Originally published in InterAction's Monday Developments

People with disabilities in Iraq are present in every ethnic group and in every community. According to the World Bank, one out of six people living in poverty in the world today have a disability. In Iraq, the deaf population alone is 1,205,930, or about 5 percent of the Iraqi population¹.  Inclusion of people with disabilities as leaders and participants in the rebuilding of Iraq provides invaluable resources for economic development, capacity building and human rights.

Men and women with disabilities around the world report they are denied significant participation in the workforce, human rights organizations, health access, and community programs. In post-conflict situations, early and strategically aimed programs can address the immediate needs of vulnerable groups within the population, including people with disabilities and especially women and girls. Programs that incorporate a disability-lens can also provide a framework for the inclusion of people with disabilities as active participants in the reconstruction process, thereby ensuring that structures are accessible to all.

The current reconstruction and rebuilding effort in Iraq gives US-based international development organizations the opportunity to implement USAID’s Disability Policy and to reflect the values of US domestic policy. In 1997, USAID articulated a commitment to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities within USAID programs and in countries where USAID sponsors programs, and to equalization of opportunities for people with disabilities in foreign assistance program goals. The policy is especially important to InterAction members, many of who receive support from USAID and, therefore, are required to comply. The Disability Policy mandates that USAID grantees must: “avoid discrimination against people with disabilities in programs which USAID funds and stimulate an engagement of host country counterparts, governments, implementing organizations and other donors in promoting a climate of non-discrimination against, and equal opportunity for people with disabilities.” Policy objectives include: “to increase awareness of issues of people with disabilities both within USAID programs and in host countries” and  “to support international advocacy for people with disabilities”. USAID suggests, in the policy framework that: “Many mainstream programs, with minor modification at the design stage, help address needs of people with disabilities.”  

Is inclusion of people with disabilities a priority in development programming?  Is insistence that reconstructed buildings must be accessible to people with disabilities a cultural or a universal right? In post-conflict Afghanistan, government officials and the development community considered these questions as they debated the importance of ensuring accessibility of rebuilt schools. The response from the Afghanistan Minister of Martyrs and Disabled was unequivocal: school accessibility was a critical issue to people with disabilities in Afghanistan.  Inclusion in schools, indeed full participation in civil society, is not a question of cultural values, but of human rights.

Strategies for inclusive reconstruction

The particular needs and concerns of people with disabilities must be taken into consideration when planning and implementing disaster response programs. Emergency and disaster situations, whether natural or human-created, often result in increased numbers of people with disabilities. The needs of disabled adults, and especially disabled women and children, are not fundamentally different from the needs of all others in the affected population; people with disabilities also need access to the development of health, employment, social, educational and civil society programs. Our challenge in the reconstruction process is to bring people with disabilities into the discussion to ensure that people with disabilities are able to exercise their human rights as participants and project beneficiaries.

Strategies for including people with disabilities:

• Ensure that all reconstruction projects follow universal design principles in order to assure accessibility for all.
• Include people with disabilities in community action groups.
• Ensure that work with women in Iraq includes women with disabilities.
  Focus on youth and youth with disabilities.
• Seek out and consult with disability groups in Iraq and in the region.
• Ensure that material aid includes aid addressing the needs of people with disabilities, in particular the needs of people with critical, life-threatening needs for certain medications or equipment.
• Refer to the UN Standard Rules, USAID Disability Policy, and the InterAction PVO Standards for guidance in assuring that post conflict efforts respect the human rights of people with disabilities and are inclusive of their needs.
  Contact Mobility International USA at development@miusa.org  for free technical assistance.
  

Specific needs of people with disabilities in Iraq according to Moussa Charafeddine of the Friends for Disabled Association and others:

• Mobility equipment for Iraqi people with motor disabilities such as wheelchairs, crutches, and artificial limbs, surgical implants, knees, hip joints.
• Supportive equipment such as water mattresses, toilet seats, urine bags and catheters, condoms, bed sore treatments.
• Transportation that is accessible for people with disabilities.
• Medicines for people who have diabetes, epilepsy, and other conditions that require regular medication.

At the 2003 InterAction Forum, the Norwegian Minister for International Development, Ms. Hilde Frafjord Johnson, addressed the need for more international development agencies to include people with disabilities in their efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals.

“People with disabilities are the poorest of the poor. If we take on the solidarity challenge, then we have to include them in education. People with disabilities are a clear priority in the Education Sector. The U.S. needs pushing in this area. The World Bank is taking it more seriously and they have staff to work specifically on issues of disability and development. There is no separate target for people with disabilities in the Millennium Development Goals, therefore, it is even more important that issues of people with disabilities be mainstreamed.”

Development assistance programs can facilitate coalition building between people with disabilities and other marginalized groups. Mobility International USA offers an extensive database of disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) including organizations led by and for people with disabilities, including organizations in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. These organizations can serve as points of contact for conducting outreach to people with disabilities as well as offering technical expertise to international development aid workers.

Lebanese Council of Disabled People
Contact: Mr. Nawaf Kabarra, President
PO Box 113-5157
Hamra, Beirut
Tel:    (961) 1-738-296
Fax:      (961) 1-738-297
E-mail: nard@cyberia.net.lb

LCDP is a National Assembly Member of Disabled Peoples' International, an organization advocating for the equalization of opportunities for people with disabilities in all aspects of life worldwide.

Friends for the Disabled
Contact: Dr. Moussa Charafeddine  (President of Friends for Disabled Association; also, President of the National Union-Lebanon Chair of MENA at Inclusion International)
B.P. 11/3118
Beit Almuhandess Street- Mar Elias 47
Beit Almuhandess, Beirut
LEBANON
Tel: (961) 3 - 612 5 81 / 850 111
Fax: (961) 1- 826 487 / 866 519
E-mail: moussa@friendsfordisabled.org.lb

About Mobility International USA

Mobility International USA (MIUSA), a US-based non-profit organization established in 1981, empowers people with disabilities around the world through technical assistance and training, information sharing and consultancy to organizations working towards disability-inclusive policy and programming. MIUSA’s International Development & Disability (IDD) department develops and implements projects that promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in international development policies, programs and activities. IDD works in the areas of civil society, strengthening of community development, education/training, and youth services. IDD provides organizational assessments; training for headquarters and field staff on disability and inclusive programming; gender planning/inclusion of women with disabilities; training for trainers; and networking and resource lists of local and international disability NGOs. For more information, visit our website at www.miusa.org, or call (541) 343-1284 (Tel/TTY).

¹  Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th edition, SIL International, 2003