A Backward Glance at the Best of 2004

This compilation is an effort of the DisabilityWorld staff to record some of the most productive and creative efforts of the last year or 15 months.

Legislation

The 2005 Omnibus Appropriations legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 2004 on the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, for the first time spelled out the commitment to ensuring that new construction and major projects in those countries will be accessible to people with disabilities. In February 2005 the U.S. State Department issued a public statement that its disability policy would now be in effect agency-wide and several public meetings are planned to discuss implementation. The legislation requires that the Secretary of State and USAID each designate a disability advisor. The policy, first issued in 1997 by then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities, is the result of more than a decade of persevering work by international disability advocates.

New Media

Among all the new interactive CD Roms, Open Futures: Roles Models for Youth with Disabilities is a standout. After meticulous research to identify and interview around 50 talented disabled individuals who are employed in a wide range of jobs and careers, some very competent staff of InfoUse edited and presented all the information in an appealing format, supported by video and audio clips. Open Futures starts from the assumption that adolescents with disabilities are looking for the same type of career guidance other adolescents are: role models, tips, frank questions and answers -and bundles this all up into an enjoyable and believable package. It is refreshingly free of the usual condescending "lessons" aimed at adolescents and of the tendentious jargon common to the vocational rehab field. It also can be ordered with two associated videos aimed at employers and disabled individuals, illuminating variations on the same theme of what to expect from the world of work. Check it out: www.infouse.com

Conferences

It would be hard to beat the world class line up of disability expertise assembled for the World Bank's second conference on disability and development held in Washington, D.C. at Bank headquarters last December. The keynote was Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who made a clear case for factoring in the extra costs of living with a disability. A particularly impressive panel was devoted to the intersection of AIDS and disability in Africa, with stark reports from disability activists in South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia. More details about the conference and other World Bank disability projects: www.worldbank.org/disability

From all reports (including one appearing in this issue of DisabilityWorld) the end of year Universal Design conference held in everyone's favorite city by the sea, Rio de Janeiro, also lived up to high expectations. Led by Brazil, participants representing countries in the South played key roles in the conference. Check out the proceedings: www.designfor21st.org/proceedings

Films & disability images

At the end of 2003 Station Agent with the remarkable actor, Peter Dinklage, set the bar higher for integrating disability themes into a mainstream film. The quirky, humorous buddy film managed to incorporate the daily realities of how some disabled people are still treated in post-ADA America, while underscoring Dinklage's central role as the most balanced character in the film. This may be a first - Dinklage is a first rate actor who has a disability, something the mainstream casting directors have reportedly had difficulties in locating...hoping to see a lot more of him.

In 2004 the competition includes Ray, which did not utilize a disabled actor, but neither sidestepped nor exaggerated the factor of blindness in the life and career of Ray Charles. We were not impressed with the portrayal of mental illness of Howard Hughes in The Aviator , resorting mostly to a Hollywoodian mélange of odd and/or dangerous behaviors.

Moscow's 2 nd international disability film festival , held last November, was by all reports an extraordinary event and the credit goes to Perspektiva, a disability rights advocacy group working to reduce physical and attitudinal barriers. Following the Moscow event, now held every other year, Perspektiva has developed a successful national media campaign, taking Festival winners to rural regions throughout Russia. In each city, the mini-festival is used to raise public awareness about disability issues, drawing large numbers of advocates, parents and allies of people with disabilities.

Human Rights Initiatives

Although it only rarely breaks into the mainstream news, there is a lot of dedicated and largely unremunerated work going on over at the UN to craft the world's first Convention on Human rights of people with disabilities. At the close of the 5th session of the Ad Hoc Committee (reported elsewhere in this issue), delegates all paid tribute to the leadership of Ambassador Luis Gallegos of Chile, who has shepherded the work from the beginning and will now take up the post of Chile's Ambassador to Australia. The pace can be excruciating as sometimes each word must be negotiated, but most delegates feel that the efforts are paying off.

Books

In 2004 a book by DisabilityWorld reporter William Rowland of South Africa was published: Nothing About Us Without Us: Inside the Disability Rights Movement of South Africa. Containing a number of illustrations, DisabililtyWorld articles and other material by Rowland, this is the first book about the disability rights movement in South Africa. It is available for US$14.20 from the publisher: UNISA which will take credit card orders by fax: 27 (12) 429-3449. It is also available in Braille and audio editions.

As many readers will know, the origin of the slogan, "Nothing About Us Without Us," has long been discussed since it was first used in the early 1980s by disability rights groups. It is often attributed to Southern African disability rights groups but some South Africans recall hearing it first from Eastern Europeans at disability rights conferences. There is a Polish law of 1505 that translates into this slogan (meant to establish that the King could not pass laws without going through the Sejm or Parliament) which has long been used as a touchstone of democracy there, re-launched and well-publicized in the early 1980s by the Solidarity movement of Polish laborers. It is possible that Eastern European disability activists introduced this rallying cry to international meetings, where it may have found particularly deep resonance in South Africa's fledgling movement to include disability activism in the struggles against apartheid.

Whatever the origin and travel route of the slogan, this book by one of the earliest South African disability rights activists is a unique documentation of a unique struggle, resulting in the recognition of disability activism by Nelson Mandela's and subsequent South African governments.

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