UN Special Rapporteur on Disability

Trinidad Tobago Think Tank on Education and People with Disabilities
May 18-19, 2004

Contribution by Sheikha Hissa Al Thani
Special Rapporteur on Disability .

It was with great pleasure that I received the invitation to attend this "Think Tank" on Disability Integration and Development: The Way Forward in Education. It is unfortunate that due to a heavy schedule and overlapping meetings at the United Nations I was not able to be with you. However, I was thrilled when Ms. Karen Alexander was kind enough to offer that I send a few words of welcome and some thoughts on education for people with disability to this meeting. I thank you for this opportunity to make a contribution on a very vital topic.

One reason for my regret at not being able to attend your meeting is due to my special interest in the issue of education for people with disability, particularly as it applies to children and women—which are two of the priorities I have set for myself during my mandate as Special Rapporteur. The other reason that I am disappointed at not being able to be at this meeting is because I am hoping to be able, during the next two years, to hold consultations on the most pressing issues of concern in every region. And I would have liked to be able to combine this meeting with a consultation of sorts with non-governmental organizations, institutions and agencies concerned with disability, government departments and officials in your region.
Perhaps, God willing, there will be an opportunity to do so in the future.

A few weeks ago I was in Amman, Jordan attending a meeting on Cultural Rights, to which my contribution was ensuring that the rights of people with disability to participate, take part in and contribute to culture are protected and promoted. The reason I mention this is because one of the things I emphasized in my intervention at that meeting, was close link between the right to culture and the right to education.

Education and educational institutions are some of the venues in society though which our culture is transmitted from one generation to the next. Being deprived of education is also means being deprived of culture, and therefore, remaining outside of the mainstream, segregated from society and excluded from the life of the community.

Education comes first. Not only for people with disability, but for all people. Education, as you have expressed it so well in the title of your meeting, is "the way forward to development".

We know for a fact that people with disability are less likely to be educated than people without disability, particularly in developing countries, but generally everywhere. We also know that, partially due to this educational gap, people with disability are less likely to be employed than people without a disability. Therefore, people with disability are more likely to have a lower standard of living than people who are without a disability. There are many figures and statistics to support these facts. Unfortunately, I do not have any figures for the Caribbean region in general or Trinidad and Tobago specifically, but I am sure that the facts still hold true here as they do for the rest of the world.

The right to education has been stressed in a number international rights instruments. Specifically, the right of access to quality education for everyone.

The Standard Rules on the Equalizations of Opportunities for People with Disabilities is very clear on the issue of education. Paragraph 6 of the Introduction to the Standard states the following:

(.)Through education and rehabilitation, persons with disabilities became more active and a driving force in the further development of disability policy. Organizations of persons with disabilities, their families and advocates were formed, which advocated better conditions for persons with disabilities.

While Rule No.1 on Awareness Raising, items 4 and 5 state:

4. States should ensure that public education programmes reflect in all their aspects the principle of full participation and equality.
5. States should invite persons with disabilities and their families and organizations to participate in public education programmes concerning disability matters.

In addition to ensuring that people with disability have full access to participation in education, the Standard rules also emphasize the need to tailor education to the needs of people with disabilities in order to guarantee them the full benefit of that education. This is clearly stated in the section on access and accessibility dealing with information and communication, where it is required that sign language and interpreters be made available in educational settings for deaf people.

Rule No. 6 which deals exclusively with the issue of education for people with disabilities requires that children and people with disabilities be provided with education in mainstream, integrated educational settings, and that accommodations and policies be put in place to ensure this access.

I will not got through all nine (9) paragraphs of the Standard Rules dealing with Education, but I will stress that they do cover almost every aspect of what you yourselves will be talking about in this meeting.

Finally, I would like to add a few words about a very important process that is currently taking place at the international, regional, governmental and non-governmental levels within the disability movement. That is the drafting of a United Nations Comprehensive and Integral International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. The end result of this consultation and drafting process will be a binding Convention that guarantees basic essential rights for people with disabilities which includes the right to education in all its aspects.

I will share with you here Article 27 of the Draft Convention produced after a consultation meeting in Bangkok for the Asia-Pacific region.

Article 27 – Right to education

All persons with disabilities have the right to education. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human potential and the sense of dignity, and shall strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms
The right to education shall include the right of all children with disabilities to inclusive education in their own community (including access to early childhood intervention and pre-school readiness for inclusion within the general school system), and the right to any required support including accessible curriculum, medium and technologies, learning strategies, physical environment etc. to ensure full participation of students with disabilities in that system.
Where the general school system does not yet adequately meet the needs of persons with disabilities, special and alternative forms of learning may be made available. However, these should be aimed at preparing students for education in the general school system and the quality of education provided should reflect the same standards and objectives as that provided in the general schools system
Where there is a need for specific augmentation and alternative communication modes, these should be made available within the general or the special education school.
Children with hearing disabilities have the right to receive education through sign language. Each State Party shall take legislative, administrative, political and other measures needed to provide quality education using sign language, by ensuring the employment of deaf teachers and hearing teachers who are fluent in sign language.
Persons with disabilities have the right to equal access to tertiary education, vocational training and adult education on the basis of equality with others and have the right to necessary financial or alternative support to ensure effective access.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the curricula of all teacher training schools are modified to include the component of inclusive education. States Parties must also provide for in-service training of its existing personnel in inclusive education.

As with the Standard Rules which dealt with the necessary accommodations in education to achieve access and provide opportunity to education, the Convention will provide the legal framework with which guarantees those rights. Looking at the programme of your meeting, I see that both these items are on your agenda.

Close cooperation and concerted coordination are necessary between governments, educational institutions, civil society organizations, the private sector and people with disability themselves to ensure, not only that people with disability have access to good quality education, but that it is follow up by opportunities for employment and contribution to their communities and societies and countries.

In closing, I wish you all the best in your deliberation and look forward to hearing from you on the results of this meeting. Thank you again for your invitation and good luck.