The Handiest Girlie Of All

Bangladesh- Promoting Rights and Dignity of Women with Disabilities

 

Women with disabilities in developing countries typically face great difficulty in accessing education, training, and employment compared to non-disabled females and males. In Bangladesh, women with disabilities face discrimination in multiple ways -- because they are women, because they are persons with disabilities, and because the majority are living in poverty and are illiterate. The isolation and stigma faced by women with disabilities may lead to violence in the home and discrimination in the workplace. Crimes against them often go unreported and criminals escape punishment. The drafters of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognized the inequality and included an article specifically addressing women with disabilities, in addition to mentioning, throughout the text, the importance of other articles to women.

The National Council of Disabled Women (NCDW), a coalition of 92 disabled womens’ organizations, is tackling these challenges. “Women with disabilities are ill-treated and they do not even get a platform to seek justice if they are repressed or fall victim to any form of violence,” said Firoza Akhter Seema of NCDW. “The women victims do not receive justice as they are not even treated as complete human beings. In most cases, the law enforcers do not register the complaint of a woman with disability; they are not considered to be eligible witnesses and they face social stigma every day of their lives.”

Through a grant from the Disability Rights Fund (DRF), the NCDW advocates for the need to protect and promote rights of women with disabilities and recognizes the CRPD as a key instrument for furthering this aim nationally. Their strategy takes multiple tactics. At the national level, they have worked closely with the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and other disabled persons organizations and networks, including the National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled, to harmonize the country’s disability laws to align with the CRPD. Acknowledging that disability is a cross-cutting development issue, they also organized a national roundtable on discrimination in employment practices.

Operating in eight districts, one of NCDW’s community activities in 2010 focused on establishing Violence Prevention Committees and providing training to fight violence against women with disabilities. By starting the committees, and in using the word “Violence,” NCDW is sending a strong message that violence is a problem and that it is not acceptable. According to Firoza Akhter Seema, “Womens’ organizations and human rights organizations focus on violence against women. But they neglect to include women with disabilities in their programs.”

NCDW’s work has started to change the public’s mindset and attitudes about women with disabilities as silent victims or easy targets. On December 2, 2010, NCDW’s members joined a protest against sexual harassment in front of the parliament building. Through such highly public acts, NCDW’s members are refusing to be invisible and are serving as role models for women who might be afraid to come forward. They are also showing womens’ and human rights organizations that disability is a cross-cutting issue: issues that affect other women also affect women with disabilities, sometimes even more so.

NCDW is fiscally sponsored by Action on Disability and Development Bangladesh.

Disabilities Rights Fund

The NHS must accelerate its reforms on treating learning disabled patients

Specialist nurses and regular health checks could help improve care for people with learning disabilities

 

 

When Mencap published its Death by Indifference report in 2007 it sent shockwaves through the health sector. The study contained damning evidence that people with a learning disability were dying unnecessarily due to institutional discrimination in the NHS. Such was the strength of the report it triggered an independent inquiry and an investigation by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman.

Despite these welcome initiatives, five years on from the publication we continue to hear heartbreaking stories of unnecessary pain and death. These cases form the basis of our report published on Wednesday , Death by Indifference – 74 Cases and Counting, which looks at progress that has been made in the NHS. Sadly, it finds that the NHS has still not got to grips with treating people with a learning disability and is putting the lives of patients at risk.

Prejudice, ignorance and indifferenceas well as failure to abide by disability discrimination laws still feature too frequently in the treatment of patients with a learning disability. This is illustrated by the case of Alan MacDonald, who died suddenly in Lister hospital, Hertfordshire, in 2009 after being admitted with stomach cramps. From the time MacDonald was admitted, his family felt that they had "to beg" staff to treat him, only to be met with what they described as "hostility". In a society that prides itself on its universal healthcare system, such treatment is incomprehensible.

We know that regular health checks for people with a learning disability, training for healthcare staff and the appointment of specialist nurses greatly improve health outcomes. Indeed, successive governments have accepted the recommendations of the independent inquiry, which called for these measures. But, as our report shows, efforts to implement them have been slow and in some cases non-existent. Policy may have been changed but practice must follow.

For the most part, health professionals do an incredible job and want the best for each patient – we take heart that more than 200 healthcare organisations have signed up to Mencap's Getting it Right charter – but where progress has been made, it has been patchy or has come about as the result of the avoidable death of a learning disabled patient.

How many people must die before the service takes this issue seriously? At a time when the NHS is going through changes there's a risk that the progress made will be lost, and the health needs and human rights of people with a learning disability left unheaded.

74 Deaths and Counting (ManCap)

 

The Gardian

Stop calling disabled people scroungers

Disabled people are being demonised in the press as “work shy” and “scroungers” and as a result are facing hostility from the public and in some cases physical attacks.

 

In response, the NUJ’s Disabled Members Council has issued a statement urging journalists to operate within our recognised code of ethics, which calls on all NUJ members and media colleagues to “support and sustain fair and balanced reporting of matters relating to disabled people”. 

 

The council talks of a drip feed of stories relating to incapacity benefit fraud, when the facts show it is, at 0.3 per cent, the lowest of all welfare benefit frauds. Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said:

“The NUJ stands up for fair and accurate reporting of disability issues. The union has a long-standing ethical code of conduct and provides reporting guidance to NUJ members.

 

“In the current climate we are asking all journalists to think long and hard before writing stories that whip up hatred against disabled people and those with long term health conditions. The NUJ is opposed to all prejudice and scapegoating based on a person's disability or perceived disability and this includes anyone who is targeted as a result of their physical disability, sensory impairment, learning disability or mental health.

 

“Our disabled members are reporting increased discrimination and physical attacks – so we have issued the following NUJ statement to raise awareness and express our solidarity.” 

 

NUJ Disabled Members Council Statement relating to media coverage of disabled people:

Over the last few months we have seen a continuous drip-feed of stories which have promoted a range of inaccurate and generalised accusations against disabled people with long term health conditions. As a result disabled people have faced greater hostility from the public, with many claiming that they have experienced hostility, discrimination and even physical attacks from strangers.

 

The majority of disabled people actively support legal action against those few who do falsely claim, but equally, Scope, and other charities agree that there is powerful evidence that a "backdrop of negativity" behind the cuts is leading to a rise in hostility and even violence towards some of the most vulnerable in society who fairly and correctly claim benefits. 

 

The Work and Pensions Select Committee on Incapacity Benefit have themselves criticised the Government for the language it uses when it releases and comments on official statistics on the incapacity benefit reassessment programme resulting in some media using terms such as "scrounger" and "work shy". 

 

Further investigation into the Government's own statistics on the incapacity benefit fraud rate reveal that this particular benefit has a fraud rate of 0.3% which is the lowest of all welfare benefits. Disability Living Allowance also has a low rate of 0.5%, again, much lower than other benefit rates.Rather than offering constructive support to disabled people, certain stories and features have portrayed disabled people as unsustainable, unproductive and even not disabled at all, but profiting from fraudulent benefit claims. However, little attention is paid to the poor performance of ATOS Healthcare in respect of their medical assessments which continue to be criticised by UK Parliamentary inquiries as well as by advocacy groups such as the Citizens Advice Bureau. Indeed the UK Department of work and Pensions is reported in 2011 to have by far the highest number of decisions overturned at appeal by any UK Department of State.The NUJ Disabled

Members Council calls on all journalists to continue to operate within our recognised code of ethics, which upholds the rights of all individuals and groups to fair and just representation. In line with our code the Disabled Members Council call on the NEC, all NUJ members and media colleagues to support and sustain fair and balanced reporting of matters relating to disabled people who are increasingly fearful, not just of the cuts being forced on them, but also of the continual demonising of disability.

 

National Journalism Union of Journalism

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Disabled new targets of anti-gay initiatives

Anti-gay activists have added people with disabilities to their targets in the latest attempts to undo Senate Bill 48, also known as the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act.

SB 48 requires that students learn about the historical contributions of LGBT Americans and people with disabilities, among others.

In the coming months, Californians could face multiple bids to gut the state law, which was authored by gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and is set to go into effect January 1.

A proposed initiative reportedly filed with the state attorney general's office Tuesday, December 6, brings to five the total number of efforts to diminish SB 48's impact.

One of the most recent proposals, "Repeal SB48," filed by Richard Rios, chair of the Christian Coalition of California, strikes people with disabilities from the groups whose historical contributions have to be taught to students. In another part of his proposal, Pacific Islanders are removed from the law, among other changes. He previously submitted documents to exclude LGBTs.

Many feel excluding LGBTs and others from the law means children won't get an accurate picture of history.

Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign, a nonprofit that's been part of a coalition supporting SB 48, said Rios "would like to have a law that tells the history of a country that never existed and certainly doesn't now."

It's not clear why Rios, who submitted his latest proposal to the attorney general's office November 21, wants to exclude people with disabilities. He didn't respond to interview requests for this story. When it came to excluding LGBTs, he previously expressed concern over parents' religious beliefs being contradicted.

Whatever his motivation this time, Lauren Steinberg, who has a physical disability and identifies as gay, said Rios's proposal angered her. Steinberg is the systems change advocate for the Berkeley-based Center for Independent Living, which provides support and other services for people with disabilities.

She said Rios's proposal "does students a huge disservice." A child may be the only person in their family, or in their school, who has a disability, she said. If such a student sees positive role models who have similar issues, it opens them up to what's possible in their own lives.

Steinberg pointed to the late Ed Roberts, who co-founded her agency, as an exemplary figure. She said he was denied admission to UC Berkeley because he was "too disabled," but fought back and eventually became director of the state's rehabilitation department. A state of the art campus for people with disabilities located across the street from the Ashby BART station is named after Roberts.

Rios had already submitted another proposal to strike LGBTs from SB 48. He's also filed an initiative proposal that would allow parents to opt their children out of school instruction in social science and family life that conflicts with their moral convictions. Parents can already opt their children out of health lessons. 

Other submissions

On Tuesday, December 6, Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute and its affiliated Capitol Resource Family Impact, said she and other anti-gay activists were submitting their own proposal for the November 2012 ballot.

In an email blast, England said her submission, filed by attorney Kevin Snider, assures that LGBTs aren't excluded from California curriculum. However, she noted that SB 48 prohibits lessons that reflect adversely on LGBTs. England wasn't available for a phone interview, but apparently, she and others don't want positive depictions of LGBTs.

Jack Hibbs, a sponsor of the proposal, said in England's email, "It is unacceptable to require that our schools shine a spotlight on this lifestyle on the one hand and then demand that history books and teachers censor shortcomings on the other."

England recently failed to put a referendum on the ballot next year that would have repealed SB 48. She claims that she came within a few thousand votes of getting the petition signatures she would have needed.

Like Rios, Lou Sheldon also wants to exclude people with disabilities from parts of the law. Sheldon is the chair of the Traditional Values Coalition. On November 22, he submitted "The Bipartisan Initiative to Restore Local School Board Control Act."

In the documents he submitted to the attorney general's office, Sheldon complains that SB 48 takes "from local school boards many important rights and powers essential to local governance and subjecting all California school children to massive new instructional standards."

A message left for Sheldon at Traditional Values Coalition's California headquarters wasn't returned.

Once the proposals by Rios and others enter circulation, they'll have about five months to gather 504,760 valid signatures to get their initiatives on next November's ballot.

Rios has refused to talk about specific fundraising plans, and it's not clear exactly how other anti-gay activists would get the money they need to undo SB 48. It would likely cost millions to hire signature gatherers for all of the proposals.

All of the proposals may be approved for title and summary, and it will be up to backers to decide which initiatives they want to circulate.

 

Quiet coalition

In contrast to the noises being made by anti-gay groups, the coalition working against SB 48 repeal has been fairly quiet lately.

Jacobs said the Courage Campaign is holding off on re-launching its hotline for reporting signature gatherers and taking other steps.

"We want to see where this goes," said Jacobs. "We want to watch and see what happens with any funding."

Equality California, the state's LGBT lobbying group and a coalition leader, co-sponsored the bill, but it's been mired in leadership and financial troubles. The last executive director quit after three months and it has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years.

In an email blast Tuesday, EQCA board Chair Clarissa Filgioun said that if "anti-equality advocates have their way, California schools will instead become a breeding ground for extremism. ... The effect on schools will be chilling and the impact on students – especially LGBT youth – could be devastating."

Carolyn Laub is the executive director of Gay Straight Alliance Network, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that, along with EQCA, co-sponsored SB 48.

Laub, who just returned to work from maternity leave, said her organization's still involved with the coalition.

However, she said, "We're a small organization and we don't have the capacity to run a political campaign." GSA Network has been working to ensure that schools implement the law, though.

 

Bay Area Reporter

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U.K-The demonisation of the disabled is a chilling sign of the times

Demonisation of the disabled affects people whose lives are already difficult. 

Peter Greener endured a barrage of hate from his neighbour. Sometimes, it was eggs thrown at his house, stones thrown at his windows or paint thrown at his fence; more often, it was words hurled in his face: spastic, cripple, scum, scrounger. These assaults went on for months, leaving the former Nissan car-sprayer in floods of tears, feeling suicidal and on antidepressants. He was scared to leave his home in Hebburn in South Tyneside and blamed himself for the upset it caused his wife and two children. "It made our lives hell," he said.

Like many people with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Greener's regressive condition fluctuates. One day, it affects his memory, the next his speech. Sometimes, he uses a wheelchair; at other times, he can haul himself around on crutches. But this only led to more abuse, with angry shouts he was faking his disabilities and exaggerating his problems to get benefits.

A terrible story to shake our heads over and ponder how a person could be so vile, so inhuman, towards someone already suffering a tough time. But the real tragedy of the tale is that it is all too commonplace in this country. The only unusual thing is that the inadequate perpetrator was caught and given a comparatively strong sentence last month.

Yesterday was international day of persons with disabilities, but in this country they remain locked in a state of virtual apartheid. They are forced to the fringes of society, ostracised from things the rest of us take for granted such as getting a job or going on public transport. Such is the estrangement that a survey last week found two-thirds of Britons actively avoid disabled people because they have no idea how to act around them.

The idea of treating them like anyone else is obviously too much for most Britons. But the Greener case highlights something a new and troubling trend in this supposedly tolerant nation. Note the use of the word "scrounger", the spiteful claim that he was faking his disabilities. This kind of abuse is being increasingly heard. With economic storm clouds darkening, disabled people have become easy scapegoats in the age of austerity.

Polls have found substantial increases in the number of disabled people experiencing aggression and abuse, with evidence that the attitudes of the rest of society towards them are worsening. Many disabled people were already scared to go out after dark or travel on public transport such is their justified fear of encountering hostility.

Little wonder many people with disabilities are downbeat. Alice Maynard, chair of the charity Scope and a lifelong wheelchair user, told me she was terrified by the surly mood. "I'm quite an optimistic person by nature, but are we facing a truly ghastly scenario, in which we will live surrounded by hate and with a very limited social care system?"

It is not just the vicious attacks capturing headlines that dislocate lives. Take David Gillon, a software engineer who helped build Eurofighter jets before losing his job three years ago. He walks with crutches and has been physically attacked and regularly shouted at in the street since he slipped and injured his back two decades ago.

Earlier this year, someone reported him to the government's benefit fraud hotline. Officials dismissed the allegation as soon as they walked in his front door, but his condition, which is stress-related, worsened for several months. Now he feels so threatened he barely leaves his house. "If I go out, I know I could suffer more abuse," he said. One cruel act – and another person left a virtual prisoner in their own home.

As the parent of a defenceless daughter with profound disabilities, such stories disturb me. They should disturb us all. So what lies behind this harsh new mood towards the disabled?

Unfortunately, much blame rests on the shoulders of the media and certain parts of government. There has been a new dialogue over disability, characterised by the constant drip-drip of stories implying vast numbers of disability claimants are bogus, that benefits are doled out without proper checks and taxpayers fund free cars for thousands of children with minor behavioural disorders.

Many emanate from the Department for Work and Pensions, which has twisted facts, manipulated statistics and distorted data to win support for its drive to cut costs and crack down on benefit fraud. This cascade of spurious claims and scandalously spun stories ends up demonising the disabled. It does no credit to Iain Duncan Smith, the secretary of state, who proclaims himself a compassionate Conservative. Ministers say they cannot be blamed for the actions of the media, but they know how the game is played.

Meanwhile, there has been a significant increase in articles about "cheats", "scroungers" and "skivers" in the media. Not just tabloids, but broadsheets and broadcasters. A recent Glasgow Media Group study revealed a near-tripling of these words in papers, alongside a reduction in reports on discrimination and sympathetic stories about disabled people. Focus groups found people suggesting seven in 10 claimants were fraudulent; in reality, levels of fraud for disability benefits are 0.5%, much lower than for other benefits – and less than the level of errors made by officials.

Among those feeling the coldest chill of this new mood of intolerance are people with mental health conditions, already so often victims of bullying and hate crimes. They may not look obviously disabled, so are targeted as "scroungers". The charities Mencap and Mind have received numerous calls from people distressed by the witch hunt; one person said they felt like an "object of hate and derision with no escape".

No one, least of all those with disabilities, disputes the need to prevent fraud. Every pound stolen by a fake claimant is a pound not spent on vital services or much-needed support. Nor is this an argument about the need or otherwise for cuts. My view is that there remains huge inefficiency in public services, although many poor services are being ring-fenced and cuts imposed in the wrong places. But as people scrap for resources and stresses intensify, resentment is growing against the disabled, undermining any good things the government is doing in this area.

It is grossly irresponsible for journalists and politicians to collude in this manner to create a climate encouraging hatred, hostility and abuse towards people for whom life is already so difficult. This would be true at any time, but especially at a time of such uncertainty, when people are fearful of the future and looking for others to blame for their misfortune. Those with disabilities should not be made scapegoats for other people's sins.

 

gaurdian

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Rep. Jackson Lee sued for discrimination

A former staff member of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) has filed a discrimination lawsuit against her. 

The suit, brought by Mona Floyd, Jackson Lee’s former legislative director, alleges the lawmaker deliberately ignored her staffer’s vision and reading disabilities by forcing her to work long and extended hours with no break

At two separate points, Jackson Lee allegedly told Floyd, “I don’t care anything about your disability,” and later when asked about making adjustments to accommodate her disability the lawmaker allegedly told her chief of staff, “I don’t give a damn about her disability,” according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for D.C.

Jackson Lee’s office said the lawmaker supports equal employment but that it was not planning to comment on matters pertaining to inner-office affairs. 

“The office of U.S. Representative Jackson Lee considers internal personnel matters confidential and will not comment publicly on the allegations at this time, except to say that the office fully embraces and fully practices equal employment opportunities for all,” Glenn Rushing, chief of staff for Jackson Lee, said in a statement. 

Floyd, who stopped working for Jackson Lee last fall, is seeking “back and front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees and costs” and is pushing for a trial by jury, according to the suit. 

The complaint states that Floyd informed Jackson Lee and her staff on numerous occasions of her vision disability, called “monocular vision, which causes eye fatigue and strain, headaches, reduced speed in reading, reduced concentration and comprehension, and general physical fatigue.” 

The disability requires Floyd to take periodic breaks from reading throughout the day. But according to the lawsuit, Jackson Lee did not take appropriate steps to ensure those breaks occurred and to the contrary, piled so much work on Floyd that she often would work seamlessly from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. 

The lawsuit also takes a stab at Jackson Lee’s legislative track record, saying her treatment of Floyd runs contrary to her public support for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the disabled community.

“Representative Jackson Lee’s dismissive response to her staff member’s own disability proved that the Representative was not a true advocate for persons with disabilities, but instead only paid lip service to that constituency,” the lawsuit states.

 

The Hill