There is no clear government commitment toward the population of persons with disabilities in Costa Rica
Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens, IID (lferag@racsa.co.cr)
Reflections on Reality on December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities
This December 3, International Day of People with Disabilities, is an appropriate moment to reflect on the real compliance with the Costa Rican Law on Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, Law 7600.
This Law was approved on May, 1996 and Regulations were approved in March, 1998. The hopes and expectation of the more than 400,000 persons with disabilities and their families in the country are still unmet. Furthermore, the expectations that were generated in the disability community when the President Abel Pacheco mentioned the topic in two occasions during his inauguration speech, last May 8, gradually vanished. Concrete actions were expected to allow real advances, pursuant to the dispositions of the Law 7600, yet these are not implemented.
The Law 7600 and its Regulations clearly indicated the changes to be undertaken in the different services to advance equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. But some of the compliance terms provided by the law have expired and others are about to expire. These terms are time periods within which the corresponding agencies should meet the concrete actions indicated by the law, yet they keep postponing such compliance.
Day by day persons with disabilities must confront an endless number of barriers and attitudes that are obstacles to their development and threaten their rights to equal opportunities. Therefore they frequently become victims of the various forms of discrimination and social exclusion. The lack of accessibility to physical spaces, where vital services should be available, has become the norm rather the exception. Let us take a brief tour of the chapters of the Law 7600 and comment up to what point the basic need of persons with disabilities are or should be met as it is stated.
Education
In the field of education for persons with disabilities, though some progress was made, it has been limited. Still there are public and private educational centers where admission is denied to children with disabilities. Many parents of children with Down's Syndrome and other disabilities have confronted this intolerable situation.
Many teachers and staff of Costa Rican educational centers exhibit prejudice and rejection regarding disability.
The majority of our schools, high schools and public and private universities, and vocational centers are far from being accessible according to the law.
Education is a key factor for social mobility and development for the population of persons with disabilities. Under prevailing conditions of lack of budget allocation, and programs to effectively meet the needs of present and future students with disabilities, our educational system is far from fulfilling its role.
Work/Employment
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security (Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, MTSS) and other agencies related to the productive activity and work force, are not developing job promotion programs having any real impact on access to jobs for the population of persons with disabilities. We are simply not employing qualified persons who can and want to work.
At present, the Costa Rican open unemployment rate is near 7%. This figure would be four or five times higher for persons with disabilities in working age.
The same situation in reflected in the figures provided by the National Employment Administration of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security: only 15 of every 100 persons with disabilities, filing for work, find a job.
The prevailing prejudice experienced by persons with disabilities in the private and public sectors constitutes a majoring obstacle to hiring, particularly for those persons with extensive disabilities even though they may be equally productive.
The Law 7600 does not contemplate mandatory hiring of persons with disabilities by public institutions of public agencies. The Costa Rican legislation, unlike some other countries, does not include a quota system. This means that job placement of persons with disabilities is highly dependent on very strong job promotion efforts, which are not being performed.
A special mention must be made about the job training and work opportunities of the 16 sheltered workshops that exist in Costa Rica. These workshops have received limited government support, they need adequate legislation for their actions and protection which at present are provided in different regions of our country by a group of non-governmental organizations. Their actions benefit several hundreds of persons with disabilities, which would be lost without this type of sheltered centers.
During the past two years, these sheltered workshops have been operating as a network, and recently through the newly-constituted National Federation of Sheltered Workshops.
Health
Costa Rican rehabilitation services are limited and excessively centralized. Children with disabilities develop complications and there is an increase in their morbid-mortality due to lack of an integral attention and there is not enough trained personnel in this field.
There is an enormous problem for children needing rehabilitation services. This is because the National Rehabilitation Center, the main provider of these services in the country, has developed functions focusing on the adult population, whereas the National Children's Hospital (Hospital Nacional de Niños) does not want to provide rehabilitation services for children on an ongoing basis. The National Children's Hospital has centered its activities on hospital care and the prevention of disabilities, with a lot of prejudice in the background.
Women with disabilities do not receive an adequate attention to their health, including the lack of reproductive health services. Again, prejudice is in the background: Women feel that health authorities openly or indirectly, talk them into not having children.
The Law 7600 indicates that the State, through the Costa Rican Social Security System (Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social, CCSS) must provide, not just health and complete rehabilitation services but the technical aids and support services for persons with disabilities needing them and who can not afford them. Causing an enormous damage to persons with disabilities, this government institution is not providing the technical aids and support services. This deficit should not have to be met by private charity organizations, it is a government responsibility for which people pay taxes.
Physical accessibility
The majority of the private and public buildings where public services are provided, including sidewalks, bus terminals and just about all parks do not offer accessibility for persons with disabilities. This general lack of accessible environments has become a threat to the right to free circulation. We can not even enjoy natural resources because there are many sports and recreation places where there is no accessibility.
Some advances are on their way, together with the Costa Rican Ministry of the Environment and Energy (Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, Minae), the Earth Council (Consejo de la Tierra), and the Costa Rican Federation of Persons with Disabilities (Federación Costarricense de Organizaciones de Personas con Discapacidad, FECODIS), have been detecting and introducing changes to tourist, parks, and recreational facilities to make them fully accessible.
Public transportation
Public transportation constitutes one of the examples of repeated negligence and governmental non-compliance with Law 7600. The Costa Rican legislation establishes that the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes, MOPT) has to perform an important role regarding accessibility to public transportation (particularly buses and taxis), including boarding terminals.
In both of these fields actions have been superficial and insufficient. In Costa Rica, though public transportation services are provided by the private sector, companies must have the corresponding concession from the Public Transportation Council of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation. This Council has the faculties to award, revoke, renew or cancel the concessions pursuant to legal dispositions that private companies must comply with. This public agency has not been concerned with making sure that its sub-contactors provide transportation services with the accessibility measures mandated by the Law 7600
The Costa Rican Law of Equal Opportunities provided that within 7 years from its approval every vehicle destined for public transportation must be made accessible for persons with disabilities, including those using wheelchairs. This term will have ended in six months, and of the more than 5,500 buses existing in our country, only 2 recently bought buses are accessible.
The private companies, through their transportation leaders, have expressed that the Law 7600 is very exaggerated and that the provision of accessibility for all is very expensive. Hiding themselves behind this type of excuses, these companies have not even started to make the adaptations mandated by the law. They constitute a very strong pressure group; this explains why the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation does not comply with the law. That is why we do not have a completely accessible transportation system in Costa Rica. The companies say accessibility is expensive and the government is negligent by not executing the full force of the law.
Last year, this serious situation moved the Costa Rican Forum for Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities to file a joint demand with the Center for Justice and International Law, against the Costa Rican State at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, because there is no accessible public transportation in Costa Rica.
Information and communication
The changes to allow participation in public information and communication by persons with sensory disabilities are also far from meeting the expectations and obligations established on Law 7600 and pertinent legal instruments.
Conceived as a support services to which all deaf persons should be entitled according to the law, the Costa Rican Sign Language (Lengua de Señas Costarricense, LESCO), is used in a very limited manner at public institutions which must provide information and communication services. Deaf users still have a hard time conducting their activities at public institutions, and many times they do not receive the attention they need.
With respect to television stations, they do not completely comply with the law which establishes that they must include Costa Rican Sign Language or subtitles in their news cast and public announcements. Some of them just do this symbolically for a short time in the morning news.
On their part, persons who are blind experience serious problems moving around places where they do not find information in Braille, not to mention the lack of materials printed in Braille and sound tapes at schools and libraries. Some sound signals to cross the street have symbolically been placed in the capital and in some provinces, but there is still a lot to be done to ensure persons who are blind and partially sighted their right to live with inclusion in our society.
Though it has performed many efforts the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, ICE), Costa Rica's public agency in charge of providing telephone services, is also mandated by the Law 7600 to provide telephone communication for deaf users. It does so by dialing the 137 number. This service should be improved. On the other hand, many telephone booths are not accessible for persons using wheelchairs or who are not tall.
Accessibility to most public and private libraries, and to the services they provide, must be greatly improved. It is not just a matter of improvising a ramp here and there or having a willing guard helping users reach the front desk. Though plans and efforts have been announced, there is still much to be done. There is also a serious lack of materials in Braille and audio tapes, and the physical space and furniture needs to be improved to meet the needs of library users with disabilities.
Culture, recreation and sports
Though the Law 7600 established that "the physical spaces where cultural, sports, and recreational activities are conducted must be accessible for all persons" this disposition is repeatedly violated. People with disabilities have to face many obstacles when attending places like stadiums, parks, and concert halls, perhaps this explains why sports and arts have not made much progress, other than individual participants here and there. There is a serious lack of accessible sports and recreational and cultural facilities in our country. At times, if persons using wheelchairs find a way to get in to a gym, then they are told that they cannot play basketball, because the wheel may cause damage.
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