Human Rights of Costa Rican Children with Disabilities
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens, (lferag@racsa.co.cr)
Forum for Human Rights for People with Disabilitie
In spite of the progress in legal aspects concerning disability in the country, Costa Rican children with disabilities suffer the same discrimination and social isolation that adults do.
Nearly 400 thousand of the 4 million inhabitants of this Central American country are people with disabilities. Approximately 21% of them are younger than 18.
As the UN Special Rapporteur for Persons with Disabilities, Bengt Lindqvist, from Sweden reported during his visit to the country two years ago, Costa Rica has an advanced legislation with a limited enforcement. Essentially, this situation translates into human rights violations, especially in regards to economic, social and cultural rights.
Legislative Progress
In May 1996, Congress passed the Act for Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities (Act No 7600) that includes a series of guidelines towards improving living conditions among this population. The group of human rights promoted and protected by this legislation represents important progress in the legal area.
The way in which this Act is written opens possibilities in the areas of access to education, labour market, public transportation, architecture and urban areas, information and communication, recreation, and culture and sports. In spite of this, five years after its passing, real advances are as limited as they are worrisome. A huge void exists between the identified rights and their actual day to day implementation.
Exactly five years after the bill became law (May 29, 2001), the Foro por los Derechos Humanos de las Personas con Discapacidad (Forum for Human Rights of People with Disabilities), a coalition of non-governmental organizations and people with disabilities, stated that "the advances have been superficial, reversible, and have not been able to change the lives among the great majority of the nearly 400 thousand people that form the Costa Rican disability population." The Foro also stated that, "Just as indicated by the Defensoría de los Habitantes (Population Defense), we continue to be one of the most segregated population sectors in the country."
We should point out that the Costa Rican government strengthened this legislation when it ratified the American Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination against People with Disabilities. This ratification was accomplished in December 1999, and it integrates this important agreement into the Costa Rican juridical system, even though it is not valid anywhere else in the Americas.
Likewise, in February 1998, Costa Rica approved the Código de la Niñez y la Adolescencia (Children and Youth Act), which, within the legislation, strengthens these age groups' rights.
"DEL DICHO AL DERECHO... HAY MUCHO TRECHO" (FROM WORD TO LAW... THERE IS A LOT OF DISTANCE)
In a general overview, comparing relevant aspects of the guidelines and its effective implementation will allow us to better describe the real situation of children with disabilities' human rights in Costa Rica. Let us see.
In the area of education, although the government grants timely access "to people without considering their disability, from early encouragement to post secondary education" (Article 14, Act 7600), this right mostly disappears if all continued claims regarding the denial of registration to children and youth, just because of their disabilities, are taken into account.
The rule that protects the right to education for people with disabilities states that this guideline includes not only public, but private schools in all forms of the National Educational System"; but students with disabilities continue to be rejected both by public and private schools. This situation has affected children and youth with Down syndrome and other perception or mental deficiencies.
Similarly, the few advances in the changes of the physical and architectural setting so as to achieve accessibility for all people in public and private academic institution make it highly difficult and has proved to be discouraging to children and youth with disabilities to go into the classroom.
It is also beneficial to indicate that many teachers are perhaps unknowingly biased against students with disabilities. When they assert they cannot accept students with disabilities in their classrooms, they posit statements such as "We were not prepared to teach this kind of people", or "We do not have the time needed to give them special attention."
In terms of health, even though Costa Rica presents partial successes that places her at the forefront of Latin America in the field of rehabilitation of children with disabilities, the country reveals important voids. For example, even though there is a National Children's Hospital (public), its leadership has stubbornly refused to enlarge its specialized services in the area of child rehabilitation.
The issue is that the National Hospital for Rehabilitation (CENARE) was created and operates to serve rehabilitation of adults, leaving children with disabilities without specialized services to adequately treat their needs.
Likewise, the excessive centralizing of services of health services (all of them in San José, the capital city) adversely affects the scope and quality of treatment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities in rural areas.
In other areas related to accessibility, children must face the same problems and the same situations of failed accessibility that the rest of the population with disabilities faces. This is true for public transportation. The very fact that the institution responsible for enforcing the guidelines for accessible transportation (Dept. of Public Works and transportation - MOPT) has not complied with Act 7600, creates the situation whereby the country has no appropriate buses for people with disabilities, and specially those who have mobility impediments. This not only affects adults, but also children and youth.
This lack of accessibility is quite rampant in several areas such as physical spaces, communications (for deaf people), and information (for blind people), access to sports fields and recreation, museums, theatres, movie houses, libraries, etc.
From Myth to Reality
Not that there is no progress. There has been limited progress at a very slow pace. This results, largely, because in the Government and public institutions in general are pervaded by an outdated understanding of what disability means, based on pity, beneficence and social welfare.
Therefore, instead of focusing on fulfilling the existing progressive guidelines, actions promoted are actions belonging to the past that call for "citizenry pity" and not for the Government's commitments toward children and youth with disabilities.
While this situation exists, the rights of people with disabilities and, specially the rights of children not only will not be insured, but also will continue to be a beautiful and tantalizing vision on a distant horizon.
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