Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

People with disabilities often feel humiliated.
- Sylvia Caras, personal message, December 19, 2004

HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world. This is not only our research topic, but also our core value, in line with Article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration that states that every human being is born with equal dignity (that ought not be humiliated). We agree with Professor Shibley Telhami, who advocates the building of bridges from academia as follows, "I have always believed that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential for public policy. It is possible to affect public policy without being an advocate; to be passionate about peace without losing analytical rigor; to be moved by what is just while conceding that no one has a monopoly on justice." We would like to add that we believe that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential not only for public policy, but for raising awareness in general.

 

The Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

Sylvia Caras wrote on 19th December 2004 in a personal messsage to HumanDHS the following:
People with disabilities often feel humiliated. This work relates to yours. [...]
The fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities [see more further down] will be in New York the end of January.  I've been attending since the beginning and participating as well in between New York meetings; that work is mostly done electronically. I'm currently the representative of the North American Region to the International Disability Caucus steering committee.
Our goal is the inclusion of all people with all disabilities, including women with disabilities, children with disabilities, disabilities sometimes excluded or exceptionalized, as human beings with the full protections of all treaties and laws.
Sylvia Caras, sylvia@peoplewho.org.

Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
General Assembly resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001 established an Ad Hoc Committee "to consider proposals for a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, based on the holistic approach in the work done in the fields of social development, human rights and non-discrimination and taking into account the recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission for Social Development."

The resolution also, "invites States, relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, including relevant human rights treaty bodies, the regional commissions, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations with an interest in the matter to make contributions to the work entrusted to the Ad Hoc Committee, based on the practice of the United Nations."

The First Session of the Ad Hoc Committee took place from 29 July to 9 August 2002. In preparation to its second session the Ad Hoc Committee decided to seek views and suggestions on a convention by States and all relevant international, regional and national organizations.

At its Second Session, from 16-27 June 2003, the Ad Hoc Committee decided to establish a Working Group with the aim of preparing and presenting a draft text of a convention, which would be the basis for negotiation by Member States. The Group would take into account all previous contributions submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee.

The Working Group, composed of representatives of Member States, non-governmental organizations and a national human rights institution, met from 5 to 16 January 2004.

In accordance with General Assembly Resolution 58/246, the Ad Hoc Committee started its negotiation on a draft convention at its Third Session from 24 May to 4 June 2004, based on the draft text prepared by the Working Group.

At its Fourth Session from 23 August to 3 September 2004, the Ad Hoc Committee concluded its first reading of the draft convention and initiated a review of the draft articles. The Ad Hoc Committee decided that it would continue the review during its subsequent sessions.

The Fifth Session of the Ad Hoc Committee will take place in January 2005.

© United Nations, 2003-04

If you'd like more information, you may contact Sylvia Caras, sylvia@peoplewho.org.


 

Do Labels Humiliate?

Allison Buehler, in her paper "Initial Perceptions of Labels to Initial Perceptions of Our Common Humanity: A Paradigm Shift in the Disability Field" writes, "The disability field endlessly battles stigma and harmful assumptions in its attempts to provide services to those who need them the most." She quotes Howard Adelman and his article, "Appreciating the Classification Dilemma," where he cites Aristotle as saying that "to think is to order" (Adelman, 1996). Adelman calls for "better conceived classification scheme and valid procedures for making differential diagnoses" (Adelman, 1996).

Allison explains how "politically correct terminology has evolved from idiot, to retard, to mental disability, and to its current term only in the most progressive circles, intellectual disability." She points out that "professionals in the disability field, such as Adelman, have expressed concern for these 'frequent changes in diagnostic history' (Adelman, 1996)."

Allison continues: "The problem of finding appropriate labels is not only a problem of the past. 'Consumer' is a term used today in the field. Consumer lies on the cusp of being outdated or identified as misused. Some consider it a dehumanizing label, while others see it as an empowering term. It was chosen by a group of individuals with disabilities and their advocates when they interpreted it to be an empowering term, indicating that persons with disabilities are participants in the economic market, purchasing their services, amongst other consumers. The term, once amongst other legal jargon, is no longer interpreted within the context in which it was chosen. Currently, it is used in the context of interpersonal relationships. The term 'consumer' is a dehumanizing term, referring to any potential buyer. The term may be appropriate within an economic context or amongst legal jargon, but in interpersonal relationships this sort of dehumanization applied to actual individuals is humiliating. Many circles in the field recognize this and have since tried to do away with the term, while others continue to use it, either ignorant or blinded by their faith in empowering abilities of the term.
Political correctness in how to identify other human beings is an endeavor that carries a negative stigma itself. In the disability field it is a particularly necessary endeavor, at minimum required of those who work within the field. The field has recently begun to recognize that ongoing terminology changes may not be effective. As soon as you give a name or label to an underling minority group, it almost inevitably becomes a pejorative term that acquires psychologically harmful stigma. This inherent tendency makes label changes an endless process in the field. Some professionals in the field seem to have settled on this solution by endlessly keeping up to date on terminology and political correctness. New, better and lasting solutions must be found. We must look more closely at the functions that labels serve to find better solutions that will coincide with and support the new human rights paradigm.

Adelman, Howard (1996). Appreciating the Classification Dilemma. In Controversial Issues Confronting Special Education, pg. 96-111. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

See Allison's final paper here.

 

Links

Inclusion Promotes Innovation
September 12, 2007
by Jutta Treviranus
TheStar.com