Disabled Must Be Active Partners in Development, Workshop Told

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (2 October 2002) - The disabled must be active partners in drawing up development policies and programs, Finnish Ambassador to the Philippines Raimo Anttola told an ADB workshop on Disability and Development at its opening today.

In his opening speech, Ambassador Anttola said that mainstreaming disabled people into policy design and societal planning is vital to ensure that policies and plans are sustainable for a greater proportion of citizens.

Allowing the disabled to live independent lives makes economic sense, he pointed out. "The crux of the idea is that neither the disabled, nor anybody else in our societies, should be conceived of as a 'cost' [to] society," he said. "We believe that most disabled people can take an active role as contributors to the growth of our national economies and to the welfare and diversity of our societies, through appropriate rehabilitation and assistive technologies, disability-sensitive architectural design, empowerment and affirmative strategies and inclusion."

The three-day regional workshop, being held at ADB Manila Headquarters from 2 to 4 October, brings together representatives of government and nongovernment organizations (NGOs), UN agencies, and organizations of the disabled to find ways of meeting the needs of the region's estimated 300 million disabled. One person in 10 has a disability and more than 75% of these live in developing countries.

Through keynote addresses, panel presentations, workshop groups, and presentation reports, the workshop will address sustainability issues, short- and long-term goals, and building inter-sectoral partnerships.

Giving keynote addresses today were Senator Eita Yashiro, a member of Japan's House of Representatives and Honorable Chairperson of the Disabled Peoples International/Asia-Pacific Region, and Judith E. Heumann, World Bank Advisor on Disability and Development.

Senator Yashiro said that work on disability issues had been sidelined in many places in the wake of the Asian economic crisis. "The economic crisis hit the most vulnerable part of society, in terms of disability and development," he said. "The economic crisis has now begun to be overcome in many countries due to the efforts of the World Bank, IMF, and Governments. From, this experience, the issue of poverty reduction has become critical. We need to push forward and be committed to the disability issue."

Ms. Heumann focused on the challenges and opportunities faced by the disabled in making a contribution to society and in the workplace, emphasizing that equal opportunity to education is the most fundamental issue. "When we look at the low number of disabled children who are going to school and completing high school, we can see that an attainable goal has not been achieved," she said.

She stressed that governments and international organizations must become aware of the value of including the disabled in activities. "If the objective of our entity is the eradication of poverty, you cannot be excluding a minimum of 10% to 20% of the population," Ms. Heumann said.

The workshop is part of ADB's efforts to mainstream disability issues in development, said Rolf Zelius, Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy Director General of ADB's Regional Sustainable Development Department, in his opening statement.

"There are more than 500 million persons with disabilities in the world and when the impact on families is taken into account, more than 2 billion persons are affected," Mr. Zelius said. "Notwithstanding society's best intentions, the reality is that persons with disabilities often are the victims of prejudice and discrimination, and suffer alienation and isolation, and a significantly reduced quality of life."

The workshop is being held under a $600,000 technical assistance (TA) approved in 2000 for Identifying Disability Issues Related to Poverty Reduction, cofinanced equally by ADB and the Government of Finland. It is the second conference on the disabled, following a meeting held at ADB Headquarters in 1999.

Noting that the UN/ESCAP Asia and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (1993-2002) is ending, Senator Yashiro concluded his speech with a plea for a new era of work on the issue. "For us as persons with disabilities, the 21^st century begins now", he said.

The workshop web site can be viewed here.

Earlier story, Workshop seeks new deal for disabled.

CONTACTS

Isabel Ortiz
Senior Social Economist
Asian Development Bank

Emilie Ballares
Workshop Secretariat
Asian Development Bank
Phone: + 632 632 4444
Fax: + 632 636 2444
Email: DisabilityWorkshop@adb.org