains challenging to states that miss to lead a consultation process through ample participation that includes persons with disabilities.
In spite of this, the engagement of the disability communities to denounce, to be heard, to suggest and to build alternative solutions to those in place was present. This year 13th Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP13) organized from November 30 to December 4, included more than 65 side events and most included disability grassroots organizations. In sum, this year commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities was shaded by the pandemic. The pandemic exposed the prevailing marginal conditions and discrimination against persons with disabilities and, at the same time, it has showed that we need to rethink of other ways to rebuild a more inclusive society.