Disability Buzz: Top 10 international stories of 2003

After some virtual meetings with virtual hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, the editors of DisabilityWorld arrived at a consensus about the top 10 stories of 2003, selected for their international impact.:

1. The achievement of activists from around the world in convincing the United Nations to assign a large number of seats to disability NGOs from developed and developing countries on the drafting group for the disability rights convention. The drafting group is starting its first meeting in New York as this issue of DW is posted:


2. The growing influence of African and other politicians elected to represent disability concerns in parliaments or appointed to serve as disability ministers or in other high governmental offices, as reported in issue #20 of DisabilityWorld;


3. A marked renewed interest in international adaptations of independent living, especially evident in Asia where some countries have had the opportunity to learn from Japan through scholarships and exchanges, and in Europe where the first international collection of reports on IL was published in Spanish. This issue of DW features a translation of the new book's chapter on IL in Latin America: "Adapting a first world philosophy to third world realities;"


4. Gradual emergence of disability and development as a serious topic on the agenda of government ministries for foreign assistance or international cooperation, given impetus by international disability NGOs and supported by the World Bank and regional development banks;


5. Signals that a new genre of "disability realism" is entering the media mainstream, first noted in the Iranian films, "Color of Paradise" and "A Time for Drunken Horses, then somewhat cautiously with "Frida," followed by the recent critical favorite, "The Station Agent."The disability aspects portrayed in these films are neither sugar coated nor overly dramatized, but have refreshing degrees of realism;"


6. Employment of people with disabilities remained stagnant with countries all over the world continuing to report from 65-80% unemployment rates, regardless of type or level of economy;


7. Encouraging reports continued to be filed from Latin America in 2003, documenting a major upsurge in countries with new disability legislation, a new regional advocacy network with commitment to joint actions, ranging from an international conference in Cuba on disability rights to the XIII Iberian-American Summit that met in November 15, 2003, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, bringing together the Heads of State of 21 Countries proclaiming 2004 as the Iberian-American Year of Disability; and pressure on the Organization of American States (OAS) to begin implementing its disability anti-discrimination treaty;


8. As in 2002, 2003 was also remarkable for the wide array of protests, marches and other civil actions around the world, starting last January with resistance from Australian advocates to an expensive visit by Christopher Reeve arranged by their government; to demonstrations in Costa Rica, India and Kenya about broken promises by governments and lack of implementation of disability legislation; to marches in Britain, Canada and continental Europe against the war in Iraq; protests in the U.S. against the appointment of high court judges considered hostile to the Americans with Disabilities Act; and concluding in December with the General Union of Disabled People in Palestine utilizing the International Day of Disabled Persons to call attention to the inaccessibility of society;


9. Increased international involvement of people with cognitive impairments in conferences, events and organizations representing their interests, notably the 10th Asian Conference on Mental Retardation in Tokyo and the UN working group on the forthcoming disability conventions; and


10. Increased media coverage and exposure of situation of people with psychiatric or emotional impairments, including a new study released in U.K. on December 14 stating that "more than two thirds of people with mental disorders in developed and developing countries have no access to treatment," international spotlights on abuse of institutionalized people in Paraguay and Russia, and an in-depth New York Times exposure of maltreatment and abuse of institutionalized persons statewide.

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