Assistive devices are not affordable for everyone
Nearly one billion people with disabilities, including children, lack access to wheelchairs and other aids that would allow them to move, read, write and communicate with the outside world.
The Global Report on Assistive Technology presents, for the first time, data on global need and the reality of access. The document outlines recommendations for improving the lives of millions of people with disabilities through modern devices.
“Assistive technologies change lives: they enable children with disabilities to get an education, and adults to be employed and have social contacts, and the elderly to have an independent life with dignity,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Gebreyesus.
He stressed that denying people wheelchairs and other devices is not only a violation of human rights, but also shortsighted in terms of economics. The head of the WHO called on all countries to fund programs for access to assistive technologies and “give everyone a chance to realize their potential.
240 million children with disabilities
Today, nearly 240 million children have disabilities. Denying these children the technology they need to develop is harming society as a whole. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell emphasized that without wheelchairs and other assistive technology, children with disabilities would be denied an education and would be at greater risk of child labor, stigma, and discrimination.
The authors of the report believe that by 2050, the number of people needing one or more assistive devices is likely to rise to 3.5 billion. Part of this trend is due to a rapidly aging population and an increase in non-communicable diseases.
Disparities in access to assistive devices
Experts note a huge gap in access to wheelchairs between people with disabilities who live in rich and poor countries. In industrialized countries, 90 percent of all people with disabilities have access to the devices they need, while in poor countries, only three percent do.
The main reason for this situation is that many devices are unaffordable for people with disabilities and their families. About two-thirds of the people who use assistive devices reported that they paid for them out of their own pockets. Others had help from family members and friends.
Assistive devices are a means for people with disabilities to participate in community life and in society at large on an equal basis with others. Without wheelchairs and other aids, people with disabilities are often isolated and live in poverty.
Access to assistive technology for children with disabilities is often the first step toward development, access to education, participation in sports and community life, and preparation for employment.
The authors of the report made a number of specific recommendations to improve access to needed accommodations for people with disabilities.
Among other things, they suggested investing in innovations that improve the lives of people with disabilities, as well as including the supply of assistive technology in humanitarian operations.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Let’s remind that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in December 2006, entered into force in May 2008. About 160 countries of the world ratified it. It became the first legally binding international agreement on protection of this vulnerable category of the population. The document contains 50 articles, which set forth measures aimed at the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, the elimination of discrimination against them, ensuring their right to work, health care, education, full participation in society, access to justice, security of person, freedom from exploitation and abuse, freedom of movement, individual mobility, etc. The Convention points the way to the implementation of already existing universally recognized human rights as they pertain to persons with disabilities.