Regional Workshop on Monitoring the Implementation of the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF)
Bangkok, Thailand, 13-15 October 2004

Overview of indicators for monitoring the Biwako Millennium Framework

Presented by Clinton E. Rapley
Director of Planning Services
Associates for International Management Services

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UN ESCAP Regional Workshop on Monitoring Implementation of the Biwako Millennium Framework
Bangkok, 13-15 October 2004

Overview of indicators for monitoring the Biwako Millennium Framework

Clinton E. Rapley – Director of Planning Services
Associates for International Management Services

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Presentation Agenda

• Role of data and statistics on disability in identifying indicators to monitor BMF implementation
• Issues in identifying indicators to monitor BMF implementation
• Outline of indicators to monitor BMF implementation

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Policy basis for development of data and statistics on disability

• World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons:
  calls on the United Nations to evolve a “realistic and practical system of data collection” related to various disabilities.
• Rule 13 – Information and research – of the Standard Rules: urges States to collect statistics and other information on conditions among persons with disability.
• General Assembly resolutions have repeatedly urged – or encouraged - continued development of global statistics and indicators on disability.

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Definition of disability for statistical purposes

• Disability is a condition and not an attribute
• World Programme of Action and Standard Rules used definitions of disability based on the 1980 International Classification of Impairment, Disability and Handicap (ICIDH) (WHO, Geneva):
  • impairment: reduced function of an organ or body part;
  • disability: reduced function and activity of a person; and
  • handicap: social, economic and cultural circumstances that place persons with impairment or disability at a disadvantage relative to their peers.
• Criticism of ICIDH:
  • Association with “medical model” of disability, which defines disability an “absence of health”
  • Does not address environmental variables that can transform an impairment or a disability into a handicap

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Definition of disability (2)

• ICIDH-2 / International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (WHO, 2001)
• ICF framework views disability and functioning as outcomes of interactions between health conditions (diseases, disorders and injuries) and contextual factors.
• Contextual factors include external environment factors and internal personal factors
• Three levels of functioning: (a) body or body part, (b) whole person or (c) person in a social context
• Disability involves dysfunctioning at one or more of these same levels: impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions

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Definition of disability (3)

• Selected criticisms of ICF
• Links functioning and disability with health conditions and contextual factors
• Definitions of disability should reflect “social model“ of disability
• ICF environment variables require reorganization to clarify relationship between targeted provisions and specific environmental components
• ICF does not address “access” which is fundamental to realization of full participation and equality

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Definition of disability (4)

• Draft text of international convention includes an article (3) on Definitions
• Article 3 proposes to include definitions on “disability” and “persons with disability”
• Definition of “disability” should reflect social model
• “Persons with disability”: some are of view this is the preferred definition for the convention while others are of view that defining the term is is not necessary.
• Article 3 is still being considered by Ad Hoc Committee

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Definition of disability (5)

• ICF provides a common conceptual framework and standardized concepts and terminology for collection of data on disability and production of statistics.
• ICF is not without limits and is not yet a consensus definition on disability
• Conceptual and methodological work on definition of disability for purposes of producing internationally comparable statistics on disability is being carried out by the “Washington Group on Disability Statistics” in cooperation with Statistics Division of UN Secretariat

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Issues in identification of indicators

• Indicators for purposes of policies and planning :
  • quantitative or qualitative
  • complex (Human development index)
  • or simple (single variable)
• Indicators should be:
  • Clear, relevant and suitable to the required use and interpretation
  • Simple and easy to calculate from data that are reliable, timely and available
  • Robust in their capacity to measure changes over time and between observations

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Issues in identification of indicators (2)

• Identification of indicators related to disability as an example of the “Abilene Paradox”
• Prof. Jerry Harvey, The Abilene Paradox And Other Meditations on Management*
• The “Abilene Paradox” occurs when groups or enterprises take certain actions, but, individually, no one in the group / enterprise is of the view that he/she is taking the correct decision. It is a paradox in which the limits of a situation may force a group to act in ways that are directly opposite to actual preferences.
  (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1988)

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Issues in identification of indicators (3)

• BMF indicators would (a) make maximum possible use of existing socio-economic and demographic indicators and (b) indicate how to reinforce disability perspective in existing data series.
• Why: BMF recognizes critical need to improve data and statistics and for progress in a common system of defining disability – a precondition for identifying indicators to monitor BMF implementation.
• BMF indicators initially would focus on outputs (immediate results of achieving BMF targets) rather than outcomes (socio-economic and socio-political changes resulting from BMF implementation).

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Issues in identification of indicators (4)

• Identification of BMF indicators would follow logical framework identified for analysis of implementation of World Programme of Action:
  • Resources framework – knowledge, people, skills, technology and finances
  • Policy framework – enabling environment for full participation and equality of persons with disability
  • Institutional framework – mechanisms for decision making, coordination, and implementation and evaluation

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Issues in identification of indicators (5)

• BMF indicator framework structure:
• Core issues: indicators of preconditions for implementing BMF – Yes / No measures:
• National policy or plan
• National coordination and consultation mechanism(s)
• Appropriate legislative basis to promote and protect rights, dignity and privacy of persons with disability
• Norms and standards on environmental access, social services and safety nets, and employment and livelihoods

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Issues in identification of indicators (6)

• BMF indicator framework structure:
• Progress indicators: indicators related to seven BMF priority areas for action
• Not all priority areas are presented with quantifiable targets:
  1 – Self help organizations
  2 – Women with disabilities
  5 – Access to built environment
• Yes / No measure of achievement of respective target

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Issues in identification of indicators (7)

• BMF progress indicator framework, continued:
• Priority areas with quantifiable targets:
  3 – Early detection and education
  4 – Training and employment
  6 – Accessible ICT
  7 – Poverty alleviation
• Indicator construction is limited by availability of global data and statistics on disability

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Outline of BMF indicators - preconditions

• Policy issues cluster – Yes / No measures
• 1. National commitment – national policy on disability rights / advancement of persons with disability or commitment to disability rights in mainstream policy
• 2. National support of regional action – signatory to “Proclamation on Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region”
• 3. National plan or strategy for BMF implementation

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BMF indicators – preconditions (2)

• Institutional issues cluster – Yes / No measures
• 1. National committee on disability or similar mechanism
• 2. National legislation and administrative guidance on rights, dignity and privacy of persons with disability
  1. generic legislation with disability provision(s)
  2. disability-specific legislation in selected sectors
  3. “comprehensive” law on disability

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BMF indicators – preconditions (3)

• Resources issues cluster – Yes / No measures
• National data and statistics on disability
• Assess with reference to statistics on disability characteristics being collected for UN Demographic Yearbook, 2005:
  1. Persons with disabilities by age, sex and urban/rural residence;
  2. Persons with disabilities 5 to 29 years of age by school attendance, single years of age and sex;
  3. Persons with disabilities 15 years and over by usual (or current) activity status, age and sex.

N.B. Countries would be asked to provide methodological information on how the population with disabilities was defined to facilitate interpretation of the data and its comparability between studies.

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BMF indicators – priority areas for action

1. Self-help Organizations
   • Target 1. By 2004 – policy(ies) on SHOs enacted
   • Target 2. By 2005 – SHOs involved in decision-making
2. Women with Disabilities
   • Target 3. By 2005 – anti-discrimination measures – if not already existing - enacted
   • Target 4. By 2005 – national SHOs promote participation of women with disabilities
   • Target 5. By 2005 – women with disabilities involved in mainstream organizations of women

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BMF indicators – priority areas (2)

3. Early detection, early intervention and education
   1. Target 6. Children and youth with disabilities will be an integral part of population targeted by Millennium Declaration on ensuring that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
      l Target 7. By 2010, at least 75 per cent of children and youth with disabilities will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
      l Targets relate to Development Goal 2 of Millennium Declaration:
      - Net enrollment ratio in primary education – 5 to 29 cohorts
      - Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 reaching grade 5
      - Literacy ratio – 15-24 cohort

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BMF indicators – priority areas (3)

3. Early detection, early intervention and education
   • Target 8. By 2012, infants and young children (birth to four years) have access and receive community-based early intervention services
   • Target relates to Development Goal 4 – Reduce infant mortality - of Millennium Declaration:
     • Under-five mortality ratio – an indicator of child survival
     • Infant mortality ratio
     • Proportion of one year olds immunized against measles
   • And Development Goal 7 – Environmental sustainability:
     • Access to safe water
     • Access to improved sanitation
   • Target 9. Governments detect disabilities at early age

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BMF indicators – priority areas (4)

4. Training and employment, including self-employment
   • Target 10. By 2012, 30% of signatories will ratify ILO C159 (Vocational rehabilitation and employment)
   • Target 11. By 2012, 30% of all vocational training programmes in C159 signatory countries include persons with disabilities
   • Target 12. By 2010, reliable data on employment and self-employment of persons with disability

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BMF indicators – priority areas (5)

5. Access to built environment and public transport
   • Target 13. Governments adopt and enforce accessibility standards for public facilities, infrastructure and transport, including rural and agricultural contexts
   • Target 14. ASAP existing transport systems are made accessible and all new and renovated public transport systems are made fully accessible for persons with disabilities
   • Target 15. International and regional funding agencies include universal design considerations in decisions on support for infrastructure development

N.B. Action on target 15 will require decision by the competent intergovernmental body for the respective fund or programme.

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BMF indicators – priority areas (6)

6. Access to information and communications, including information, communications and assistive technologies
   • Target 16. By 2005, persons with disability should have same rate of access to Internet and related services as all other citizens
   • Target relates to Development Goal 8 – Develop global partnerships for development – of Millennium Declaration on making available benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications. Two ITU indicators are cited:
     • Personal computers in use per 100 persons
     • Internet users per 100 persons

N.B. Data are compiled by ITU from questionnaires sent to governmental telecommunications authorities and are not disaggregated by disability

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BMF indicators – priority areas (7)

6. Access to information and communications, continued
   • Target 17. By 2004, concerned international organizations incorporate accessibility standards for persons with disabilities in their respective ICT standards
   • Target 18. By 2005, Governments adopt ICT accessibility guidelines in their national ICT policies
   • Target 19. Governments develop and coordinate a standardized sign language, finger Braille, tactile sign language
   • Target 20. Governments establish systems to train and dispatch sign language interpreters, Braille transcribers, finger Braille interpreters and readers

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BMF indicators – priority areas (8)

• Accessible ICT and persons with disabilities
• Manila Design Recommendations provide guidance on a minimum threshold for ICT accessibility with reasonable accommodation:
• Based on two basic principles of Web design:
  • Every visual element should be implemented with a textual element that describes it. Alternative text <alt> allows for description of graphical images.
  • The structure and layout of the document should be dealt with separately. Structure is defined by HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) elements and attributes; and layout is defined by style sheets. Separation of layout from content aids text browsers to extract easily the logical structure of the document.

Source: <http://www.worldenable.net/manila2003/DesignRecommendations.htm>

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BMF indicators – priority areas (9)

7. Poverty alleviation through capacity building, social security and livelihoods programmes
   • Target 21. Governments should halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of persons with disabilities who income/consumption is less than one dollar per day
   • Target relates to Development Goal 1 of Millennium Declaration
   • MDG indicator: percentage of population living on less than US1.00 (PPP) per day. Data are compiled by World Bank from national statistical services but are not disaggregated by disability
   • Governments that provide social assistance may have both data on both coverage and expenditures of persons with disabilities in targeted areas
   • Governments that provide micro-credits may have income data on persons with disabilities in targeted areas disaggregated urban / rural

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BMF indicators: Way ahead

• Outline of BMF indicators in the light of limited availability of internationally comparable data disaggregated by type of disability. This may improve with publication from 2005 of disability characteristics in UN Demographic Yearbook.
• Limited availability of data is related to absence of consensus on a definition of disability. This may be addressed with the adoption of the international convention and its draft article 3 (definitions).
• improvement of indicators for BMF monitoring will result from disability inclusive capacity building for self-evaluation of policies, plans and programmes.

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