Notes for Disabled People
National Authorithy for Persons with Handicap
address: 194, Victoriei Ave., Bucharest
phone: 021 212 54 38 or 021 212 54 39
fax: 021 212 54 43
email: registratura@anph.ro
web: www.anph.ro
about:
NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE SPECIAL PROTECTION AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF DISABLED PEOPLE IN ROMANIA I. GENERAL FRAMEWORK Changing the social and economical conditions in Romania had also a large impact over the handicapped people. To respond to this challenge, a strategy for the protection of disabled people to beneficiate from the opportunities issued from these changes is necessary. This strategy will have to recon ciliate the requests of the market economy with the non-contestable rights of the disabled people towards the self-determination and total participation to the development of their own country. It will contribute at the creation of an appropriate environment so that the disabled people are as independent as possible, without denying the essential social assistance for those who will continue to need a direct support for a decent life. The future policies referring to the disabled people will be based on this strategy that needs to be supported by an adequate legislation. At present, several governmental organisms assure the social assistance and special protection of disabled persons: State Secretary for Persons with Handicap (SSPH), National Agency for Child Protection and Adoption (ANPCA), Ministry of Health and Family (MHF), Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity (MMSS), Ministry of Education and Research (MEC). Taking into consideration the dispositions of the article art. 1, paragraph 4) from Emergency Ordinance (EO) no. 12/2001, approved by the Law no. 252/2001 (according to which ANPCA applies the politics and elaborates strategies in order to promote children’ rights, the protection and taking care of children who are in difficulty and of those handicapped), the strategy proposed by SSPH is complementary with the Governmental Strategy for the protection of the children in difficulty (2001-2004), approved through the GD no. 539/2001. In conformity with the international requirements, a coherent strategy in favor of disabled people should aim at: - granting a total, active participation to the community life of the disabled people - assisting the disabled people to rule their life independently, accordingly to their own wishes; - preventing or eliminating the appearance of deficiencies, preventing the aggravation and diminution of their consequences; - avoiding the appearance of social barriers for the disabled people, diminution the consequences of actual barriers; - avoiding or eliminating any negative form of discrimination towards disabled people. International documents defining the policy for equalizing opportunities for persons with disabilities: - The Social European Charter – revised (art. 15 – second part); UN Standard Rules on Equality of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities 1993; EU Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States within the Council on Equality of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (97/C12/01), 1996; Council of Europe Recommendation No. R (92) on a coherent policy for the Equalizing of Chances for Persons with Disabilities (1992); ILO Convention 159 on Training and Employment of Disabled Persons (1983); World Action Program for disabled persons issued by the UNO General Assembly in its resolution 37/53 from Dec 03, 1982. The main goal for our country is in our opinion the adoption of a national strategy based on these international documents. The goal of the strategy is the co-ordination of the efforts of all governmental and non-governmental organisms involved in supporting the disabled persons. Each of the involved ministries has its own strategy, its own programs, which leads to the prominence of two strategic priorities: a) a UNITED definition of the disabled person, accepted by all governmental institutions and b) the best review of disabled people, following simple, easy to use criteria. What misses is a national strategy, a unified interdisciplinary view to harmonize these ministerial strategies, to combine them and to express the will of the Romanian government to align the policy to the international standards in this field. II. TERMINOLOGY The handicap problem constitutes a large semantic field in an on going process. The statement of some basic notions is very useful, as the concept reflects the conception of something. 1. Concepts of deficiency, incapacity, handicap 1.1 The deficiency term unify the absence, the loss or alteration of a structure or function (anatomical, physiological or psychological). The deficiency can be the result of an illness, an accident but also of some negative environment circumstances. 1.2 Incapacity (*disability*) designates a number of physical limitations caused by physical, intellectual, sensorial, health or environment conditions. The limitations can be partial or total and do not permit an activity to be carried out within the limits considered as normal for a human being. 1.3 The term of handicap refers to the social disadvantage, the loss and limitation of chances of a person to take part in the community life to an equal level with the other members. It describes the interaction between the disabled people with the environment. 2. Concepts of recovery/recuperation, rehabilitation, habilitation 2.1 Rehabilitation refers to a process designed to offer the disabled people the opportunity to reach physical, psychical and social adequate functional levels, by giving them the instruments to change the life toward a greater level of independence. 2.2 The recuperation term, specific to Romania, has in essence an equivalent significance, relying more on the social and medical component. 2.3 There is a tendency to use as a couple the notions of habilitation-rehabilitation, first one referring to those functions that cannot be recuperated anymore. In exchange, through compensation mechanisms, new abilities may be formed for a social and professional integration. 3. The concept of special educational demands was introduced in the UNESCO terminology in the ‘90s. The notion designates those demands or special needs for education, deviated or not from a deficiency, which are supplementary but also complementary to general educational objectives. 4. The concept of equal chances represents the result through which different society and environmental systems, as services, activities, information and documentation are at everyone’s disposal, in particularly at the disabled people’s disposal. The concept of equalizing the chances (creating equal opportunities) is the process through which different social and environmental systems (infrastructure, services, informational activities, documentaries) become accessible to everyone and especially to handicapped people. The concept of support services refers to those services that insure the independence of the disabled person in the day-to-day life, as well as the exercising of his/her rights (assistance mechanisms, interpretation services, personal assistant, community-care services). Special protection includes the totality of actions taken by the society in order to diminish or even eliminate the consequences that the deficiency causing the handicap (considered as a social factor of risk) has on the life standard of the disabled person. There is a wish that the terms of: invalid, irretrievable, unable/incapable of work should not be used anymore to characterize disabled persons, as these terms do not reflect the reality and bring prejudice to human dignity. Corresponding to the last demands of the World Health Organization (OMS), SSPH supports the harmonization of the Romanian terminology from the disabled person’s field, by reporting it to the International Classification of the Disability and Health Functioning, adopted and approved on 22 May 2001 at the 25th General Session of OMS (by resolution WHA 54.21) III PRESENTATION OF THE STATE SECRETARIAT FOR PERSONS WITH HANDICAP The State Secretary for Handicapped was set up, at 01.11.1990, by Government Decision (GD) no. 1161. Its name and structure were modified by the G.D. no. 939 from 29.12.1997, when it became the State Secretariat for Persons with Handicap. By the EO no. 2/2001 (2) Subordinated to the Ministry of Health and Family, the State Secretariat for Persons with Handicap is re-organized, as a specialized body of the central public administration, with a juridical personality, run by a Secretary of State. The G.D. no. 22/2001, Art. 9 stipulates: SSPH is the specialized body of the central public administration that insures the co-ordination, the guiding and the control of the activity of protection of disabled people, as well as their social integration. Art. 11. – (1) establishes the following main attributions: elaborates and submits for approval to the Ministry of Health and Family the governmental strategy in the field of disabled people protection, adults and minors, in conformity with the international norms and principles. organizes, co-ordinates and controls the accomplishment of the special protection of disabled people and programs regarding the governmental strategy in that field. finances or co-finances projects that put in practice the governmental strategy in the field of disabled people protection. Following these attributions, SSPH assumes its responsibility as governmental institution with an integrative role within the system of special protection for disabled people and implements the National Strategy in the disabled persons’ field, through the elaboration of the National Action Plan for 2002-2005.