Remarks by Kathleen Martinez,
Member,
National Council on Disability
Foreign Policy and Disability News Conference
G-11, Senate Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC

September 9, 2003

FOREIGN POLICY AND DISABILITY: LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIES AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS TO ENSURE INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

For the last 40 years, the U.S. has been the world's leader in reshaping society's approach to disability, introducing the concept of adapting the environment rather than fixing the person. This is a life- altering concept of systems change, impacting everything from architecture to transportation, from education to employment. We have embedded this systems change in the most far-reaching civil rights legislation in the world, bringing us closer than ever to barrier free design, programmatic access, and information technology that is available to all. Other countries have been eager to emulate our progress.

Today, the National Council on Disability launches a report that outlines concrete ways to take this transformative approach beyond our borders and, indeed, suggests that it is our responsibility to do so. To that end, the report makes recommendations on how the billions of dollars expended on U.S. foreign assistance can advance accessibility and inclusion within poverty reduction programs, infrastructure development, democracy-building initiatives and many other areas where we work to promote freedom and prosperity abroad. Our national experience has taught us that integration is much more cost-effective than building parallel service systems and that getting it right the first time costs far less than fixing it later. Therefore, our report strongly recommends that Congress and the Administration take steps now so that future foreign assistance plans, programs and policies implement these principles.

Additionally, we have a significant opportunity to impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of disabled children and adults, as Congress will soon vote on reconstruction efforts in Iraq. It is not too late to require that all reconstruction efforts by the U.S. military and private contractors in Iraq be accessible to and inclusive of disabled people. Previously, this policy was adopted for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and NCD recommends these principles be applied to all future foreign assistance.

The key recommendation of the new report, entitled: "Foreign Policy and Disability: Legislative Strategies and Civil Rights Protections to Ensure Inclusion of People with Disabilities," is that Congress amend the Foreign Assistance Act to require every U.S. agency operating abroad to do so in a manner that is accessible to and inclusive of people with disabilities. We recommend accomplishing this goal through legislative and/or regulatory initiatives that will result in the following:

1. Creation of a Disability Advisor at the Department of State, with support staff and resources, to serve as a focal point for the integration of disability rights within U.S. bilateral and multilateral policies and programs;

2. Creation and funding of a Disability and Development Office at USAID, similar to the Women in Development Office, which would be responsible for promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in all USAID programs;

3. Establishment by all U.S. agencies working abroad, of Guidelines for implementation of the Rehabilitation Act within their programs;

4. Documentation of disability rights violations in Department of State Country Reports, to be made available to policymakers and the public;

5. Establishment of a Fund for Inclusion, Leadership, and Human Rights of People with Disabilities, designed to promote the participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of US foreign assistance programs;

6. Requirement of inclusion as an integral part of the Millennium Challenge Account, which would establish a development program parallel to USAID;

And finally, in addition to amending the Foreign Assistance Act, NCD advises Congress to adopt the resolution currently pending that calls on the US to support the drafting of a UN convention for the rights of people with disabilities.

In 1996, the National Council on Disability published a study that identified physical and programmatic barriers to the inclusion of disabled persons in foreign assistance efforts. Because response to these identified areas of discrimination has been weak or nonexistent, today we launch our new report recommending that Congress and the Administration consider amending the Foreign Assistance Act with specific disability mandates.

We believe this proposed amendment would materially demonstrate U.S. commitment to disability inclusion within and beyond our borders.