'Without education, it is almost impossible for we persons with disabilities to obtain employment'

His thoughts are echoed by Richard Rieser, author of the Commonwealth Secretariat publication Implementing Inclusive Education. A Commonwealth Guide to Implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, who identified the common barriers faced by persons with disabilities attending inclusive schools as attitudes, lack of resources, and inflexible curriculums.

“There is a negative attitude towards persons with disabilities because they are judged against persons without disabilities,” he said.

“Many countries have traditional attitudes based on superstition and beliefs, which put stereotypes on persons with disabilities which do not exist and need challenging, to show that all children have a right to an education.”

Mr Rieser said the UN CRPD is looking at a paradigm shift in the way disability is regarded, moving away from viewing the problem as one that is caused by the person with a disability, to identifying the barriers to persons with disabilities’ inclusion in society on every level.

Some of the barriers emphasised by Mr Rieser were the lack of training for teachers, who feel ill-equipped to educate children with different impairments, and inflexible curriculums, which prevent children with disabilities continuing their education with their peers.

“Governments measure the standard of education by the rate at which children progress. But this is counterproductive for children who take longer to reach a level,” he said.

“This means that children with intellectual impairments cannot move with their peers, even when they have shown promise in other areas of school work.

“Peer education is crucial. Children who have to repeat things to a classmate gain a better understanding of the subject, while children with disabilities are much better at learning from a child of their own age.

“We have already seen this where children have gone through mainstream schools with their peers – they are going on to university, getting degrees and having careers.”

Mr Rieser highlighted some good examples of national action plans instigated by governments to ratify their obligations under the CRPD, including that of India, which has detailed a list of specific actions to ensure that every child with a disability has access to appropriate pre-school, primary and secondary education by 2020.

These include: making schools accessible for all types of disability; adapting the medium and method of teaching to the requirements of most disability conditions; locating schools within easy travelling distance or arranging travel with the help of the community, state and NGOs; and arranging programmes for the sensitisation of teachers in all schools.

In Kenya, teachers in rural areas are trained by others who have worked with children with disabilities and who reach the community by bikes supplied by the state.

Professor McCallum also identified Australia’s National Disability Strategy as a good example of innovative approaches to increasing levels of education and of employment. The strategy includes improving employer awareness of the benefits of employing persons with disabilities, reducing barriers and disincentives for the employment of persons with disabilities, and encouraging initiatives to assist persons with disabilities to establish their own small business.

Both Mr Rieser and Professor McCallum agreed on the importance of the roundtable organised by the Secretariat for highlighting these and other national examples among the association’s networks and member states.

“Meetings such as the Secretariat roundtable are very important in beginning the dialogue, which can feed into determining the demands needed to be asked of governments,” said Mr Rieser.

Professor McCallum added: “The Commonwealth is a significant international organisation, and it can play a prominent role in promoting human rights including the human rights of we persons with disabilities.”

And both reiterated the importance of allowing persons with disabilities to attend mainstream schools: “People must begin to see that persons with disabilities have something to offer, as they have had to look at the world in a different way. We will make humanity more by looking at what other people can do and I think inclusive schools are a key part of that,” said Mr Rieser.

Professor McCallum said from his own experience that persons with disabilities must always be included in the mainstream school system, to take their place within the entire human family.