Resources

Center for International Rehabilitation reports: Disability and Early Tsunami Relief Efforts in India, Indonesia and Thailand and Regional Report on Asia
In September 2005, the U.S. based Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR) released an overview of Disability and Early Tsunami Relief Efforts in India, Indonesia and Thailand.  The report, a joint project of the CIR and the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability, evaluated the availability and accessibility of critical services for people with disabilities during the phases of relief and reconstruction after the December 2004 tsunami and examined how governments, international relief organizations and local disability organizations responded to the needs of people with disabilities in the aftermath of the tsunami.

In August 2005, CIR released its second International Disability Rights Monitor Regional Report, IDRM: Regional Report on Asia. The report was presented to the United Nations in August 2005 during the 6th meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the proposed international convention on the rights of people with disabilities. Compiled over the course of 12 months, the Regional Report of Asia found that of the seven countries examined, in general Japan and China are the most inclusive for people with disabilities, while India and Cambodia are the least inclusive. Findings included: the majority of the countries covered have comprehensive disability laws and policies designed to improve the status of people of with disabilities, but people with disabilities still face exclusion on a daily basis; none of the countries were found to provide adequate basic protections in all of the categories measuring the actual implementation of disability rights; and the areas of accessibility, education and employment showed the greatest disparity between rights and reality.

Produced in partnership with Disabled Peoples International, the report includes country reports on Cambodia, China, India, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. IDRM regional reports are compiled by local IDRM researchers in each of the countries evaluated and focus on key areas such as legal protections, education and employment, accessibility, and health and housing services for people with disabilities. Regional reports also include a report card that compares the progress made by countries across each region. For more information, visit http://www.cirnetwork.org/idrm/index.cfm.

Landmine Monitor Report 2005—Use of Landmines and Number of Casualties Decrease But Immense Challenges Remain
Global use of antipersonnel mines and the number of reported mine casualties have fallen, according to the 1,053-page Landmine Monitor Report 2005—the seventh annual report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). International funding for mine action increased to $399 million in 2004, and 135 square kilometers of mine-affected land were cleared.

But immense challenges remain. Over 200,000 square kilometers of the world are likely contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), and an estimated 15,000-20,000 people are maimed or killed by mines and UXO each year. The number of landmine survivors needing assistance continues to increase.

"At the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in November 2004, the global community re-affirmed its commitment to eradicating antipersonnel mines," said ICBL Ambassador Ms. Jody Williams, who shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with the ICBL. "Although we are making great strides in our work to rid the world of this weapon, we need to do even more. We must continue to transform political commitments into concrete action to ensure that antipersonnel mines are removed within the 10-year treaty mandated deadline, and to ensure that landmine survivors receive the assistance they need," she said.

Since the last Landmine Monitor report, four countries joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, including Ethiopia, which is heavily mine-affected, as well as Bhutan, Latvia and Vanuatu. There are 147 States Parties to the treaty, and an additional seven countries have signed but not yet ratified. Forty countries remain outside the treaty, including China, Russia and the United States. The Mine Ban Treaty comprehensively prohibits use, production, and trade of antipersonnel mines, requires destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines within four years, and requires clearance of mined areas within 10 years.

Use of antipersonnel mines around the world has continued to decrease. "Myanmar, Nepal and Russia deserve strong condemnation as the only governments to lay antipersonnel mines in 2005," said Stephen Goose of Human Rights Watch, Landmine Monitor's Ban Policy Coordinator. In 2004, those same three countries used antipersonnel mines and there was also strong evidence of use by Georgian forces, though the government denies it.

Non-state armed groups are now the primary users of antipersonnel mines. This year's Landmine Monitor Report cites use of antipersonnel mines by such groups in 13 countries, compared to 16 in last year's report. Rebel use was especially widespread in Colombia, Myanmar (Burma) and Nepal. In a positive development, the Polisario Front in Western Sahara agreed to ban antipersonnel mines on 3 November 2005.

Landmine Monitor identifies 13 countries as producing or retaining the right to produce antipersonnel mines, a dramatic drop from over 50 mine-producing countries in the past. Egypt and Iraq were removed from the list of antipersonnel mine producers in this reporting period, due to new statements and information provided by those governments. The virtual cessation of global trade in antipersonnel mines has been maintained, as Landmine Monitor found no confirmed instances of antipersonnel mine transfers in the last year.

Destruction of antipersonnel mine stockpiles by States Parties has rid the world of some 400,000 mines since the last Landmine Monitor report. Seventy-one States Parties have completed stockpile destruction, including Algeria on 21 November 2005. In total, States Parties have destroyed more than 38.3 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines. Non-signatories to the treaty continue to hold an estimated 160 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines.

At least 84 countries are affected by landmines and/or unexploded ordnance, of which 54 are States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. Countries with the largest mine-affected areas include Laos, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Cambodia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2004, at least 135 square kilometers of mine-affected land were cleared. Afghanistan reported clearance of the largest amount of mined land (33.3 square kilometers), followed by Cambodia (32 square kilometers). At least 140,000 antipersonnel mines, 50,000 antivehicle mines, and some 3 million items of UXO were destroyed during clearance operations in 2004.

However, some States Parties appear not to be on course to meet their treaty-mandated deadlines for clearance of mined areas, including eight of the 14 States Parties with 2009 deadlines—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chad, Croatia, Denmark, Niger, Swaziland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom (in respect of the Falklands)—as well as Cambodia with a deadline of 1 March 2010. "Comprehensive national plans and sustained funding are needed to ensure that all mine-affected areas are cleared as quickly and efficiently as possible," said Ms. Sara Sekkenes of Norwegian People's Aid and Research Coordinator for Mine Action.

Mine risk education (MRE) programs expanded in many countries and became better integrated with clearance and other mine action activities. Landmine Monitor recorded MRE in 61 countries, and 6.25 million people received MRE in 2004. No MRE activities were recorded in 25 mine-affected countries. "Resources are needed to ensure that MRE programs can continue to target those most at-risk from mines and UXO until mine clearance is complete," said Andy Wheatley of Handicap International and Research Coordinator for Mine Risk Education.

In 2004-2005, new landmine and UXO casualties were reported in 58 countries (eight less than the previous reporting period). Landmine Monitor identified over 6,521reported new landmine/UXO casualties in 2004, compared to 8,065 in 2003. The number of reported new mine and UXO casualties has dropped significantly in some mine-affected countries. Given the lack of reliable records and under-reporting, Landmine Monitor estimates that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 new landmine and UXO casualties each year.

"The number of landmine survivors continues to grow," said Sheree Bailey of Handicap International and the Research Coordinator for Victim Assistance. "The majority of an estimated 300,000-400,000 landmine survivors need ongoing access to medical care and socioeconomic reintegration services, and in too many countries these services are desperately inadequate to meet growing needs."

GLADNET Research Service Available through Cornell University Partnership
GLADNET is pleased to announce a partnership with the Martin P. Catherwood Library, School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University to provide ILR: Access to the GLADNET community. This service provides comprehensive research services on work related topics as well as document delivery from the library’s extensive collection of books, periodicals, and practitioner resources. For more information about ILR: Access visit http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/ilrAccess/default.html.

International and Comparative Disability Law Web Resources
Disability law has become an international human rights issue. In addition to the United Nations, some regions of the world, as well as individual countries have developed disability rights laws in recent years. These laws differ in their approach, scope, and content. But they all share a commitment to advance the human rights of people with disabilities. Developed to assist researchers and to promote the international work of Syracuse University College of Law’s new Disability Law and Policy Program, the website is one of the first comprehensive bibliographic resources devoted to international and comparative disability laws. The site is currently organized under three broad categories: international disability laws, regional disability laws, and individual countries' disability laws. These divisions are subdivided into smaller categories, under which annotations, primary documents, and links to additional resources may be found. The contents of this website may be browsed and searched using keywords.
http://www.law.syr.edu/lawlibrary/electronic/humanrights.asp

International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Newsflash
The International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IF) is the worldwide umbrella organization for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus created in 1979 by national organizations of people with these impairments and their parents. Today IF's membership consists of national umbrella organizations for Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida in over 40 countries. IF aims to disseminate information and expertise throughout the world to families, individuals, professionals and volunteers involved in the Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida field. To read the latest IF news, visit http://ifglobal.sitehosting.be/home.asp?lang=1&main=1

Access to water and sanitation for disabled people
The Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University published a resource book that provides practical ideas for making water and sanitation facilities more accessible and user-friendly to people with disabilities in developing countries. This book is now available on CD and may be downloaded online. For more information, visit http://www.lboro.ac.uk/wedc/projects/auwsfpdp/index.htm.

A feature of the book is the exploration of disabled people's experiences of inaccessible dwelling spaces, and the role of law and regulation relating to the provision of accessible housing. Legal provisions and processes do little to influence builders to adopt design and construction practices that will provide usable or sustainable dwelling spaces. Rather, they encourage small-scale, incremental, changes to the physical design of housing that are insufficient to provide a context for dignified living or lifestyles for disabled people.

While the book's primary focus is experiences in England and Wales, there is substantial discussion of legal and building practices in the USA in relation to the physical access needs of disabled people.

Accessible Housing Quality, Disability and Design
Rob Imrie, King's College, University of London
September 2005:  Hardback: 0-415-31891-2: £70.00   Paperback: 0-415-31892-0: £35.00  
eBook: 0-203-61673-1: £35.00

Road traffic accidents and disability: A cross-section study from Turkey
By:  Esiyok, Burcu; Korkusuz, Irfan; Canturk, Gurol; Alkan, Hanife Alkurt; Karaman, Asude Gokmen; Hanci, I. Hamit
In  Disability and Rehabilitation, 2005, VOL 27, NO: 21, pp. 1333-1338(6) pub: Taylor & Francis   
IS: 0963-8288

Purpose: To investigate socio-demographic features, lesions which caused disabilities and the rate of disabilities caused by particular lesions and thus to reveal how disabilities are evaluated and general characteristics of disabilities due to road traffic accidents in Turkey. Method . In this study we retrospectively reviewed 563 victims of road traffic accidents evaluated by the Department of Forensic Medicine, Ankara University, between 1 July 1993 and 31 December 2002 to determine whether they had disabilities and to estimate the rate of disabilities. We collected data about age, gender, trials outcomes, affected body parts, surgical interventions, lesions taken into account in estimation of disabilities, the rate of disabilities. Results: 64.7% of the cases were male and 35.3% were female. The mean age of the cases was 33.11 (SD:16.70) years. The most frequently affected body part was lower extremities and 73.6% of lesions taken into account in estimation of the rate of disability were located in the pelvis and lower extremities. Conclusions: In order to prevent these injuries, the mechanisms of the injuries should be determined and to this aim findings obtained at the scene, hospital records and findings obtained at the physical examination of the victims should be linked. Larger studies are needed to determine preventive measures for elimination of the causes of accidents, prevent permanent disabilities, plan education programs and make recommendations about the preventive measures.

New Disability and Poverty Reduction Toolbox - Get involved!
In celebration of the UN International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3, the Global Partnership for Disability and Development Working Group on Poverty Reduction and Disability is launching a new website or 'toolbox' (http://www.stakes.fi/sfa/disabilityandpoverty) to facilitate the inclusion of disability matters and disabled people in poverty reduction strategies.

Persons with disabilities make up 15-20 % of the poor people in developing countries. However, poverty reduction strategies have usually not addressed disability issues adequately, most not at all, as shown by the ILO study Disability and Poverty Reduction Strategies (PDF doc).

The achievement of poverty reduction goals, sustained economic growth and social development is not possible if the prevention of disabling living and working conditions and the active participation of disabled people and their families are not explicitly addressed in poverty reduction strategies.

The Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) is a multi-stakeholder platform. Its aim is to bring together relevant partners, who have not yet worked together with the objective of promoting inclusive social and economic development towards poverty reduction for people with disabilities.

The pages provide introductions to key issues and links for further resource material and partners:

• Basic facts and figures on disability and poverty
• Guidelines and tools for inclusion
• Good practice around the world
• Links to partner organizations

The site serves as an "an electronic bookshelf" that will be filled by the users. It will provide a platform for exchanging information, managing knowledge and accumulating experience on how to make people with disabilities beneficiaries and agents of action in poverty reduction strategies.

The site is particularly designed to be a participatory working platform for the GPDD members and partners. The now issued "seed site" invites users to contribute their knowledge and expertise to this toolbox.

Get involved!
This toolbox thrives on active participation. Submit your documents or examples of good practice on disability and poverty reduction via email to the Editorial Committee of the Working Group (GPDD)c/o Ms. Ursula Miller of Handicap International: umiller2@handicap-international.de and a copy to Mr. Andreas Pruisken of Christoffel- Blindenmission: Andreas.Pruisken@bm-i.org. 

The site is hosted by STAKES, the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health in Finland and supported financially by the Finnish Government.

The European Disability Action for Mainstreaming Assessment Tool (EDAMAT) Project
The European Year of People with Disabilities (2003) generated great interest and saw concentrated efforts across Europe to create equal opportunities for people with disabilities. However, the reality for most disabled people is that they do not enjoy equal rights and that they are impeded from doing so by discrimination and environmental barriers. The goal of the European Commission Action Plan is to mainstream disability issues into relevant Community policies.  

Despite the positive developments in 2003, there are currently no instruments to measure progress as regards mainstreaming of disability issues.  Good intentions do not necessarily result in good practice; this project, therefore, aims to provide a practical tool so that we can assess how policy makers are addressing the mainstreaming of disability issues.

Project Objectives:

1. To develop a policy assessment tool to benchmark the mainstreaming of disability issues, the European Disability Action for Mainstreaming Assessment Tool (EDAMAT);
2. To create accompanying Advocacy Guidelines for (and by) disability stakeholders so that they can use this tool to influence policy development at various levels (e.g. local, regional, national and European);
3. To disseminate the assessment tool and the advocacy guidelines widely throughout the 25 countries of the EU and amongst disability organisations in candidate countries.

• The Cheshire Foundation in Ireland - Ireland
• KNPD - Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b’Dizabilita - Malta
• Lares da Boa Vondate – Portugal
• Llars de l’Amistat  – Spain
• Leonard Cheshire (Disabled People Forum) – United Kingdom
• RADAR (The Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation) – United Kingdom
• Institute of Social Protection and Solidarity- Greece

Progress to date: Coordinated by one national organization per country, social researchers have completed a literature search and identified existing assessment methods, and collated useful materials for input into a potential framework for the EDAMAT.

At the beginning of the project, in each country involved, a Project Advisory Group was set up with representation of a range of disability stakeholders (policy-makers, advisors, academics, representatives of public bodies and civil society, especially people with disabilities). The Advisory Group in each country has met at least twice to input into the research strategy, finalize content of national gathering of research data, advise on policy assessment and to draw lessons from research activities. The discussions held with the Advisory Groups at national levels have fed into two trans-national project seminars (held in Dublin and Barcelona this year), to ensure regular checks of project progress, exchange of experience, co-ordination of activities and consistency of action for the overall research project.

Research findings have been used as the basis for the first draft of the EDAMAT, which are being drafted for discussion at the next trans-national seminar in Malta, March 2006. Further drafts will then be tested and submitted to the Project Advisory Groups before producing a final version.

Future Project Activities: The tool will be disseminated in published form, via the Internet, at appropriate national and international meetings and presented at a final International Conference (Oct/Nov 2006). It will form the cornerstone of a European website on good practice in mainstreaming, which will be the starting point for further dissemination and replication of activities in other European countries.

The Advocacy Guidelines will be developed from the EDAMAT and be tested and then presented to the final international conference. It will provide support to disabled peoples organizations and networks in playing an effective role in monitoring Governmental progress in mainstreaming.

• The EDAMAT: a means of assessing policy at local, regional, national or European level to determine progress in mainstreaming disability;
• Advocacy Guidelines. A practical guide for organizations representing and of disabled people on how to use the EDAMAT for advocacy purposes;
• Improved policy formulation from the point of view of disabled people, which takes into account disability issues;
• European commentaries comparing and contrasting the findings and outputs from each country, for example the result of testing the EDAMAT on a local policy;
• Strengthened links between disability organizations in Europe and between policy makers and disabled peoples organizations.

• An inception meeting and four trans-national seminars with participating countries, plus invited participants from government, academic institutions, and NGOs in the host country;
• An international dissemination conference with participants from European Institutions and other Member States;
• National round tables or panels in all participating countries, advising on Disability Mainstreaming Assessment.  Participants will include representatives from government, local and regional authorities, academics, NGOs and disabled people.
• A publication with advocacy guidelines on mainstreaming disability issues will be disseminated through collaborating policy makers to a wider audience in local, regional and national government. The publication will be made available to all Member States and also through LCI Networks and posted on specific web sites.
• Press conferences / launches will be held in each participating country.
• Opportunistic dissemination meetings with relevant organizations, policy makers etc. (at national, but also possibly at European level) will be built into the project plan as the project progresses.

For further project details, and project reports, visit the project website at http://edamat.leonard-cheshire.org.            

New online course in disability and visual studies: Visualizing Disability
The Friday Center for Continuing Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is please to announce a new online course in disability and visual studies: Art 80D: Visualizing Disability.

Art 80D focuses on representation of disability in modern and contemporary art history and popular culture. We will investigate the consequences of visual representation on the personal and social lives of disabled people, as well as on the development of public policy. Visual materials we will study include film, commercial advertising, charity depictions, medical images, freak shows, and fine art in a variety of media. Drawing from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies, we will compare and contrast various forms of and contexts for visualizing disability in art and society.

Instructor: Ann Millett, PhD (Email: millett@email.unc.edu), Art Department, UNC-Chapel Hill Credit hours: 3 (elective credit only). Register online at www.fridaycenter.unc.edu.

Carolina Courses Online, offered through UNC-Chapel Hill's William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, are distance education courses on the Web that follow the UNC-Chapel Hill academic calendar. You have access to your class any time from your computer. Class discussion takes place in online discussion forums, and assignments are submitted via e-mail. You do not have to be admitted to the University to enroll in Carolina Courses Online and earn college credit.

AEI promotes both accessible design of pedestrian infrastructure and transport systems and the accessible operation of such systems in a user-friendly and safe manner. Visit our “International resources and web links” section for information on AEI resources and other helpful publications and links. Our Newsletters section gives you the latest information on events and trends in our field.

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