Ethical Code

Osservatorio Nazionale sulla condizione delle persone con disabilità

Osservatorio Nazionale sulla condizione delle persone con disabilità

The UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, in article 4 third comma speaks of the inclusion of organizations representing persons with disabilities in decisions regarding them. Not only is participation an element of democracy, hence a human right, but also an important factor of innovation, especially in the field of disability. In time, in fact, the increasingly uniform participation of the organizations of persons with disabilities has become competent and more and more capable of conversing in all areas of human rights, providing a different point of view on the condition of persons with disabilities. The article analyzes a number of examples in the fields of research, international cooperation, social policies, and human rights guardianship, emphasizing that in this field participation translates into innovation.

Keywords: participation; persons with disabilities; innovation; CRPD; best practices.

The UNCRPD reaffirms the human rights of persons with disabilities and underlines the need to respect them. In this direction, the Italian Cooperation developed – with the involvement of civil society and beneficiaries in the whole decision-making process – guidelines, manuals, and tools with the aim to operationalize the Convention. In developing countries multiple forms of discrimination are often associated with exclusion and vulnerabilities. In these contexts, it is essential to support local authorities in adopting legislation policies and to build strategies and programmes in favour of persons with disabilities with special attention to situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, including armed conflicts and natural disasters. All initiatives supported by the Italian Cooperation have been designed according to the idea that any intervention has to be tailored on the needs of the person with disabilities, promoting the highest possible level of autonomy and independence, and enabling them to take an active role in the development of civil society and in the response to emergencies. Having this in mind, it is crucial to build the capacity of local and national institutions, of civil society organisations and humanitarian agencies, to empower persons with disabilities and their organizations and to put in place structured consultation systems in order to facilitate data exchange and good practices among governments and civil society. The path followed by the Italian Cooperation has always been consistent with the provisions of the art. 32 and art. 11. Italy has been among the most active in supporting the rights of persons with disabilities through a participatory and multidisciplinary approach.

Keywords: disability; social inclusion; empowerment; capacity building; humanitarian aid.

Accessibility is one of the pillars of the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: if there is not accessibility,there is no freedom and full enjoyment of human rights for persons with disabilities. Accessibility is therefore a necessary element for rights and freedom. The paper, starting from the analysis of how the accessibility concept is strongly related to rights, gives an account of how an innovative way of looking at people’s bodies interacting with environment is necessary to effectively act in shaping a new inclusive environment. A brief report on the state of implementation of obligations arising from the ratification of the Convention in Italy is provided, as are some examples of good practices carried out in recent years with the strong involvement of associations of people with disabilities in order to demonstrate that is possible to build an inclusive environment through innovative and participatory methodologies and processes.

Keywords: universal design; accessibility; environment; body; participation.

The exclusion of persons with disabilities is a permanent feature in the history of humanity. It has taken decades to confirm the link between a condition of disability and the concept of discrimination. This article intends to retrace, from a cultural and legal point of view, the long road that led to the definition of discrimination based on disability. Drawing conclusions from the analysis of the first three years of activity of the “Franco Bomprezzi” Anti-discrimination Centre run by LEDHA, the article aims to look at the current situation regarding the application of Law 67/2006, the Italian legislation prohibiting any form of discrimination based on disability Our analysis confirms the potential of promoting the rights of persons with disabilities through anti-discrimination protection actions. However, the day that discrimination suffered by persons with disabilities will be actually considered a serious violation of human rights is still a long way away. The path to this goal encourages the active participation of an increasing number of persons with disabilities in identifying and contrasting the many forms of discrimination still hidden today.

Keywords: disability; discrimination; inclusion; legislation; court.

Disabled People’s International, Italy

Empowerment, as such, must be identified as a social practice, a historical and critical analysis of people and movements, and not as exercising a coercitive power on others. It implies a concept of a positive means in relation to terms like “growth”, “development”, and “emancipation”. Its goals are to promote a general personal and social development. It therefore indicates an “acquisition of power”, which, if translated into a first person point of view means “I Can”. According to this perspective empowerment is closely related to the awareness of an augmented sense of “power” that people involved reach through their participation in this process. The process of empowerment for people with disabilities takes place in everyday life, in organisations, in the community where they live and interact through the methodology of Peer Counseling and is realised by people (peers) that have the same life experience, in this case disability, and that, having reached a certain level of emancipation and awareness, become role models.

Keywords: disability; empowerment; peer counselling; community living; emancipation.

Università di Firenze

Over the last decades the traditional approach to research based on the absolute centrality of the professional researcher has been challenged by the spread of participatory approaches. The most radical approaches to participatory research have been perceived as processes through which marginalized groups get self-awareness and can actively influence society. Here we can find a common ground between participatory research and the emancipatory approaches rooted in the Freirian emphasis on “conscientisation“ and “emancipation”. Moreover, interesting applications of participatory and emancipatory methods draw on connections with the philosophical foundations of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach. Starting from this theoretical background this paper will show how emancipatory approaches can be used to simultaneously collect information on disability and induce an emancipatory process that can involve persons with disabilities. The presented case study will focus on an emancipatory research about the interaction between gender and disability based discriminations in Palestine.

Keywords: disability; gender; emancipatory research; Palestine; participatory methods.

This work demonstrates how it is possible to realize the mainstreaming of disability in a complex field such as that of bioethics, through a collaboration over time between associations of people with disabilities, academic institutions, and national and international bodies. The participation of Disabled People’s International Europe in the planning and teaching of the Master’s in Bioethics at the University of Camerino, and the Polytechnic University of the Marche, constituted a starting point for a cooperation project that resulted in participation in the National Bioethics Committee of Republic of San Marino by Giampiero Griffo as an external expert. Thanks to this support, the first document on disability was elaborated by a National Bioethics Committee and this theme was kept in mind in all other documents, where needed. The point of view of the disabled associations was also taken into consideration in relation to the evaluation of particularly important Council of Europe documents for people with disabilities. It is hoped that this example of cooperation could be an incentive for further forms of collaboration in other areas of society, with the awareness that inclusion is the only form of involvement in decision-making processes.

Keywords: bioethics; disability; mainstreaming; human rights; empowerment.

Article 12 UNCRPD encompasses the universal recognition of legal capacity of all persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, both in terms of identity and agency. Persons with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems could have their legal capacity deprived or restricted under the institution of protective measures, such as guardianship. Article 12 of the UNCRPD reframes the issue of legal capacity in terms of giving support to persons with disabilities that may need to take decisions, while deleting any system which restricts their right to take decisions on the grounds of disability. Under art.12 UNCRPD States have an obligation to replace systems based on substituted decision-making by a system ensuring free choice through support in decision-making, implying the duty to take measures to provide any person with disabilities the support needed in the expression of their choices, not to decide for them «in their best interest».

Keywords: legal capacity; intellectual disabilities; guardianship; choice; supported decision making.

Scientific literature has often struggled to believe that a person with disability can be happy. When the empirical evidence seemed to support this possibility, the term “disability paradox” was invented to explain this improbable condition. The article traces the development of this thought in scientific literature trying to underline its inconsistencies and highlighting how often common sense more than scientific rigor seems to guide research work in this field of analysis. Nothing prevents a person with a disability from being happy both form the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives. However, at the same time, nothing assures that this happens with the rest of humanity. Following the analysis of Reinders we support the idea that a life story provides the hermeneutical context within which agent-relative capabilities and happiness can be discovered and realized.

Keywords: disability; happiness; disability paradox; hedonic adaptation; quality of life.