Interregional Consultative Expert Meeting
on disability-sensitive policy design and evaluation
for sustainable livelihoods for all in the twenty-first century

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Integration of persons with disabilities in the global economy

Statement by
María Cristina Sará-Serrano Mathiason
President
Associates for International Management Services

When I was the representative of the Disabled People's International at the United Nations, my objective was to include the theme of disability in the reports, expert group meetings and world conferences so that the United Nations Member States could consider and implement international norms on disability in their countries. I am still doing that today, but as President of Associates for International Management Services, a consulting company that provides management advice to international organizations and NGOs.

Today we are presenting the theme of norms for ensuring sustainable livelihoods for persons with disabilities. I would like to begin by reflecting on the integration of persons with disabilities in the global economy. I must note that there are many obstacles to this integration, even though persons with disabilities have a particular added value for this economy, a point to which I will return.

The main obstacles that persons with disabilities face are the same as those faced by anyone else: the need to acquire resources like capital, technology and a qualified work force. It includes the need to be associated with those who can provide those resources. And finally, the need to have a product that can be sold in the market.

There are other obstacles for persons with disability. Often we have difficulty traveling over long distances, there are communications impediments such as those experienced by persons with visual or auditory impairments, the need to employ personal assistances and, perhaps most important, the lack of self-esteem and the belief that we cannot participate and become entrepreneurs.

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Overcoming these obstacles isn't always easy. To obtain knowledge and technology is perhaps simpler, since they can be obtained through training courses and self-study. Obtaining capital is more difficult, because it implies that financial institutions, whether public or private, recognize our potential.

And we have potential. We have strong advantages. The fact that we have had to deal with our impairments has given us the strength and understanding that can help us in the world of business. We know how to negotiate for our rights and this translates into an ability to deal with other persons. We have learned how to obtain accessibility, to find solutions for problems, to forma alliances with persons that do not have disabilities. We know from our own experience the importance of technological change.

I came to be president of AIMS by using these advantages. I learned from experience to always try to increase my potential in whatever way, learning new technologies and participating in training courses, as well as learning from the contracts that the company has had. I sought to work with persons who supplemented my own knowledge and abilities and I learned from them. I can tell you that most of my associates are male and, for the time being at least, not disabled.

A large part of our work is over the Internet.

For me, the Internet has been a technology that has given me a tool that has helped me to overcome the limitations caused by my disability. It allows me to communicate with persons all over the world, without having to travel, just as I am doing now. It gives me access to information that is essential for my work, simply and at low cost. It is a technology that is evolving rapidly and every day provides new opportunities.

It offers special opportunities for persons with disabilities. More than for other persons, as a result of our experience, we are sensitive to issues of access. The design of an Internet that is accessible for everyone is a field in which persons with disability have a significant added value that can form the basis of our own enterprises. I can mention several more.

For many reasons, there is a growing demand for persons who can provide health assistance in the home. It is a field where the training of the persons and the organization of the service is the key to success. We persons with disability know how to organize these services, since many of have been recipients of inadequate services.

We also know how to design and develop physical access and the tools that help accessibility. We have the example of the sport wheelchairs, an initiative of a paraplegic woman who wanted to participate in marathons.

So, what can we do to achieve the integration of persons with disability in the economy? I suggest three actions:

First, we have to ensure that persons with disabilities have the same access to factors of production as persons without disabilities. It should be included in laws against discrimination.

Second, organizations of persons with disabilities should be consulted in the planning of programs designed to support new entrepreneurs.

Third, this aspect of economic development should be include in all of the fora of the United Nations, involving persons with disabilities.

[See also: Text of the Introductory Video]

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Last updated 11/02/03.