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A staggering 80% of persons with disabilities live in poverty. There is often a misplaced connection between disability and poverty, however the circumstance of disability does not lead to poverty; rather the environment and lack of capacity provided by governments puts persons with a disability at a clear disadvantage.
During the 55th Session of the Commission for Social Development, experts, Member States, and non-governmental organizations debated the correlation between persons with disabilities and disproportionate poverty rates. The panel noted that poverty is not due to disability, but rather due to the lack of support mechanisms in place to create an equal standard of life.
The panel was moderated by Nora Groce, a professor and the director of Leonard Cheshire Centre for Disability and Inclusive Development at the University College London, in the United Kingdom.
The panel featured Her Excellency Mrs. Ana Helena Chacon, the Vice-President of Costa Rica; Ms. Catalina Devandas Aguilar, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the Human Rights Council; Mr. Steen Lau Jorgensen, the Director in charge of Social Protection and Labour at the World Bank Group; and Mr. Mosharraf Hossain, the Director of Global Policy, Influencing and Research of ADD International.
Building social protection for those with disabilities through comprehensive development was one important theme emerged from a high-level panel discussion. Furthermore, because accessibility is the most important issue for persons with disabilities, many comments made by the panellists and from the floor were focused on ways to lower the cost of living for those with disabilities.
Mr. Steen Lau Jorgensen discussed growing data and information that is helping researchers and policymakers to understand the needs of persons with disabilities. He stressed that economic development can come from building better infrastructure to provide a more affordable standard of living for those with disabilities. Furthermore, he noted that while new data is constantly collected to analyse the problems facing persons with disabilities, there is still room for better understanding and better application of the analysis.
The panel concluded with a call to action, encouraging all Member States to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which had its tenth anniversary in December 2016. A concentrated effort by the United Nations to integrate disability into the Sustainable Development Goals moving forward is needed.
Watch the high level panel event: http://bit.ly/2lkAlEA