International Year of Disabled Persons: seeking self-reliance.

• Author: Gutestam, Monica
• Position: A Look Back ... 10 Years Ago ... 1981

Walking up a flight of stairs to a classroom, getting into the tub for a morning bath, running to catch a cab on a crowded city street at rush hour, reading a book, watching television, listening to the radio, coping with job and family stress--these are ordinary, everyday experiences for most people. But for many of the 500 million disabled people in the world, they can be painful, if not impossible, tasks.

One of the main goals in life is to become self-reliant, to experience the deep satisfaction of being able to take care of ourselves. That satisfaction is being denied to many disabled people everywhere, as a consequence of mental, physical or sensory impairment.

With a little help, many of these people could become self-functioning, requiring little or no assistance from institutions or charity. Aiming at a world where disability does not automatically condemn a person to life-long dependency, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the year 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons.

The theme for the Year was "Full Participation and Equality". Persons with disabilities, it was stated, have the right to take part fully in the life and development of their societies; enjoy living conditions equal to those of other citizens; and have an equal share in improved conditions resulting from socio-economic development.

The goal of the Year was to translate into practice the central idea contained in the Assembly's 1975 landmark Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons--that these persons have the same political rights as any other human being.

A major outcome of the Year was the elaboration of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons. The Programme, adopted by the Assembly in 1982, is the main UN policy document on disability.

It contains a global strategy to prevent disability, enhance rehabilitation and provide for the full participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development.

"Equality and participation" is the guiding principle of the Programme, which stresses the importance of treating issues concerning disabled persons not in isolation, but within the context of the services that are offered to the entire population.

Because the Programme's recommendations could not be implemented overnight, the Assembly proclaimed the period 1983-1992 as the UN Decade of Disabled Persons, thus setting an initial time-frame for Governments and organizations to implement recommended actions.

Looking back...