Disabled in Asia

 

MANILA Helping people with disabilities to participate in society is not an act of charity. It makes sound economic sense to bring them into the mainstream as producers of goods and services. The disabled represent around 10 percent of the world's population.

This message is accepted in many developed countries but is still largely unheard in the developing world. Unfortunately, in all too many areas, people with disabilities are still regarded as sick and helpless, left with no other means to survive than to rely on charity. There are even reported cases in Asia of families disfiguring their disabled relatives to make them more effective beggars.

Such attitudes leave the disabled among the poorest of the poor, with no way out of an endless cycle of poverty and disability. Each element in the cycle is both a cause and a consequence of the other.

Limited access to education and work restricts the disabled to the fringes of society. The poor are also at greater risk from the diseases, undernourishment and hazardous living and working conditions that can cause disability. And the disablement of one family member will affect the quality of life and opportunities for the rest.

Worst affected are women and girls with disabilities, who suffer from double discrimination. They not only have less access to education and opportunities than disabled boys, but they are two to three times more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than other women. They are also virtually excluded from society's decision-making structures.

Unless there is firm action, the problem in Asia will get worse. As populations grow and life expectancy increases, the number of disabled is rising. The spread of unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, combined with growing environmental pollution, accidents from swelling road traffic and, in some Asian countries, continuing war and turmoil are all growing causes of disability.

Reducing poverty among the disabled requires an active approach that empowers them to strengthen their self-reliance. This is different from traditional ideas of passive "safety nets" that do not provide routes and resources to escape from poverty to self-reliance.

But even if governments can legislate against discrimination, there is still an uphill battle to turn around public awareness. Overcoming the fears and even superstitions toward the disabled in some Asian societies will not happen overnight.

A good start would be to give the disabled better access to education, employment, vocational training and affordable rehabilitation services. They should be encouraged to work in and with nongovernmental organizations.

The disabled need to be involved in the decision-making processes that concern them. Their voices should be heard in the mainstream so that their potential to contribute to society is realized. The writer, a senior official at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

Disabled in Asia

 

MANILA Helping people with disabilities to participate in society is not an act of charity. It makes sound economic sense to bring them into the mainstream as producers of goods and services. The disabled represent around 10 percent of the world's population.

This message is accepted in many developed countries but is still largely unheard in the developing world. Unfortunately, in all too many areas, people with disabilities are still regarded as sick and helpless, left with no other means to survive than to rely on charity. There are even reported cases in Asia of families disfiguring their disabled relatives to make them more effective beggars.

Such attitudes leave the disabled among the poorest of the poor, with no way out of an endless cycle of poverty and disability. Each element in the cycle is both a cause and a consequence of the other.

Limited access to education and work restricts the disabled to the fringes of society. The poor are also at greater risk from the diseases, undernourishment and hazardous living and working conditions that can cause disability. And the disablement of one family member will affect the quality of life and opportunities for the rest.

Worst affected are women and girls with disabilities, who suffer from double discrimination. They not only have less access to education and opportunities than disabled boys, but they are two to three times more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than other women. They are also virtually excluded from society's decision-making structures.

Unless there is firm action, the problem in Asia will get worse. As populations grow and life expectancy increases, the number of disabled is rising. The spread of unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, combined with growing environmental pollution, accidents from swelling road traffic and, in some Asian countries, continuing war and turmoil are all growing causes of disability.

Reducing poverty among the disabled requires an active approach that empowers them to strengthen their self-reliance. This is different from traditional ideas of passive "safety nets" that do not provide routes and resources to escape from poverty to self-reliance.

But even if governments can legislate against discrimination, there is still an uphill battle to turn around public awareness. Overcoming the fears and even superstitions toward the disabled in some Asian societies will not happen overnight.

A good start would be to give the disabled better access to education, employment, vocational training and affordable rehabilitation services. They should be encouraged to work in and with nongovernmental organizations.

The disabled need to be involved in the decision-making processes that concern them. Their voices should be heard in the mainstream so that their potential to contribute to society is realized. The writer, a senior official at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.

Disabled in Asia

 

MANILA Helping people with disabilities to participate in society is not an act of charity. It makes sound economic sense to bring them into the mainstream as producers of goods and services. The disabled represent around 10 percent of the world's population.

This message is accepted in many developed countries but is still largely unheard in the developing world. Unfortunately, in all too many areas, people with disabilities are still regarded as sick and helpless, left with no other means to survive than to rely on charity. There are even reported cases in Asia of families disfiguring their disabled relatives to make them more effective beggars.

Such attitudes leave the disabled among the poorest of the poor, with no way out of an endless cycle of poverty and disability. Each element in the cycle is both a cause and a consequence of the other.

Limited access to education and work restricts the disabled to the fringes of society. The poor are also at greater risk from the diseases, undernourishment and hazardous living and working conditions that can cause disability. And the disablement of one family member will affect the quality of life and opportunities for the rest.

Worst affected are women and girls with disabilities, who suffer from double discrimination. They not only have less access to education and opportunities than disabled boys, but they are two to three times more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than other women. They are also virtually excluded from society's decision-making structures.

Unless there is firm action, the problem in Asia will get worse. As populations grow and life expectancy increases, the number of disabled is rising. The spread of unhealthy lifestyle habits such as smoking, combined with growing environmental pollution, accidents from swelling road traffic and, in some Asian countries, continuing war and turmoil are all growing causes of disability.

Reducing poverty among the disabled requires an active approach that empowers them to strengthen their self-reliance. This is different from traditional ideas of passive "safety nets" that do not provide routes and resources to escape from poverty to self-reliance.

But even if governments can legislate against discrimination, there is still an uphill battle to turn around public awareness. Overcoming the fears and even superstitions toward the disabled in some Asian societies will not happen overnight.

A good start would be to give the disabled better access to education, employment, vocational training and affordable rehabilitation services. They should be encouraged to work in and with nongovernmental organizations.

The disabled need to be involved in the decision-making processes that concern them. Their voices should be heard in the mainstream so that their potential to contribute to society is realized. The writer, a senior official at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune.