 |
Regional Workshop on the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual
Disabilities and their Families in Asia and the Pacific |
|
|
Aide MemoireI. BackgroundThe Emerging Social Issues Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF) are co-organizing the Regional Workshop on the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and their Families in Asia and the Pacific from 11 to 13 October 2007 in Shanghai, China. At its resolution 58/4 of 22 May 2002, members and associate members of ESCAP decided the extension of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons for another decade, from 2003 to 2012. In the same year, the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-free and Rights-based Society in Asia and the Pacific was adopted as its policy guideline at the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Conclude the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002, held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. The extension of the Decade carried forward the goal of the previous decade-full participation and equality of persons with disabilities- and the commitment made by Governments. The Biwako Millennium Framework for Action promotes the paradigm shift from a charity-based approach to a rights-based approach to disability, and contains seven priority areas for action, 21 time-bound targets and 17 strategies. One of its principles is that policies on disability should include persons with all types of disabilities. It also calls for the development of self-help organizations of persons with disabilities, in particular, those of particularly marginalized disabled persons, such as persons with intellectual disabilities, persons with psychosocial disabilities and women and girls with disabilities. During the last five years, the importance of paying more attentions to the issues of persons with intellectual disabilities and their families has been recognized within a global discourse on disability, in particular, during the drafting process of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Many leaders with intellectual disabilities have been articulating their needs and sharing their successful life stories and challenging a commonly held belief that intellectually disabled persons are devoid of any decision-making abilities and usefulness in a society. Family members of persons with intellectual disabilities have showcased how their children or siblings with intellectual disabilities can live in community without burdening them, but with formal and informal community support. Both family members and persons with intellectual disabilities are increasingly promoting a value of and ways and means for choice-based decision-making and community-based living for persons with intellectual disabilities. As compared to the global development, the regional outlook indicates a need for immediate improvement in this area. For example, according to the ESCAP publication, Disability at a Glance: a Profile of 28 Countries and Areas in Asia and the Pacific, which was produced in 2006, some Governments in the region do not even clearly differentiate persons with intellectual disabilities from persons with psychosocial disabilities in their categorizations of persons with disabilities. Many educators, employers, policy makers tend to see that a society does not have to support intellectually disabled persons because they believe that they do not have any abilities to learn and live in community. Against this background, ESCAP joins hands with the CDPF and organizes the regional workshop to raise awareness on these issues and explores policy and programmatic solutions. The workshop will be held in Shanghai, China, where the Special Olympics World Summer Games (international sports competition for persons with intellectual disabilities) takes place from 2 to 11 October 2007. As the CDPF is one of the ESCAP’s long-term project partners on disability matters and involved in the preparation process of the Games, the project will fully utilize the opportunity in which many persons with intellectual disabilities and their family members will gather from all over the world. II. ObjectivesThe objectives of the Regional Workshop are twofold:
III. Topics to be coveredTopics to be covered in the Regional Workshop would include:
The Workshop will also include a field trip during which the participants will see services provided to persons with intellectual disabilities in Shanghai, China. IV. Expected outcomesThe Workshop is expected to result in the following outcome documents:
V. Profile of participantsThe Workshop will be attended by policy-makers who are responsible for disability matters, representatives from organizations of persons of intellectual disabilities and their family members and representatives from organizations which support persons with intellectual disabilities and their family members. VI. DocumentationThe documentation related to the Workshop will be uploaded at <http://www.worldenable.net/shanghai2007>. |
||||||||||||||
