Disability mainstreaming

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The English term disability mainstreaming (German integration of the perspective of people with disabilities or equality of people with disabilities as a cross-sectional task ) is an analogy to the term gender mainstreaming used in gender emancipation and describes the intention to enforce the equality of disabled people on all levels of society .

The demand for disability mainstreaming is based on the UN Convention for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities , or UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , which was adopted on December 13, 2006 by the General Assembly of the United Nations was adopted. In Germany the UN Disability Rights Convention has been legally valid and binding since March 26, 2009.

For the equality of people with disabilities , politicians appoint disability officers . There are representatives for severely disabled employees at the company level . As a complementary strategy, disability mainstreaming makes the equality and emancipation of people with disabilities a task for everyone with the participation of those affected and taking into account their own interests and concerns. This also goes beyond the field of social policy , which is primarily about establishing a social network for people with disabilities or special needs. This should provide them, if not with regular work, at least with substitute transfer payments or a job, possibly also in a workshop for disabled people .

Word explanation and translation

The term disability mainstreaming cannot be translated literally into German; the term disability can be translated as disability . The term disability can be differentiated from the term restriction as a description of physical or mental or emotional / psychological conditions. In this sense, disability refers to external social exclusion or definition as a result of personal limitation. This distinction refers z. B. Aktion Mensch with its motto: You are not disabled - you are disabled . From this point of view, disability is an experience that a person with a limitation experiences primarily through his environment and his surroundings and less through (s) a personal (innate) characteristic. This happens primarily through the experience that the person defined as disabled is denied participation or participation in social and other activities and through the mediation and the associated consolidation of his condition or his peculiarities as something special.

Mainstreaming (Engl. Mainstream , German mainstream , making the main stream , bring into the main stream ) means that a substantive requirement certain that so far has not determined action is now to be made a central part in all decisions and processes.

Task of disability mainstreaming

According to Karl Hermann Haack , the former Federal Government Commissioner for the Issues of People with Disabilities, disability mainstreaming is “a change of perspective towards a comprehensive approach to the inclusion and consideration of issues of people with disabilities (...), i. In other words, any political and social action should be questioned about how it contributes to equality and participation of disabled people or prevents them. "

The European Disability Forum defines disability mainstreaming as the systematic integration of the needs of people with disabilities in all policy areas, from the planning phase to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Like gender mainstreaming, disability mainstreaming is therefore a mandate to the top of an administration , an organization , a company and to all employees who deal with the different interests and life situations of people with and without disabilities in the structure , in the design of processes and work flows to take into account the results and products in communication and public relations work and in controlling from the outset in order to pursue the goal of equality .

The European Union considers the mainstreaming of disability-related issues to be "one of the EU's main tools to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities, particularly in the context of the EU's Disability Action Plan".

Disability mainstreaming in an international context

The Directorate General V of the European Commission describes disability mainstreaming as an important strategy of a European employment policy and recommends its introduction to the member states. In their opinion, the concept is not yet understood by decision-makers and has therefore not yet been applied. Disability mainstreaming does not mean small, isolated projects to promote the employment of people with disabilities, but rather large-scale employment strategies that should be systematically pursued.

The European Social Fund supports large-scale strategies for integrating people with disabilities into working life . In addition, disability mainstreaming means not treating the needs of disadvantaged groups separately, but making their equality a comprehensive strategy from the outset. In this sense z. For example, for the allocation of funds from the Structural Funds, with which construction measures are promoted, the requirement not to erect any new barriers for people with disabilities, but rather to consider accessibility at the planning stage .

Relevant legal norm

In the preamble to the UN Convention for the Protection of the Rights and Dignity of People with Disabilities, which was adopted on December 13, 2006, the term disability mainstreaming is used. While the German working translation calls for "the importance of making disability issues an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development", the English original version speaks of "the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development" .

Heiner Bielefeldt , head of the German Institute for Human Rights, attests to the convention's great potential for innovation and explains: “The convention is based on an understanding of disability in which it is by no means viewed negatively from the outset, but expressly affirmed as a normal part of human society and beyond is valued as a source of possible cultural enrichment. "(Bielefeldt 2006)

Equality in federal German law

Changes in the national law of the Federal Republic of Germany since the beginning of the 1990s could become the starting point for an active and comprehensive equality policy. Disability mainstreaming offers itself as a new instrument to achieve the equality required by federal German law.

A constitutional amendment mentions people with disabilities in 1994 for the first time in German legal history as citizens with equal rights: “Nobody may be disadvantaged because of their disability.” (Article 3 (3) sentence 2 GG, amendment from 1994) According to Theresia Degener , the prohibition of discrimination in the constitution follows from the recognition of the fact that people with disabilities are discriminated against and that there is a need for change in this regard. (Degener 2003)

The Act on Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities of May 1, 2002 and the General Act on Equal Treatment, which came into force on August 18, 2006 , are also intended to counteract discrimination .

All of these laws are based on the principle of structural equality, which not only prohibits active discrimination, but also obliges all those involved to actively contribute to the removal of everyday barriers. (Degener 2003)

Examples from various fields of politics and research

Disability mainstreaming in legislative processes would mean that the ministries would generally review the effects on people with disabilities before any legislation reached the Bundestag . So far, however, it has not even been taken for granted that organizations for the disabled are invited to hearings on proposed legislation.

Disability mainstreaming in technology policy means strengthening the universal design approach . The different needs of people with and without disabilities are already taken into account in the design phase. The devices are therefore designed in such a way that they can be operated by as many people as possible.

Disability mainstreaming in science and research means that people with disabilities are involved in decision-making processes about research issues and design. So far, people with disabilities have only been asked in exceptional cases what expectations they have of medical research, for example, and which issues are particularly important to them. The few studies that exist show that there is a big difference between the perspective of people with disabilities and that of researchers. (Abma 2005, Caron-Flinterman 2005)

See also

Publications

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b UN Convention for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights and Dignity of People with Disabilities (English)
  2. ↑ a b German working translation of the UN Convention ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / files.institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de
  3. ↑ Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women & Youth: Definition of "mainstreaming" ( Memento of March 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Haack, Karl Hermann. The European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 is not a thing of the past. ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Keynote speech by the Federal Government Commissioner for the Issues of Disabled People at the balance sheet event "Shaping Participation - Consequences of the EJBM" on February 18, 2004 in Berlin.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.behindertenbeauftragter.de
  5. ↑ European Disability Forum: Definition of Disability Mainstreaming (under the heading Mainstreaming) ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.edf-feph.org
  6. ↑ Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women & Youth: Definition of "Gender Mainstreaming" ( Memento of March 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ EU action plan
  8. ↑ European Commission: Disability Mainstreaming in the European Employment Strategy ( Memento of the original dated August 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2005  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.euroblind.org
  9. ^ Website of the European Social Fund

Web links