National policy on disability overdue(07-12-06)

The issue of disability in Zimbabwe continues to be a preserve of the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare – a clear indication that Zimbabwe still subscribes to the welfare approach to disability issues and has yet to embrace the human rights based approach to disability.
While the welfare approach is a simplistic view which looks at disability as a medical condition which can be solved through the provision of medical treatment and social welfare handouts, the human rights based approach is a more enlightened, realistic, people-centred and responsible approach. The human rights based approach to disability places specific obligations on the part of the government to remove whatever physical and social barriers prevent or hamper the full integration of people with disabilities into society, and ensure that they are accorded the same rights and opportunities as any other member of society.
The human rights-based approach recognizes that disability concerns are not limited to health and welfare but span the whole range of societal activity from accessibility, communication, education, vocational guidance and training, employment, culture and religion, sport and recreation, social welfare and housing, transport, traffic and road safety, economic security, legal protection, training of personnel, family life and personal integrity, national communication and coordination and international cooperation.
This points to the need to introduce development policies in full support of the full participation and equality of people with disabilities in these areas. It also highlights the need for different ministries to implement recommendations under each policy category. But, above all, there is need for the formulation and implementation of a national policy on disability, which would not only ensure the integration of people with disabilities as fully as possible into society, but also obligate all ministries to implement resolutions falling under their policy category and create mutually beneficial multisectoral and intersectoral collaboration.
For example, in the areas of accessibility and communication it is necessary that the built environment should be made accessible for persons with disabilities. This requires legislation and regulations, policy development and programme implementation by ministries of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing as well as Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications at the national and sub national levels. Accessibility is not limited to public buildings but also extends to facilities like transport, telecommunications, sport and recreation facilities, requiring the relevant ministries to put up appropriate supportive policies. In the area of communication, it is necessary that ministry of Information and Publicity, which is responsible for information dissemination, be involved in order to guarantee
full access to public information for persons with disabilities. This includes
facilitating access to Information and Communication Technology, in line
with this year’s theme of the International Day for the Disabled, which is ‘E-accessibility’.
In the area of education, policies should be put in place to ensure that children and youths with disabilities have the same right to education as children without disabilities. Such inclusion policies would ensure that assessment, active intervention and specialized services would be provided for those with special needs within the regular education system. The integration and accessibility of vocational training programmes is central to the successful integration or reintegration of people with disabilities in society as such programmes afford them the opportunity to be gainfully employed and advance their careers. The implementation of such policies requires the active participation of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Higher Education.
The promotion of employment for people with disabilities both in the formal and informal sectors require not only the formulation but active implementation of such policies by the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Social Welfare and also the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture. This can however, only be achieved by working in collaboration with other ministries, highlighting, once again, the importance of inter-ministerial collaboration and coordination.
The provision and access to housing for people with disabilities would require the implementation of disability friendly policies by the ministry of Local Government and Housing in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. The facilitating of travel opportunities for passengers with disabilities by designing or adapting the various systems of public transport, as well as traffic infrastructure, to the needs of persons with disabilities falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications.
The formulation of a National Policy on Disability would be a logical point of departure, as it would provide the needed impetus for inter-ministerial cooperation and collaboration and the integration of people with disabilities into existing developmental activities in the society.