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ADB Disability Workshop will Seek Ways to Help Marginalized Group

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (1 October 2002) - An Asian Development Bank (ADB) Regional Workshop on Disability and Development, which opens at ADB's Manila headquarters tomorrow, seeks ways to meet the needs of the most marginalized group in Asia and the Pacific.

The three-day regional meeting, which brings together government and nongovernment representatives, UN agencies, and organizations of the disabled, will develop recommendations to help the estimated 300 million disabled in the region.

The workshop will address sustainability issues and short- and long-term goals as well as build inter-sectoral partnerships and networks.

One person in 10 has a disability and more than 75% of these live in developing countries. In post-conflict societies, the numbers rise significantly due to landmines, torture, mental disorders, malnutrition and lack of neo-natal care. The disabled are more vulnerable to poverty then other groups as disability limits access to education and employment, leading to economic and social exclusion.

"The disabled tend to be disadvantaged socially, economically, physically, and politically," says Isabel Ortiz, ADB's Senior Social Economist who is coordinating the workshop. "We aim to remove barriers to their freedom and enable them to participate fully in society - the number of disabled in the region is significant enough to warrant public action".

The workshop will address several issues, including:

• Access and rehabilitation strategies to enable the disabled to live and work to their potential;
• Inclusion and empowerment strategies so they can play an active part in communities and economies;
• Architectural and design strategies to remove unnecessary physical barriers; and
• Affirmative strategies to include disabled in the mainstream of educational, vocational, political, and cultural activities.

The workshop is part of a US$600,000 technical assistance (TA) project for Identifying Disability Issues Related to Poverty Reduction. It is co-financed equally by ADB and the Government of Finland.

The project aims to raise awareness of disability as a development issue. It will also identify and analyze national policies, programs, and projects concerning disabilities and poverty. The first phase involved studies in Cambodia, India, Philippines and Sri Lanka, analyzing the connection between disability and poverty reduction and the priorities to be addressed in each country.

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