Monitoring the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: data and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

This paper approaches the general issue of the complex challenges in the relationship between those who generate data -- researchers, scientists, and state statistical offices -- and those who use data -- researchers and policy-makers -- in light of the more specific policy challenges created by the monitoring requirement of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD: Article 33). International Conventions and Treaties standardly suffer from being persistently ineffectual primarily because of the absence of implementation mechanisms. The CRPD, by contrast, explicitly requires State Parties who have ratified it to institute data generation and monitoring mechanisms for its implementation. This paper argues that WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) can be brought into the service of the CRPD data generation and monitoring mandate, both in the shaping of relevant data streams and in the creation of relevant indicators, and concludes by reviewing the challenges that remain

The prospects for universal disability law and social policy

The worldwide disarray of disability social policy and law requires a new foundation to make it coherent and to remedy persistent contradictions, disincentives and other policy anomalies. In this paper we clarify and expand Irving Zola’s call for ‘universalized disability policy’ and develop his insight by drawing upon the well-known principles of Universal Design (UD), or Design for All, in architecture, product development and city planning to formulate analogous principles of universally designed disability social policy and law. Our objective is to show, by means of two examples - one in health care delivery and the other in welfare or social support policy - that ‘universalized’ policy for and on behalf of persons with disabilities is feasible. We find that there are some, albeit limited, examples of universalizing policy in these areas and suggests ways in which the full range of UD principles might be able to be implemented in these two policy areas. What we propose is merely a proof of concept rather than a complete proposal to restructure disability law and policy - which likely not be feasible, given the range of social and economic conditions of countries around the globe. We conclude with some tentative suggestions for areas of empirical research that would further the overall agenda of a universal disability social policy

Evaluation of an implementation strategy for a World Health Organization (WHO) public health report: The implementation of the International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury (IPSCI) in Romania

Aim: This paper aims to evaluate a strategy for the implementation of public health policy recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report “International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury” in Romania. More specifically, it seeks to: a) evaluate implementation actions with a focus on a number of people reached and status of completion at 12 months follow-up; b) describe implementation activities undertaken in the course of one year, and; c) evaluate perceived barriers and facilitators of implementation at 12 months follow-up. Methods: A cross-sectional design was adopted with two surveys administered in 2014/15 among key implementers in Romania. The questionnaires contained open-ended, multiple choice and 5-point Likert scale questions. Results on the implementation status, implementation activities performed and self-reported barriers and facilitators were analysed and reported using descriptive statistics. Results: Implementation completion rate was 75%, with 4390 persons directly or indirectly benefiting from the implementation-related activities listed in the final implementation plan reporting. A broad range of implementation experiences was reported. Most common activity types were delivery of services, technical trainings, implementation coordination and development meetings. Most useful tools and processes were the Romanian language version summary of the report, educational meetings, and local consensuses processes. Reported outcomes included the direct output produced, evidence of services provided, and individual or organizational level impact. Most barriers were named for the policymakers and academia as stakeholder groups and most facilitating influences for the private sector, with dependence of policymakers on constituency interest scoring highest barrier and the general availability of European Commission and European Structural Funds highest facilitator. Conclusion: The surveys proved to be both feasible and useful tools to expand our understanding of implementation and to supplement the more standard used implementation strategies at country level

Disability and Public Health

People with disabilities comprise approximately 15% of the world’s population. [...