Disability

Symbol that represents the exclusive use for persons with disabilities. Today, there is another type of logo with regard to disability that mentions a circle with a person connecting its superior and lower members, which relates to the fact that it is not a "disabled", but is a person with disabilities, who has rights and obligations.

Disability is the condition in which certain people present some physical, intellectual or sensory deficiency (among others) that, when interacting with various barriers, may affect, in the short or long term, full and effective participation in society. In most countries, people with disabilities can request recognition of their condition and, after a certain degree, a certificate of disability, which allows them access to a series of rights and prohibitions. The term disability is considered pejorative in most countries.

The International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, approved by the UN in 2006, generically defines someone with one or more disabilities as person with a disability.

Even, in certain areas, terms such as «disabled», «blind», «deaf», etc., even when used correctly, could be considered derogatory or pejorative depending on the context, since for some people these terms could objectify who has a disability, which they interpret as a form of discrimination. In these cases, to avoid possible semantic conflicts, the use of the expression "persons with disabilities" is recommended. At the same time, this has generated controversy, since the use of "with" implies a deficiency in the human being, and criticism has arisen within disability communities.

The person with a disability is a subject of law.

Types of disabilities

There is debate about the types of disabilities that exist due to being a very heterogeneous group. Some of the most common types of disabilities are:

• Physical or motor disability refers to the loss or limitation of the person (whether due to illness or accident) to perform physical and motor activities such as walking, moving arms, hands, feet... (whether indefinitely or temporarily). For example: muscular dystrophy, spina bifida...
• Organic or visceral disability is that produced by the loss of functionality of some body systems, which are often related to internal organs, physiological and neurological processes, whether congenital or acquired. (whether indefinitely or temporarily). For example: COPD...
• Sensory disability is that disability produced (whether sick or accident) by the limitation or deficiency of sensory capabilities (whether indefinitely as temporary) as they are:
  • Visual: Loss of sight or difficulty seeing one of the eyes.
  • Hearing: Loss or limitation of the ear to listen.
• Psychological disability: is that disability related to the activities of the mind and cognitive system. (whether for a disease, syndrome, disorder or accident; both indefinitely or temporarily) It is divided into:
  • Intellectual or mental disability: Limitations and difficulties in learning and intellectual development. An example of this is Down syndrome among others.
  • Psychosocial disability: Limitation and difficulty in establishing social and/or affective relationships. An example of this is Asperger syndrome or various psychological disorders among others.

Some of the causes of disability can be:

• Social and contextual causes: Armed wars and conflicts, industrial accidents, maltreatment, traffic accidents, trauma, etc.
• Health causes: Disability caused by infectious and parasitic diseases, nutritional deficiencies, health problems related to the development of the fetus or at the time of delivery, birth defects, chronic diseases and malignant tumors.
• Environmental causesThese causes include environmental pollution problems and their health effects, such as irrational use of pesticides in crops that increase the risk of developing a disabled disease.

Evolution of the perception of disability

Sad heritage (1899), Joaquín Sorolla. The painting shows different affected children of various types of incapacity that are prepared to take a bath at sea helped by a religious of the Order of St John of God.

Reserved parking for persons with disabilities

Disability is a human reality that has been perceived differently in different historical periods and civilizations. The vision that was given to him throughout the 20th century was related to a physical condition considered deteriorated with respect to the general standard of an individual or his group. The term, originating after World War II, refers to individual functioning and includes physical disability, sensory disability, cognitive disability, intellectual disability, mental illness, and various types of chronic diseases.

On the contrary, the vision based on human rights or social models introduces the study of the interaction between a person with disabilities and their environment; mainly the role of a society is to define, cause or maintain disability within said society, including attitudes or accessibility norms that favor a marginalized minority to stop being so.

The evolution of society has been improving since the 1980s and social models of disability have been developed that add new appreciations to the term. For example, a distinction is made between a person with a disability (as soon as they have a diminished ability being objectively less than average) and a person with abilities other than normal and who —although it does not represent any advantage or disadvantage— is often considered a problem due to the attitude of society or the fact that the standards are based on average characteristics.

These changes in attitude have enabled changes in the understanding of certain physical characteristics that were previously considered disabilities. In the 1960s, for example, left-handed people were seen as having an abnormality, being forced to write with their right hand, and sometimes even punished if they didn't. In the 1980s, this quality was accepted as a physical characteristic. If certain tools, such as scissors or corkscrews, are created for right-handed people, a left-handed person will perceive themselves as a person with a disability, since they are unable to perform certain actions and need help from other people, losing their autonomy.

In today's society there is a tendency to adapt the environment and public spaces to the needs of people with disabilities, in order to avoid social exclusion, since a disability is perceived as such, while the person is incapable to interact by itself with its own environment.

Definitions and approaches

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization distinguishes between the functions of the body (physiological or psychological, vision) and the structures of the body (anatomical parts, eye and related structures). Impairment in bodily structure or function is defined as involving an anomaly, defect, loss or other significant deviation from certain generally accepted population standards, which may fluctuate over time. The activity is defined as the execution of a task or an action.

The CIF lists 9 broad domains of functioning that may be affected:

1. Learning and applying knowledge
2. General tasks and demands
3. Communication
4. Mobility
5. Watch yourself
6. Domestic life
7. Interactions and interpersonal relationships
8. Important areas of life
9. Life of the community, social and civic

The introduction to the CIF indicates that a variety of conceptual models have been proposed to understand and explain disability and functioning, which it attempts to integrate into them. There are two models of seeing disability itself. The social model and the medical model.

Social approach or model

The social model of disability considers that the causes of disability are neither religious nor biological, but are, to a great extent, social. From this perspective, emphasis is placed on the fact that people with disabilities can contribute to society in the same circumstances as others, but always from the appreciation of inclusion and respect for diversity.

From this approach, disability is a complex collection of conditions, many of which are created by the social environment, which is why addressing these conditions requires social action and it is the collective responsibility of society to make the modifications necessary for the full participation of the person with disabilities in all areas of life.

One of the most serious problems occurs in the deep ignorance about the disability that people without disabilities present and not knowing how to relate to a person with a disability, triggering a great distance and social marginalization without intending it. Society must remove barriers to achieve equal opportunities between people with disabilities and people without disabilities. To achieve this, appropriate education and assistive technologies are crucial.

The social model does not consider disability as an individual problem, but as a condition whose limitations are caused by the barriers or obstacles raised by society.

Despite the fact that the social model is the approach to thinking about disability that has the greatest institutional acceptance, in the discourse of the media and in the social imaginary, conceptions related to the medical model continue to be predominant.

Interpersonal Behavior Approach

In the medical field, disability is seen as its name indicates and is cautious when associating it with an illness or an accident, if that were the case, directly causing a deficiency, trauma, or other condition of the health that; therefore, it requires sustained medical assistance provided in the form of individual treatment by professionals.

Health care and political relevance are the main response of changing or reforming health care policy. The approach with which the person with a disability is taken by society is very important and influential in the interpersonal relationship of the person with a disability.

The terminologies are associated with ideas and concepts that represent culturally accepted values and society evolves on the perception of Disabilities. Certain organisms related to functional diversity have tried to coin new terms, in search of a new social vision of this group, the World Health Organization (WHO), promoted the International Classification of Disability and Health Functioning (CIF) Switzerland (2001), replacing the previous International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH) of 1980.

• Deficiency in the functioning, loss or abnormality of a part of the body or a physiological or mental function, contextualizes a significant deviation from the standardized median of the population;
• Disability due to limitation in the activity related to difficulties in the execution of qualifications in varying degrees that involve a significant deviation in quantity and quality in relation to a person without health alteration;
• Minusvaly by the restriction on participation, are problems that an individual may experience in their involvement in vital situations, participation is determined by what is expected of an individual without disabilities in a particular culture or society.

Models of disability

The Inter-American Children's Institute of the Organization of American States (OAS) published a paper in 2001, in which it outlines the evolution of the concept of disability since the 19th century XVII, according to the following models:

Medical model

It spans from the 17th century to the present day. From this model, it is considered that disabilities have a biomedical origin, which implies that they are treated as diseases that must be cured; Likewise, people who, despite treatment, do not achieve improvement are separated from the rest of society through their confinement in institutions such as asylums and mental hospitals.

The medical model continues to manifest itself in the discourses and social representations of disability (for example, in the media).

Interactionist or structuralist model

The concept of disadvantage begins to develop and environmental factors are emphasized. In this period the standardization in education is implanted. The value of prevention to remove physical and structural barriers is recognized.

Biopsychosocial model

The biopsychosocial model is a participatory model of health and disease that considers the individual as a being that participates in the biological, psychological, and social spheres.

Inclusive model of human rights

Currently this model is the one that prevails and recognizes that every individual regardless of their disability has human rights that must be respected. According to article 12 of the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: All Countries shall ensure the equal rights of persons with disabilities before the law. The Convention requires all countries to ensure that persons with disabilities: - They have the same rights to inherit and own property. - They must know and control their economic activities and assets. - They can access financial services, such as credits or mortgages.

Model of functional diversity

A term has been proposed in certain spaces to refer to people with disabilities, that of women and men with functional diversity ("people with different abilities"), in order to eliminate negativity in the definition of the group of people with disabilities and reinforce its essence of diversity. However, it is a fact that we must highlight: a person with a disability does not necessarily have different or superior capacities than those of a person who does not have the condition; if anything, he has developed abilities that allow him to compensate for the loss or decrease of some function, but that are not exclusive to him, since any person without disabilities could also do it.

Accessibility and assistive technologies

Space reserved for disabled motors on a train from Argentina

Accessibility to airships, Israel 1969

Accessibility is the degree to which all people can use an object, visit a place or access a service, regardless of their technical, cognitive or physical abilities.

Assistive Technologies

Support or assistive technology is any kind of equipment, object, system, product, machine, instrument, program or service that can be used to replace, increase, maintain, compensate or improve the functional capacities of the people with disabilities or disabilities (motor, sensory or cognitive). It is also called "adaptive" or "assistive" technology for independent living, since it makes it easier for individuals who use them to carry out tasks that they were previously unable to accomplish or had great difficulty doing. Some examples are the white cane, the walker, the wheelchair, assistance dogs, etc.

The use of technologies as a means to increase, maintain or improve the functional capacities of individuals is a common practice in the field of intervention with people with disabilities. García Viso and Puig de la Bellacasa (1988) define technical aids as utensils so that the individual can compensate for a deficiency or disability by substituting a function or enhancing their remains.

The nature of assistive technologies is so varied that different classification philosophies have been proposed. Thus, for example, Roca and others (2004), propose different classifications based on their technological level.

Accessibility by scope

Accessible path

The accessible route is the possibility of entry that all people have to services and educational physical areas (through floors, walkways, doors and openings) with all the facilities and freedoms to move horizontally and vertically and remain in the place of safe way; This route will be from any point of access to the property, including sidewalks, parking lots and public transport stops and must be designed free of obstacles and barriers and with characteristics and dimensions that make accessibility efficient for people with disabilities.

The general provisions for premises and services in Mexico consider that access and circulation must be free of obstacles, from the street and vehicle parking areas to the ground floors of each and every one of the school buildings.

Information and communication technologies

The United Nations International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which entered into force on May 3, 2008, establishes that persons with disabilities must be guaranteed equal access to information technologies and communication (ICT).

Regarding the Internet, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has prepared Guidelines on the accessibility of content on the web. It consists of the definition of products and environments to be used by all people to the maximum possible, without adaptations or the need for a specialized design. This concept includes a broader definition of what is known as accessibility for people with disabilities. It encompasses the environments, products and services that are offered and used in our daily life, adding access to information and communication technologies; They must be available to all under equal conditions as an essential part for the proper integration of the various groups in society. This concept seeks that environments, from their design, include one or more of the following principles:

• Equitable use: that environments can be used by people with different physical abilities.
• Flexible use: that environments accommodate a wide range of individual references and skills.
• Simple and intuitive use: that environments are easy to understand, no matter the experience, knowledge, language skills or user concentration level.
• Perceptible information: that the environments transmit the necessary information to the user for their displacement effectively, regardless of the environment conditions or their sensory capabilities.
• Tolerance of error: that environments minimize risks and adverse consequences of involuntary or accidental actions.
• Minimum physical effort: that environments can be used comfortably and efficiently minimizing fatigue.
• Suitable approximation size and use: that the components of the constructions provide a size and space suitable for the approach, scope, manipulation and use of the services regardless of the body size, posture or mobility of the user.

Rights of people with disabilities

On June 7, 1999, in Guatemala City, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States approved the Inter-American Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, which establishes in its article 1 that:

The term "discrimination against persons with disabilities" means any distinction, exclusion or restriction based on a disability, antecedent of disability, consequence of previous disability or perception of a disability present or past, which has the effect or purpose of preventing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by persons with disabilities of their human rights and fundamental freedoms

On December 13, 2006, the United Nations formally agreed to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:

Since its inception, the United Nations has sought to improve the situation of persons with disabilities and make their lives easier. The United Nations ' interest in the well-being and rights of persons with disabilities originates in its founding principles, which are based on human rights, fundamental freedoms and the equality of all human beings.

Full participation and equality

This is the first treaty of the human rights system of the 21st century, aimed at protecting and reinforcing the rights and equal opportunities of the estimated 650 million people with disabilities worldwide. In it, it is established that all human beings have rights that must be respected, some of which are the following:

Countries that sign the convention should adopt new national laws, and remove old laws, so that people with disabilities, for example, have equal rights to education, employment and cultural life.

In 1976, the UN launched its International Year for Persons with Disabilities for 1981, and it was later called the International Year of Persons with Disabilities. In 1979, Frank Bowe was the representative of people with disabilities.

The UN Decade of Persons with Disabilities, between 1983 and 1993, offered a World Program of Action Referring to Persons with Disabilities; today, many countries have appointed representatives who are people with disabilities. In addition, in 1984 Unesco accepted sign language for the education of deaf children and youth.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated on December 3 of each year.

Rights of people with disabilities in Argentina

The rights of persons with disabilities in Argentina are established in Law 26,378, which ratifies the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities made by the United Nations in 2006. Said law is constitutional in nature, which means that it cannot be changed or repealed by a simple majority. National laws 22,431 and 24,901 establish the services that the state must provide to people with disabilities and allow the processing of the Single Certificate of Disability (CUD), which allows processing and facilitating such services.

Rights of people with disabilities in Mexico

In Mexico, people with disabilities are covered by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), which is in charge of promoting and protecting the rights of all social and ethnic groups, in addition to seeking to eliminate discrimination, as well as ensure the inclusion of people in society.

The Mexican federal Law to prevent discrimination, also seeks to end all forms of discrimination, understanding by the latter, any distinction or exclusion based on ethnic origin, age, sex, disability, socioeconomic condition, health, beliefs, etc. From this, the National Council to Prevent Discrimination was created, in charge of formulating policies and carrying out actions to promote a culture of respect and non-discrimination, in the same way, this council is in charge of dealing with complaints about discriminatory behaviors, providing advice to the affected to assert their rights and carrying out the corresponding legal actions for a solution of the problem.

Rights of people with disabilities in Spain

In Spain, the procedure for the recognition of disability is regulated by Royal Decree 1971/1999, of December 23. It includes a scale for "social factors", but it remains to be developed what the specific resources for the group of Disabled with Social Factors. This view is associated with a medical model of disability.

Law 51/2003, of December 2, on equal opportunities, non-discrimination and universal accessibility for people with disabilities (abbreviated LIONDAU), aims to establish measures to guarantee and enforce the right to equal opportunities of people with disabilities. For these purposes, equal opportunities is understood as the absence of discrimination, direct or indirect, that has its cause in a disability, as well as the adoption of positive action measures aimed at avoiding or compensating for the disadvantages of a person with a disability to participate fully in political, economic, cultural and social life.

Law 26/2011, of August 1, adapts Spanish regulations to the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Disability is that condition under which certain people present some physical, mental, intellectual or sensory deficiency that in the long term affect the way they interact and participate fully in society.

Rights of people with disabilities in Peru

Since 1963, Law 14569 recognizes the labor rights of people with disabilities.

Sport and disability

Logo of paralymbic games.

The different sports adapted for people with motor disabilities have been developed since the 1950s, an example of which are the Paralympic Games, among which, for example, athletics, is the discipline that has managed to adapt most of its modalities.

Since 2006, extreme sports competitions for people with physical disabilities have been organized, including competitions for skateboarding, wakeboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, surfing, moto-x and kayaking.

Sexuality and disability

People with disabilities may experience sexual desire and may express their sexuality in a variety of ways. It is common that they have not received a comprehensive sexual education that can assist them throughout their sexual life due to the preconceived idea that they are asexual beings and are not sexually active. Although some people with disabilities are asexual, it is a mistake to generalize and assume that everyone is. Many people with disabilities are unable to exercise the rights that would allow them to have intimacy and relationships. When it comes to sexuality, its intersection with disability is often associated with victimization, abuse, and purity.

For cases of physical disabilities that change a person's sexual functioning, such as spinal cord injury, there are several solutions. The affected person may enjoy sex with the help of sex toys and physical aids (such as bed modifications), adopting appropriate sexual positions, or through the services of a qualified sex worker.

Disability in the legal field in Mexico

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, issued the Protocol of Action, for those who impart justice in case they involve the rights of people with disabilities, which specifically establishes the principles that must be observed in all legal processes in which people with a disability are involved, establishing the principles of:

• Principle of disability, from the social and human rights model
• Increased protection of the rights of persons with disparity (Principle per person)
• Principle of equality and non-discrimination
• Principle of accessibility
• Principle of respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy, including the freedom to make decisions and the independence of persons
• Principle of full and effective participation or inclusion in society
• Principle of respect for the difference and acceptance of disability as part of human diversity and conditions (Principle linked to heterogeneity and complexity of disability)
• Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities, their right to preserve their identity

Which seek an effective application of justice for people with disabilities.

Some rights when obtaining a disability certificate

Media representation of people with disabilities

In the media representation of people with disabilities in Mexican newspapers, the following predominate:

• Paternalism, that is, the idea that the government is the primary responsibility for the problems of this group and therefore the actor responsible for solving them.
• The representation of persons with disabilities as lacking capacity to solve their problems.
• Solutions related to the participation of alternative socialization institutions (e.g., care institutions, special education schools) which are, however, not inclusive.
• Stereotyped behaviors, especially by representing characters with autism.