Albert Schweitzer Institute Conference

April 8-9, 2005

Remarks by Joan Durocher
Attorney/Advisor
National Council on Disability

Future Policy Directions Needed for People with Disabilities in the Developing World

Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting NCD to be here today. NCD is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress on issues affecting 54 million Americans with disabilities. It is composed of 15 members appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. NCD is charged by Congress with monitoring federal statutes and programs pertaining to people with disabilities, and assessing the effectiveness of those programs in meeting the needs of people with disabilities. As part of its mission, NCD provides a voice in the Federal Government and to Congress for all people with disabilities in the development of policies and delivery of programs that affect their lives.

Today, I’m going to talk about future policy directions needed for people with disabilities in the developing world. This is especially timely, given the recent disaster in southeast Asia. As the United States assists with the relief and reconstruction efforts in the wake of the tsunami devastation, we have an opportunity to improve the lives of the many citizens who have disabilities in the countries affected, and those who acquired a disability as a result. It is hard to imagine how anything positive can come out of a tragedy of that magnitude, but in rebuilding homes, businesses, and public facilities, there will be an unprecedented opportunity to construct new residences and buildings so that they are accessible to people with disabilities and consequently, empower many people to improve their lives by providing access to schools, hospitals, and government buildings. With its inclusive foreign assistance laws and policies, the United States is well-positioned to be a leader in the re-building efforts of the tsunami-affected countries, and demonstrate how to build on the tremendous human potential of the more than 600 million people in the world who have disabilities.

In 2003, NCD published a report entitled, “Foreign Policy and Disability: Legislative Strategies and Civil Rights Protections to Ensure Inclusion of People with Disabilities.” The 2003 foreign policy report was a follow-up to NCD’s 1996 Foreign Policy and Disability report, that recommended a series of policy changes that NCD felt were needed at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State that would help ensure the inclusion of people with disabilities in all US foreign assistance programs. In the 1996 report, we included specific objectives for inclusion of people with disabilities and timetables for fulfillment of those goals. Two years ago, we examined where USAID and the State Department were with respect to these recommendations and we concluded that inclusion of people with disabilities in US foreign policy was not happening and would only be achieved by specific legislation enacted to achieve that purpose. Congress heeded our 2003 recommendations and enacted several important pieces of legislation, which I’m going to talk about now.

The legislation was included in the Foreign Operations bill, which was folded into the FY 2005 Omnibus Appropriations bill (the citation is P.L. 108-447, Section 579; H.R. 4818). The significant pieces of legislation for our purposes include:  (1) The creation of a fund in the amount of $2.5 million that will be made available for programs and activities that address the needs, and protect the rights of people with disabilities in developing countries (these funds can also be made available for an international conference on the needs of people with disabilities, including disability rights, advocacy and access); (2) the requirement that the Secretary of State and USAID [Administrator] each designate a disability advisor in their respective agencies; (3) the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and the USAID Administrator shall seek to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities are met where appropriate in democracy, human rights, rule of law, programs and activities supported by the Department of State, Department of Treasury and USAID; and (4) the USAID Administrator shall fully comply with its [USAID’s]…[1997] policy paper on disability which requires that USAID implement procedures to require prospective grantees seeking funding from USAID to specify, where relevant, how the proposed program will include protecting the rights and addressing the needs of people with disabilities.   

This is extremely valuable legislation. It essentially requires anybody applying for USAID money across the board to demonstrate how their program is going to be accessible to people with disabilities. While this requirement is going to be difficult to enforce, it is very significant because it will affect programs all over the world. It does not mean, ironically, that USAID’s own programs be accessible to people with disabilities, but it does require that any entity applying to USAID for money has to show how its program will be made accessible to people with disabilities. This requirement has the potential to transform how foreign assistance works, yet there is also the potential to minimize this legislation by the insertion of boilerplate language. For example, potential contractors could just state: “our program will be accessible to people with disabilities,” without explaining how. Much will depend on the strength (and degree) of USAID’s implementation and enforcement.

Another concern of NCD is that there is no clear point of contact at either the State Department or USAID designated to receive and address specific recommendations, advice, or technical assistance related to disability. The designation of disability advisors at both agencies is a huge step forward and provides some accountability for actions taken.

Key in moving forward and acting on this legislation will be educating the international development organizations on what their responsibilities are, and the proper way of carrying out those responsibilities. Development organizations should be mainstreaming disability into their work. This means that international development organizations need to assess the implications for people with disabilities of any planned action, policy, and program, in all areas and at all levels. NGOs and governments need to include the concerns and experiences of people with disabilities as an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political and economic spheres so that people with disabilities benefit equally. It can’t just be a stated intention. It seems that in the vast majority of cases any disability focus continues to be on the traditional areas of health or special education, relatively small-scale projects funded through NGOs, and undertaken with a social welfare, rather than a meaningful human rights framework. This is not to say that there haven’t been disability-focused development projects. There have, and many have undoubtedly delivered positive results for people with disabilities. But disability is locked within a traditional social welfare paradigm rather than a wider human rights agenda. Historically, disability has been overlooked as a human rights issue.

Foreign assistance agencies need to seamlessly integrate disability and development. Last year’s legislation will help but we need to go further. Instead of sending all the funds to AID, we also need to work with the appropriate human rights office at the Department of State. This would help to integrate disability in the overall human rights policy framework. One way to accomplish this would be to create a disability fellows program that would sponsor American citizens with disabilities to work at US missions abroad and task the fellows with outreach to NGOs working in the field. This was another one of NCD’s 2003 Foreign Policy recommendations that we’re continuing to push. It would serve three purposes: 1) give U.S. citizens with disabilities expertise and experience working abroad; 2) sensitize the mission to disability issues; and 3) provide technical assistance and serve as a resource to NGOs in the field incorporating disability in their work. NCD’s disability fellows program recommendation was cut out of the Foreign Operations bill at the last minute but we hope that this year it will be put forth again.

Of course, USAID needs to take further steps to be a model employer--it should be ensuring accessibility within its own agency as well as in its foreign assistance programs. NCD will continue to make this a priority recommendation in our foreign policy work.

I also want to talk with you about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). One of the ways we’ve tried to mainstream disability in development has been with the MCC, a new entity in the Federal government which was created by President Bush in 2003 as a sort of parallel organization to USAID i n which development assistance would be provided to those countries that “rule justly,” “invest in their people,” and “encourage economic freedom.” When NCD heard about the creation of this organization, we decided to propose in our 2003 report that inclusion of disability as a criterion for award of funds be a required component of this new organization, and we stressed that in order for the new organization to succeed, all stakeholders, including people with disabilities, needed to be included in its work from the outset. We succeeded in getting language in the MCC legislation stating one criterion for a country's eligibility for funds through the Millennium Challenge Corporation include "respect [for] human and civil rights, including the rights of people with disabilities." Further, "Such determination shall be based, to the maximum extent possible, upon objective and quantifiable indicators of a country's demonstrated commitment to the criteria in subsection (b), and shall, where appropriate, take into account and assess the role of women and girls.”

This is not going to happen without bringing disability organizations and individuals with disabilities to the table and into the heart of the process. Disability needs to be promoted explicitly and officially as a cross-cutting issue, as gender has been.