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Fw: WB News Release: World Bank Calls for Action on Disability and
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Julian Goh
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Dec 02, 2004 22:54 PST
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Press Release No.2005/201/LAC
Media Contacts in Washington:
Cynthia Gears
Tel: (202) 458-2680
cge-@worldbank.org
Mauricio Rios
Tel: (202) 458-2458
mri-@worldbank.org
Cynthia Case
Tel: (202) 473 2243
cca-@worldbank.org
World Bank Calls for Action on Disability and Poverty, as World
Celebrates International Day of Disabled Persons on Friday
In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are at least 50 million disabled
people and 82 percent of them live in poverty
Washington DC, December 2, 2004-- As part of the international efforts to
fight poverty through more inclusive development policies, the World Bank
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and
| | its partners called for strengthening global cooperation and partnerships
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to
| | "unlock" opportunities for the more than 600 million disabled people
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worldwide,
| | of whom 400 million live in developing countries.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are at least 50 million disabled
people --approximately 10 percent of the region's population. About 82
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percent
| | of them live in poverty, less than 20 percent receive insurance benefits,
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and
| | only about 20-30 percent of children with disabilities are attending
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school.
| |
"We need to unlock the opportunities for 600 million people or more who
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have
| | one form of disability or another, but who have with these disabilities
tremendous competencies," World Bank President James Wolfensohn. "The
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World
| | Bank considers it crucial that countries adopt development policies that
include the concerns and needs of disabled people so that they can
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contribute
| | to the societies in which they live."
At a two-day conference, held at the World Bank's headquarters and titled
"Disability and Inclusive Development: Sharing, Learning and Building
Alliances", representatives from diverse organizations and countries took
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stock
| | of what has been accomplished in the field of disability-particularly its
inclusion into development operations-over the past two years, when the
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Bank
| | held its first international conference on disability issues.
"An understanding of the moral and political demands of disability is
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important
| | not only because it is such a widespread and impairing feature of
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humanity, but
| | also because the tragic consequences of disability can be substantially
overcome with determined societal help and imaginative intervention," said
Amartya Sen, Professor at Harvard University and 1998 Nobel Laureate in
economic science.
DISABILITY IN LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
There are at least 50 million disabled people in Latin America & the
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Caribbean
| | (LAC) or approximately 10 percent of the region's population. Although
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methods
| | of data collection across the region vary greatly, a recent study in
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Brazil
| | estimates the prevalence of disability in the country at 14.5 percent.
Disability is an important cause and consequence of poverty. About 82
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percent
| | of disabled people in LAC live in poverty, which in most cases also
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affects
| | family members.
Disabled people tend to experience widespread exclusion from the social,
economic and political life of the community, whether due to active
stigmatization or to the neglect of their needs in the design of policies,
programs and facilities.
Disability is especially high in post-conflict countries and in areas of
natural disasters.
Education
Only about 20-30 percent of children with disabilities are attending
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school in
| | the region. Poor attendance by disabled children derives from severe lack
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of
| | adequate transportation, teacher training, equipment, furniture, learning
materials, and access to school infrastructure. In addition to these
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visible
| | barriers, impediments to quality inclusive education also come from
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attitudinal
| | barriers.
--In Honduras, people with disabilities have an illiteracy rate of 51
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percent
| | compared to 19 percent for the general population.
--Only an estimated 20 percent of regular schools in Brazil are accessible
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to
| | disabled children and less than 10 percent in Mexico.
--In Surinam, 90 percent of disabled children in school attend special
segregated schools
Employment
About 80-90 percent of disabled people in LAC are unemployed or outside
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the
| | work force. Most of those who have jobs receive little or no monetary
remuneration.
--In Argentina, the unemployment rate of disabled people is estimated to
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be
| | close to 91 percent..
--In Mexico, the 75% of the population with disabilities are unemployed.
Health Services
Most people with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean lack
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access to
| | health services and even physical access to health buildings. Persons with
disabilities are also more likely to be rejected by health insurers. As a
result, important services or devices to help disabled people are not
provided. In countries for which data is available, less than 20% of
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disabled
| | people receive insurance benefits.
--In Ecuador, 84 percent of disabled people have no insurance benefits.
World Bank work on disability
Among recent efforts to address inclusive development, the Bank is working
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with
| | other regional organizations, such as the Inter-American Development Bank,
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on
| | developing methodologies and general standards to measure the number of
disabled people in the region.
The Bank is also supporting programs that tackle disability in the region,
including:
--Accessible rail and bus-based mass transit systems in Brazil, Chile,
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Colombia
| | and Peru
--Inclusive education projects in Uruguay and Brazil
--Reconstruction of health infrastructure, such as in El Salvador.
What is disability?
Disability is the result of the interaction between people with different
levels of functioning and an environment that does not take these
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differences
| | into account. In other words, people with physical, sensory or mental
limitations are often disabled not because of a diagnosable condition, but
because they are denied access to education, labor markets, and public
services. This exclusion leads to poverty and, in a vicious circle,
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poverty
| | leads to more disability by increasing people's vulnerability to
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malnutrition,
| | disease, and unsafe living and working conditions.
Note: Country data is based on the International Disability Rights Monitor
(IDRM) Regional Report of the Americas 2004.
###
For more information on the conference's agenda and on specific regional
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data,
| | please visit: www.worldbank.org/disability
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Regards,
Bertha Medina
202-473-4775
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