The Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs Committee Delegate: Mesilla Mar Country: Spain Topic: Disability as an Invisible Issue in the Development Frameworks Among the most Important principles that the united Nations strongly seeks since Its creation is fundamental freedoms for all personsВ» inter alai, persons with disabilities, and how can we include them in the development frameworks. From the World Programmer of Action concerning Disabled Persons (1982), the Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Disabled Persons (1993) to the Convention on theRights of Persons with Disabilities; this issue has been a moot point. With a number over 1 billion people (15 % of the world’s population) living with some form of disability and realization of the international community about the importance of the issue; It is time more than ever to Improve the Inclusion of disabled persons in society and development.
In Spain, there are about four million disabled persons within our national boundaries and they face different Issues, such as, inferior social and employment status: People with disabilities have 28% as net employment rate against 66% (the employment gap is 38 of general population.Also, 97% of disabled children are in school, the majority in a normal setting, but if the education of children aged less than 12 years is real, this is not always the case after. On 02 December 201 2 in Madrid, disabled persons rally gallants budget cuts that endanger the welfare system. So, our government had fashioned its constitution to a better social acceptance: Disabled children Students will have qualified staff in schools to ensure their conform.Also, Article 49, which Imposes the creation of “a policy of prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and integration of persons with disabilities”. In the employment policy, the law establishes, as a central goal, the access of people with disabilities to professional training, the integration into the work includes a quota system [the decree Impose a mandatory quota of 2% to all companies (the quota Is 3% for public companies) which have more than 50 employees.
And the granting of economic subsidies and credits to companies that employ disabled workers. Furthermore, The creation of special employment centers, where more than 50% of employees must be persons with disabilities, to malting the growth of creating Jobs. These changes In he legal framework of legislation had a significant impact on the administrative regulations; there had been a marked improvement in the number of employed; the employment gap was reduced to around 34%.In Dalton, Spain has a highly organized call society and a powerful network of associations of people with disabilities, such as CERCI [The Spanish Committee of 1 OFF defend disabled persons, and to protect their rights, by establishing contacts with public authorities and society. Or, FEED[Spanish Sports Federation for Persons with Physical Disabilities] which is an organization aligned with the Spanish Paralytic Committee that works towards support disability sport in Spain, COMMENCE [Spanish confederation of people with physical and organic disabilities].And here are some of the programs initiated by civil society: SOLIDARITY (first digital newspaper in Spanish devoted completely to disability), REROUTED (accessible taxis to everybody), INSERTS (initiative to foster employment creation for the disabled, signing agreements with private companies) and annual publicity campaigns on several aspects of disability (sponsors publicity campaigns in the media with the main goal of intriguing to the normalization of the disabled people image as full right citizens), all these programs participated on raising the awareness on needs and claims of this social group, improving their quality of life and their full integration.Furthermore, there are more and more initiatives in Spain that guarantee a cultural tourism which is accessible to all; Adapted routes, specialized services, adapted facilities and accessible guides. In the realm of infrastructures and to improve their accessibility, Spain had initiated a Joint public-private actions such as: suppliers of ability aids in towns, adapted areas for disabled in beaches, special assistance in airplanes and special spaces in cars parks.
On the international level, Spain has always been a forerunner to ratify, sign and apply all the treaties and programs of disabled persons initiated by the United Nations and European Parliament, especially the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ms.Isabel Martinez Logan [Secretary General for Social Policy and Consumption at the Ministry of Health] presenting the report of Spain to the committee on the Rights of persons with disabilities, said: В« Although it was difficult o fully apply the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Spain regarded its performance and improvement with a lot of pride В». For all these efforts, Spain accepted on 2013 the Franklin D.
Roosevelt International Disability prize honoring the country’s achievements in promoting the rights of its disabled citizens. “This award serves us as a stimulus to continue making progress towards a fully egalitarian society” said Queen Sofia.In Spain’s specific scenario, taking care of disabled persons will not be beneficial only form them; economically speaking, disabled persons contribute by 271 5 Euro/month n the Spanish economic benefits (1999). Also, Spain thinks that we should have accurate data regarding the level of accessibility to places of residence, recreation, and equal education for persons with disabilities to have a better idea about their needs and how can we improve their situation. Spain also believes that penalties should be imposed for corporations that did not comply with the two per cent staff quota for persons with disabilities; and for individuals guilty of discriminating against them as well.
