Human Rights and Disability

Speech to the Department of Human Services' Disability Services Statewide Forum
Friday, October 6, 2006

Internationally human rights are set out in the International Bill of Rights, which is made up of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

There are also a number of treaties that deal with human rights of particular groups of people with special issues. These include the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women; the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading treatment or punishment; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of the Families.

People with disabilities are entitled to all the rights contained in these treaties. In addition, there are a number of international law instruments which are disability specific. These include: The Declaration on the Rights of mentally Retarded Persons; the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons; the World program of Action Concerning Disabled persons and the Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunity For People with Disabilities.

The United Nations is currently engaged in drafting a Convention for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Dignity of people with a Disability. It is anticipated that the Disability Convention will include all the human rights contained in the International Bill of Rights as well as rights which specifically address disability disadvantage.

The draft disability convention includes a statement of general principle (Article 2). These include: dignity, individual autonomy and independence; non-discrimination; respect for differences and acceptance of disability as part of human diversity and humanity; and equality of opportunity.

The draft disability convention also includes the right to liberty and security of the person; the right to freedom from torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment; freedom from violence and abuse; freedom of expression and opinion and access to information; rights to privacy, home and family; the right to live independently and to be included in the community; the right to education; the right to participation in political and public life; and the rights of accessibility and mobility.

Until recently, Australia has played a proud role in the development of international rights law. We were one of the founding members of the United Nations and have been an active participant in drafting of many important human rights instruments.

However, international law is not automatically incorporated into Australian law.

For international law to have a real impact on the operation of Australian government or the community, it is necessary for it to be translated into domestic legislation. There is sadly still no constitutionally entrenched bill of rights at national level - although happily there is now a Bill of Rights in the ACT and Victoria.

Instead of a national Bill of Rights, the Australian approach to human rights has been to enact anti-discrimination laws and one such law is the Disability Discrimination Act enacted in 1992 and administered by the Human Rights Commission.

And of course at the state level I am very proud and pleased to be in a state that has recently enacted the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.

The Charter will commence operating at the beginning of 2007 and requires all Victorian state and local government to comply with the civil and political rights it enshrines in legislation and in all they do.

The Charter will interconnect with Equal Opportunity - necessary because EEO is basically a tool to help achieve human rights that are denied particular groups of people.

Who is denied human rights - rights that are considered intrinsic to the humanness of people in our society?

How can people, who in many respects we might regard as decent in many other ways, deny anyone human rights?

Denying human rights is basically about creating a category of "otherness". The "other" is part of a group not deserving human rights - not quite human. This is the basis for racism and apartheid, for gender and sexuality discrimination.

It is also the basis for refusing to ratify the disability convention because it might incur costs in Australia - shockingly similar arguments were used initially by some government departments with regard to the Victorian Charter itself - others relegated human rights as of medium to low priority.

It is delusional to argue that it is acceptable to reject human rights charters, conventions or bills because ratifying them has resource implications. Such warped thinking can only get a hearing because the group of people to have their rights acknowledged and enforced are still regarded as "other" - as separate and ultimately inferior, as inhuman.

Not being white, not being male, not being straight has been and still is in many circumstances "other".

The other has always been feared - and of course fear of the other has led to not only to discrimination but also justified horrific treatment - inhuman treatment.

And so similar to indigenous people and despite all of the years of campaigning, People with Disabilities are still firmly in the category of other - hence not being seen as fully human and not with full human rights in our society.

As with other groups, there are always reasons in the minds of the dominant group in society. There has been loads of analysis of what blackness of skin connotates, or womaness or gayness, or being Moslem.

So what is it about people with disabilities that means that the dominant society thinks of us as the "other"?

Perhaps it's because People with Disabilities are in-your-face reminders of the fallibility of being human.

And of course being human is inevitably about imperfection. It is about illness, disability, and death. Yes, we are born, we live our imperfect lives as imperfect humans and then we die.

This might sound very obvious to all of you, but I can, if challenged to do so, quantify for you the trillions of dollars we spend as a society deeply and inexorably denying the inevitability of our ageing, illnesses, injuries, disabilities and ultimately our deaths.

But the truth is that people with disabilities cannot but be constant reminders of the fact that we are ordinary all at some stage in our lives going to have contact with disability and death.

In some ways perhaps even our successful campaigning from the mid seventies to 2005 - fighting for the human right for people with disabilities to get out of institutions and into the community - may even have exacerbated the sense of otherness. People with disabilities are certainly out in the streets, but they are not even close to being fully in the community - in jobs, on trains and trams, in schools, in sports groups, in kinders.

People with disabilities are not yet the classmates, the work colleagues, the footy or netball or tennis mate.

Society is nowhere near fully integrated. Even sheltered employment is alive and well. Despite all of the reforms at Commonwealth and State level, still government is funding segregated bakeries, nurseries, cafés where large groups of people with disabilities are employed together - this is dressed-up segregation - segregation from schools, to enterprises through even to leadership training.

Segregation - whether it be of schools, jobs, leadership courses - is apartheid. Segregation reinforces the sense of other. Segregation is anathema to human rights.

While all of this might sound pessimistic, those of you who know me will know that I am sometimes irritatingly optimistic. And this is because I know that society is dynamic.

Yes, the culture has changed enormously since the mid-seventies when the disability rights movement started and it is great that most institutions have been closed down - but closing down institutions is just not enough to get rid of the category of "other".

As part of the dynamic society it is important to remember that the disability rights movement was initiated and run by people with disabilities and parents. The role that the good professionals in government and NGOs have played has been to use all of their dominant power to ensure the meaningful voice of people with disabilities has been heard and acted on.

This has, in fact, culminated in this state showing Australia-wide leadership in creating a Disability Advisory Council made up entirely of disability consumers including parents.

Interestingly there is a clear statement on the importance of participation by People with Disabilities themselves in the implementation of the United Nations disability convention and indeed people with disabilities have been the drivers and leaders of the development of the convention.

It is vital to have People with Disabilities leading the campaign to achieve human rights in Australia. In part, this is because achieving full human status for people with disabilities is going to require the same pushing, kicking and dragging along that we have had to do to get to where we are today. And I would estimate that this is only at this stage about 30% along the human rights road.

As we can see from our Federal Government's current lack of enthusiasm to become a signatory to the disability convention (sad in view of its leadership role until recent times), and as we can see from the lack of achievement of human rights in many obvious areas on federal and state and local government areas - these rights will not be cheerfully handed over.

So it is a paradox that people with disabilities must unite and campaign to achieve human rights, thus reinforcing for a time our otherness - because this is the only way anything will actually happen.

The strategy of melting into the background quiescent and cooperative just doesn't work. People with disabilities were forced to take a step backwards in this state during the Kennett era of attack on advocacy by groups of people with disabilities. This effectively meant that in fact we went backwards in many areas.

And all of these basic human rights areas are all about universal access and inclusion alongside everyone else.

For example, it is part of being human as both a parent and a child to be included in integrated childcare. Yet sadly it is a common story to hear about parent committees more than ever these days refusing to accept children with disabilities. Some of this rejection is based on the fear I referred to earlier - a child with down syndrome will be dirtier, rowdier, ………. - and so the demonising begins at a very early age.

It is the same for kindergarten and school. In fact, I remember full well in the eighties and nineties watching helplessly as the teacher's unions firmed up on their self-fulfilling conviction that children with disabilities would be nastier, noisier, more demanding………….I saw the demonising occur as it happened.

Yet, childcare, kinder and school are all vital settings for inclusion, with the important spin- off of educating children without disabilities about the humanness of children with disabilities - that they are not "other", although they might have learning needs similar to other disadvantaged groups or needs for other assistance.

These same students without disabilities then become fellow workers, bosses recruiters in the public sector, the private sector and the non-government sector.

To set the human rights example, the public sector must lead the way. And while some departments have voluntarily taken steps to change the pathetic lack of any progress in the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector, it would be more likely to work if it is mandated as it has been in South Australia with great success, that public sector must employ People with Disabilities.

And what about the non-government sector in its employment practices? Perhaps we need to campaign for them to have a requirement that in order to receive any contracts from government there must be a percentage of People with Disabilities employed in mainstream jobs in the NGO itself. Surely disability service provider agencies would already be NGO leaders in this regard?

What about access to community within the place-based construct provided for us by the Department for Victorian Communities?

Surely we should be able to expect by now that any sport or recreation group that receives government funding is completely accessible?

This would mean that People with Disabilities are able to be part of any amateur or community-based sporting club - not relegated to administrator or coach but also able to get a game - of vital importance to children as it will also change attitudes like nothing else.

What about neighbourhood houses? We were so happy to see them get significant new funding recently. Are they all accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities in all of their programs - no longer providing segregated programs? Is this what the new money was used for - to insist on access and inclusion before the funding was distributed so that there is some meaning attached to the term community building?

And what about accessible housing, transport, public buildings, parks, playgrounds, public toilets and recreation facilities of all kinds - essential for human rights for people with mobility issues whether - permanent, temporary or chronically declining - essential for people as we age and for parents with small children?

At the heart of human rights is the truism that rights are not charity: rights are being volunteers, not being volunteered at; rights are being at the board table having a genuine voice - not being the endless recipient of services designed and delivered by others - for your own good.

Yes, we are out and about, but still relatively voiceless.

The institutional walls have been largely broken down, but now there are institutional equivalents.

It is important that we all combine to integrate the "other" with the human and so go the full 100% along the rest of the path to achieve human status for people with disabilities.