Age and disability in a life-cycle perspective

1
Age and disability in a life-cycle perspective
some policy implications

• Rune HALVORSEN
• NOVA Norwegian Social Research, NTNU Social
  Research Nordic Center of Excellence in Welfare
  Research
• www.nova.no

2
Age and disability setting the agenda

• Two demographic changes of importance for future
  disability policy in Europe
• rise in life-expectancy
• aging population
• The disability population is skewed toward the
  older age cohorts
• Europe has had the highest proportion of
  population aged 65 and over among major world
  regions for several decades and should remain the
  global leader well into the twenty-first century.
  
• Rates of disability among the population over the
  age of 65 are declining.
• primarily the result of decreases in the
  more-severe forms (Robine and Romieu 1998
  Freedman, Aykan and Martin 2001).

3
Age and disability in UN CRPD

• The UN Convention indicates rather than defines
  who persons with disabilities are pursuant to the
  Convention
• Persons with disabilities include those who have
  long-term physical, mental, intellectual or
  sensory impairments which in interaction with
  various barriers may hinder their full and
  effective participation in society on an equal
  basis with others. (CRPD, Article 1)

4
Age and disability in the CoE Action Plan

• Those with special needs and those who have a
  higher risk of exclusion
• Action Line 9 Health care
• Cross-cutting issue 4.3 People with disabilities
  in need of high level of support
• Cross-cutting issue 4.5 Ageing of people with
  disabilities
• Overall approach and general principles in the
  Action Plan universal design and mainstreaming
• accessibility to information and communication
  (Action line 3).
• accessibility to the built environment (Action
  line 6)
• accessibility to transport (Action line 7),

5
CRPD The principle of accessibility

• Article 9
• Preamble (point V)
• Article 3 on general principles (point 3 f)
• Article 4 on general obligations (accessible
  information, point 4 h)
• Article 21 on access to information (points a, c
  and d)
• Article 31 on accessibility to statistical and
  research data of relevance for the realization of
  CRPD
• Article 49 on ensuring that CRPD is available in
  accessible formats

6
CRPD The principle of accessibility II

• Universal design whether environments,
  facilities, products and services are designed to
  make them usable by all people, to the greatest
  extent possible and hence to minimize the need
  for particular adaptations or special designs
  (Art 2, Art 4 point f).
• Reasonable accommodation whether it is provided
  necessary and appropriate modifications or
  adjustments of social environments to meet the
  needs of individuals with disabilities (Art 2,
  Art 5 point 23, Art 24 point 2 c, Art 27 point i)
  
• Usability whether the facilities, products or
  services persons with disabilities have access
  to, fully serve the purposes or functions they
  are meant to serve (Art. 2)
• Availability whether the products, facilities or
  services we talk about actually exist and are
  relevant for the lives of people with
  disabilities or whether such products, facilities
  and services are unavailable to economic or other
  reasons (Art 4 point f g, Art. 9 point f, Art
  26 point 39)

7
Reasonable accommodation

• 'disproportionate or undue burden' (CRPD Article
  2)
• 'anticipatory reasonable accommodation'
  (reasonable adjustment under UK law)
• accommodation shall be provided by anticipation
  (COM(2008) 426 final, Art 4)

8
Availability

• The functioning of the market
• The scope of employer provisions
• The scope of non-market provisions
• The financial situation of persons with
  disabilities

9
Accessibility policy in Europe patterns and
development trends

• Nordic policy makers have assumed and expected a
  mutually supportive and interdependent
  relationship between social support and market
  regulation
• In practice distribution of assistive technology
  and the provision of practical assistance and
  other public services to compensate for
  individual impairments have been considerably
  more developed than social regulation of the
  market to prevent barriers to participation to
  occur in the first place (Hvinden and Halvorsen
  2003, Hvinden 2004, Whittle and Halvorsen 2007).

10
Accessibility policy in Europe patterns and
development trends

• In Europe disability protection and market
  regulation have to a large extent been two
  separate policy domains.
• Europe has had a higher level of social
  protection than the United States
• In Europe statutory regulations to advance in
  accessibility and non-discrimination of persons
  with disabilities is a relatively new policy
  approach in most European countries.
• The US has been leading the way in adopting
  statutory accessibility requirements for persons
  with disabilities
• The US has been less advanced in distributing
  resources to enable the individual to enjoy and
  participate equally in the market and other
  sectors of society

11
Concluding remarks response to ageing population

• Any rational response to the ageing population in
  Europe must entail providing more opportunities
  for the elderly which includes a substantial
  and growing number of persons with disabilities
  to participate in the market as consumers and
  workers and live independently (EC 2005).
• The market needs to be made fit for demographic
  changes and adapt to the reality and needs of the
  growing number of aged and disabled citizens.

12
Concluding remarks Need for new policy mixes

• This yields a threefold policy prescription
• Reengineering of disability protection services
  and programmes to enable a life of choice,
  independent living and participation in
  mainstream society.
• Enactment of non-discrimination law and policy to
  prevent discriminatory attitudes, behaviour and
  stereotypes in both public and private sector
• Use of market regulation tools to create more
  space for difference among people, including
  people with disabilities.