Campaigning for change
Some of the barriers faced by disabled people are:
Institutional
Schools not admitting disabled children; banks not accepting disabled customers; employers not hiring disabled applicants.
Environmental
A building has steps but no ramp; public transport is inaccessible; lack of information available in Braille, audio and Sign language.
Attitudinal
The negative way others perceive disabled people.
Legal
Where legislation does not recognise that disabled people have exactly the same rights as non-disabled people, i.e. disablism.
A term generally used for breaking down these barriers is ‘influence and advocacy’, in other words to work to bring about positive change. Within ADD this happens on two levels, internationally in the countries where ADD supports disabled people’s organisations to advocate and influence policy and in the UK where we influence policy. ADD’s support of advocacy work mainly happens at country program level.
For example:
In Cambodia small self-help groups of disabled people successfully lobbied their village councils to change a ruling that prohibited disabled people from standing for election as village chief.
In India ADD supported disabled people’s organisations as they successfully lobbied for disabled children’s admission into mainstream schools.
Subsidised fares, reservation of bus seats and identity cards were provided following a countrywide campaign for accessible transport in Bangladesh.
Successful campaigns in Zimbabwe and Mali resulted in many public buildings being made physically accessible.
In Ghana a daily-televised news summary was introduced with Sign language interpretation, while in Tanzania disability awareness issues were given a 30-minute slot on two TV channels.
In Bangladesh, five disabled people took part in a ten-day, 125 mile wheelchair-march to lobby the government successfully for a disability act. Disabled people also formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club to demand that ten parliamentary seats be reserved for disabled people.
Disabled people campaign hard for their rightful place in government and for a chance to influence policy and as a result Mali has recruited 25 disabled people into the civil service and in Bangladesh 80 disabled people stood as candidates in local elections.
Our extensive work in Ghana, Bangladesh and Zambia with election monitors and the introduction of the tactile ballot guide for blind and visually impaired voters.
In the UK we take every opportunity to raise the issue of including disabled people in international development work. Our aim is to raise awareness amongst governments and international development organisations of their responsibilities for including disabled adults and children in their work.
White Band Day 2006
The Global Call to Action against Poverty is a worldwide alliance committed to making world leaders live up to the promises they made in 2005.
With the theme "Stand Up Against Poverty" on 14th September 2006 people from across the world will come together for a Global Month of Action which builds up to White Band Day on October 17th - International Day for the Eradication for Poverty. The white band remains the symbol and expression of solidarity against poverty.
Find out more by visiting White Band Day or MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.
Grow Up Free From Poverty
This year ADD joined the Grow Up Free From Poverty coalition in order to promote disability rights issues in the planning and execution of the social protection campaign. Within the coalition ADD has been active in promoting a broad view of social protection which includes not only social transfers (e.g. benefits and pensions), but also empowering mechanisms such as affordable credit, free healthcare and education as well as legal and social measures which promote equality and tackle discrimination.
Grow Up Free From Poverty have launched The Campaign on Social Protection which focuses on “the universal right of everyone, as a member of society, to the right to social security through national effort and international co-operation” has been launched by the Grow Up Free From Poverty Campaign.
ADD is working within the coalition to ensure that the campaign highlights the importance of direct consultation with disabled people in the planning and implementation of social protection policies. We are also facilitating the participation of the disability movement in different aspects of the campaign as it develops.
The Grow Up Free From Poverty Coalition was set up in 2001 with the vision: ‘To end the outrage of child poverty’. As part of the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005 they carried out a consultation with poor children and their carers around the world to find out what their priorities and concerns were. The results were produced in a publication 'Achieving our dreams for 2015’.
Over the last few years, our support has included the following:
We have continued to support the 0.7% campaign launched by the British Overseas NGOs for Development in 2003, calling for the Government to commit to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on aid. In July 2004 Gordon Brown pledged that this target would be met by 2013.
Many people will have become disabled as a result of the Asian Tsunami they sustained and we have been lobbying agencies (including the Disasters’ Emergency Commission) to ensure that disabled people are not overlooked in the long-term reconstruction work.
January 2005 saw the launch of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign. ADD joined the coalition of over 540 UK charities, trade unions, faith groups, campaigning organisations, student groups and celebrities. This worldwide movement is calling for policy change to increase aid, cancel debt and improve trade. Every day around 50,000 people, many of them disabled, die as a result of extreme poverty – we must demand an end to this.
Following extensive work with ADD and other agencies, the European Union (EU) published their guidelines on the inclusion of disabled people in international development work on their website (2004).
We will continue our efforts to make sure the need of disabled adults and children are included in development and poverty eradication work and urge others to join us in this.