Disabled Politicians & Policy Makers Address Popular Workshop on Governance, RI African Conference, Durban, October 1-3
By Barbara Duncan (bjdnycla@aol.com)
An impressively articulate and forceful group of politicians and policy makers with disabilities from Malawi, Lesotho, South Africa, Norway and the U.S. kept an audience of approximately 100 spellbound for nearly five hours on October 2. The workshop on "Emerging Voices: Disabled People in Government and Governance" was part of Rehabilitation International's regional African Conference, held October 1-2 in the seaside city of Durban.
The workshop was organized by the World Institute on Disability as an activity of the International Disability Exchanges And Studies (IDEAS) project, supported by the U.S. National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Kathy Martinez, Deputy Director of WID, set the scene for the workshop, which had been planned in collaboration with William Rowland, President of the South African National Council for the Blind and RI staff.
Held as a parallel session, the workshop attracted so many participants that the room had to be doubled in size during the tea break. Apparently it was the first opportunity for many of the African conference participants to discuss issues with their political representatives in person and they peppered the speakers with questions and comments.
First Session: Politicians
The workshop was structured in two sessions, the first devoted to the experiences and impact of elected or appointed disabled politicians, and the second an examination of how various disability policy structures were working at the highest levels. Chaired by Judy Heumann, Disability Policy Advisor to the World Bank, the first session featured the following speakers: Moses Masemene, Minister of Justice, Lesotho; Susan Chitimbe, Minister Responsible for Disabled Persons, Malawi and Wilma NewHoudt-Druchen, M.P., South Africa. Although the three have very different disabilities, they had experienced some of the same problems of accessibility of parliaments, of official buildings and of information: Minister Masemene spoke about how his need for Braille documents had to be constantly explained and justified; Member of Parliament NewHoudt-Druchen told of how she was forced to make a special appeal to other parliamentarians so that her sign language interpreter was allowed on the floor; and Minister Chitimbe described how difficult it was to carry out a day's duties on crutches without becoming overly fatigued.
For the most part, however the three speakers concentrated on the progress they felt they were making, both in advancing disability rights and services in their countries and in changing attitudes about the capabilities of disabled persons though their activities as role models and mentors. Examples given were a new amendment to the Broadcasting law in South Africa, requiring the main television network, SABC, to improve access to programming for people with disabilities; and efforts in Malawi to empower disabled people's organizations (DPOs) to take a more active part in civil society and politics. The Minister of Justice from Lesotho reminded the audience that his responsibilities were not just to the Kingdom's disability constituency but to promote justice for all in a way that was inclusive. M.P. NewHoudt-Druchen commented that this was indeed a major challenge-to learn to be an effective parliamentarian or minister, not just an effective representative of disabled people. Minister Chitimbe said that more disabled people must go into politics as this is one way to demonstrate competency, " directly countering most people's perception of us as incompetent and unable."
At the close of the first session, Shuaib Chalklen, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the African Disability Decade, commented that the challenge of building political acumen and the exchange of this type of experience across the continent would be a central issue during the African Decade and he could envision the creation of a group of African politicians with disabilities. He noted news of disabled political appointees in Uganda, Namibia and Zambia, as well as the countries represented in the Governance workshop. Minister Masemene announced that an African Disability Convention would be put forward at a regional meeting in Rwanda.
Second Session: Policy Structures
The second session took a closer look at how disability policy structures are evolving and how they interface with the highest levels of national governments. This session was chaired by Albert Peters, Secretary General of the Kwazulu Natal Federal Council on Disability, South Africa and speakers were: Sebenzile Matsebula, Director of the Office on the Status of Disabled People, based in the Presidency, South Africa; Lars Odegaard, Secretary General of the Norwegian Association of the Disabled; and Charlotte McClain, Commissioner, South African Human Rights Commission.
Again, presentations and discussions were detailed and intense, demonstrating that substantial progress had been made in the last few years in establishing mechanisms to advance disability policy with clearer channels of input and more transparent processes. The elevation of disability issues to "status offices within the Presidency" (South Africa, Mexico) or to federally-supported national disability councils (Scandinavian countries, U.S.) and the addition of disability issues to the portfolios of national human rights commissions (about 30 countries on all continents)
Matsebula outlined the four processes or responsibilities of the South African Office on the Status of Disabled Persons: coordination, facilitation, monitoring and evaluation. Working together, these sectors developed an Integrated Disability Strategy. Her office also provides training to governmental officials on how to integrate disability concerns into departmental portfolios, and will provide oversight for the African Disability Decade.
McClain, a human rights lawyer, traced the rise of the growing international acceptance of reframing disability rights as human rights. Acknowledging how some see discussions about human rights as just more verbiage, especially in developing countries, she gave examples of how rights can impact reality and quoted Nobel Prize economist Amartya Sen, who pointed out that a famine has never taken place where there is a free media. McClain also challenged the group that it was now time for "the movement to transcend disability politics and to start to see all the basic rights as indivisible and interconnected." She said, "It is artificial to pigeonhole disability-if you only focus on the disability stream, you won't see the broader connections between alleviation of poverty and equality."
Odegaard gave a power point overview of how the Norwegian National Association of the Disabled impacts policy through its 23,000 members-driven initiatives, including anti-discrimination legislation and projects in developing countries, mostly in Africa. Knowing that most people thought of Norway as an advanced country concerning disability issues, he commented that his country was one where the government would gladly give you a free wheelchair, but you couldn't go anywhere, compared to the U.S., for example, where the government rarely gave you a wheelchair, but you could go everywhere. In summary, he felt the main job of NAD was to keep reminding disabled Norwegians that the status quo was to make you more comfortable in your own home, but not in society and to insist that government become more supportive of the right of disabled children and adults to become part of their communities.
Future Directions
The issue of Governance will continue to be pursued through the IDEAS Project for the next year. A consultant has been hired to conduct interviews with disabled persons around the world who have been appointed or elected to high level offices; the papers from the Durban seminar will appear in future issues of DisabilityWorld; and a follow-up seminar has been tentatively planned for the RI World Congress in Oslo in June, 2004.
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