The economics of Disability

BY MA. AIZL CAMILLE B. CABARLES, Researcher

“DISABLED PERSONS are part of Philippine society, thus, the State shall give full support to the improvement of the total well-being of disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream of society. Towards this end, the State shall adopt policies ensuring the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of disabled persons,” Section 2a of Republic Act No. 7277.

Every member of the society forms part of either the rise and fall of the State.

While the focal point of most issues concerning the general public are poverty, human rights, gender discrimination, status quo, and the like, much is yet to be discussed about the present condition of persons with disabilities (PWDs).

List of Cities/Municipalities Issuing Identification Cards for Persons with Disabilities As of December 2009
Region	City/Municipality
National Capital Region	Las Piñas City
	Manila City
	Quezon City
	Muntinlupa City
	Makati City
	Taguig City
	Malabon City
	Marikina City
	Valenzuela City
	Pasay City
	San Juan City
	Paranaque City
	Kaloocan City
	Mandaluyong City
	Pasig City
	Navotas
Cordillera Administrative Region
Benguet	Kibungan
	Mankayan
	Bakun
	Sablan
	Itogon
	Tublay
	Atok
	La Trinidad
Ilocos Region
Ilocos Norte	Laoag City
	Ilocs Sur
	Vigan City
	Candon City
La Union	San Fernando City
	Agoo
	Aringay
Pangasinan	Urdaneta City
	Dagupan City
	Asingan
	Calasiao
Cagayan Valley
Isabela	Santiago City
	Cauayan City
	San Agustin
	Reina Mercedes
	Ilagan
	San Mateo
	Burgos
	Maconacon
Cagayan	Tuguegarao City
	Enrile
	Baggao
	Claveria
	Lasam
	Sto. Niño
Nueva Vizcaya	Kasibu
	Aritao
	Quirino
	Cabarroguis
	Diffun
	Aglipay
	Saguday
	Madella
	Nagtipunan
Central Luzon
Zambales	Olongapo City
	Botolan
	Castillejos
Nueva Ecija	Palayan City
	Cabanatuan City
	San Jose City
	Jaen
	Cuyapo
	Talavera
	Penaranda
	Zaragosa
Bulacan	San Jose Del Monte
	Malolos City
	Hagonoy
	Obando
	Paombong
	San Rafael
Pampanga, Tarlac	Tarlac City
	Sta. Ignacia
	Gerona
CALABARZON
Batangas	Tanauan City
	Lipa City
	Batangas City
	Lemery
	Nasugbu
	Calaca
	Cuenca
	Malvar
	Laurel
	San Luis
	Ibaan
Cavite	Tagaytay City
	Trece Martirez City
	Cavite City
	Bacoor
	Alfonso
	Tanza
	General Mariano Alvarez (GMA)
	Carmona
	Rosario
Rizal	Angono
	Cardona
	Cainta
	Binangonan
	Taytay
	Antipolo City
Laguna	Santa Rosa City
	San Pablo City
	Calamba City
	Biñan
	San Pedro
	Cabuyao
	Victoria
Quezon Province	Tayabas City
	Lucena City
	Calauag
	Gumaca
	Tiaong
	Sariaya
	Cadelaria
	Dolores
MIMAROPA
Oriental Mindoro	Pola
	Mansalay
	Pinamalayan
	Socorro
	Victoria
	Oriental Mindoro
Occidental Mindoro	Magsaysay
	Abra de Ilog
	San Jose
Palawan	Narra
	Aborlan
	El Nido
Bicol Region
Camarines Sur	Iriga City
Albay	Ligao City
	Pili
	Tigaon
	Sagnay
	Tinambac
Western Visayas
Iloilo	Iloilo City
	New Lucena
	Concepcion
	Ajuy
	Leganes
	Estancia
	Oton
	Zarraga
	Miag-ao
	San Miguel
Antique	Sibalom
	Patnongon
	San Remigio
	Sebaste
	San Jose
Capiz	Roxas City
Guimaras	Jordan
	Buenavista
	Nueva Valencia
Aklan	Kalibo
	Malay
Cental Visayas
Cebu	Lapu-Lapu City
	Talisay City
	Mandaue City
	Cebu City
Bohol	Calape
	P. Garcia
Negros Oriental	Dumaguete City
Eastern Visayas
Western Samar	Calbayog City
	Tacloban City
Northern Mindanao
Misamis Oriental	Opol
	Cagayan de Oro City
	Gingoog City
Misamis Occidental	Ozamis City
Bukidnon	Malaybalay
	Braulio E. Dujali
	Talaingod
	Sto. Tomas
	Tigbuan
Davao Region
Davao Oriental	San Isidro
Compostella Valley	Nabunturan
	Monkayo
	Compostela
	Monte Vista
	New Bataan
	Mabini
	Maragusan
Davao del Norte	Tagum City
	Panabo City
	Sto. Tomas
	New Corella
	Talaingod
	Carmen
	San Isidro
	Braulio Dujali
Davao del Sur	Davao City
	Digos City
	Island Garden City
	Bansalan
	Hagonoy
	Sta. Maria
	Padada
	Malaglag
	Sulop
	Magsaysay
SOCCSKSARGEN
South Cotabato	Polomolok
	General Santos City
Sultan Kudarat	Cotabato City
	Tacurong City
CARAGA
Surigao del Sur	Bislig City
	Tandag City
Surigao del Norte	Surigao City
Agusan del Norte	Buenavista
	Magallanes
	Remedios T. Romualdez
	Butuan City
	Cabadbaran City
Agusan del Sur	Bayugan City
Source: National Commission on Disability Affairs

In 1995, the National Statistics Office (NSO) started to keep track of the number of disabled persons per sex through the Census of Population and Housing survey.

In the survey, respondents were asked whether they are living with a member of the household that is blind, deaf, mute, has speech defect, handicapped or is mentally-retarded.

There were a total of 919,292 Filipinos — or about 1.34% of the population — with exceptionalities during the year, wherein 51% of which were men, while the remaining 49% were women.

Five years later, data from the NSO show an increasing number of PWDs or 2.48% higher than in 1995, totaling 942,098 or 1.2% of the Philippine population.

Unfortunately, the 2000 census was the latest data on PWDs as the variable was removed from the population survey.

“The latest census, the 2007 Census of Population, does not have information on PWDs because this variable, for some reasons, has been dropped from the questionnaire,” authors Celia M. Reyes and Aubrey D. Tabuga noted in the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) December 2009 policy note entitled Looking at Conditions of Persons with Disability in Metro Manila.

“This lack of information on the conditions of PWDs becomes a problem in coming up with appropriate programs for them,” the authors said.

Hence, the PIDS, together with international research organization Institute of Developing Economies of Japan and select Social Welfare Offices in the country, conducted a survey on PWDs in Metro Manila last August 2008.

The survey was carried out in a bid to promote national awareness and improve the well-being of PWDs in the Philippines.

It covered more than 400 respondents from various cities in the Metro — Makati, Pasay, Valenzuela and Quezon City — that have visual, mobility, hearing or multiple impairments, which form part of the labor market.

Findings of the survey show that of the total respondents, there were more male with disabilities (62%) than female (38%).

About 35% or 147 PWDs have mobility impairment primarily caused by polio (57) and others like stroke and lower limb amputation.

Majority of them use assistive devices such as manual wheelchairs and crutches to help them carry on necessary tasks at home and at the workplace or open opportunities for employment.

On the other hand, of the visually impaired respondents in the survey, half were reported as partially blind and have 83% literacy rate, while some can read using Braille.

Devised by a blind Frenchman Louis Braille in 1821, it is made up of six-dot positions organized in a rectangle with two columns of three dots each. It is a system created to enable blind people to read and communicate in writing.

Among the assistive devices they use include the Braille typewriter, the slate and stylus used to write Braille, Braille lite, screen reader cellular phones and computers, and talking books.

However, other visually impaired persons said they were illiterate either because they personally chose not to go to school, was not allowed to attend school, or lacked the needed family support and resources.

Meanwhile, data from the PIDS survey show that majority of the hearing impaired respondents have low educational attainment among those with disabilities.

Majority said they can converse through the Philippine sign language but 60% of them stated they can write in English than in Filipino.

“Only a third of the respondents have reached or completed high school level…one-fourth either finished or reached college…a fourth finished elementary schooling…while 8% did not even complete any grade,” the authors said in the article.

Hence, opportunities for employment usually come in short, with only half of the respondents reported having income-generating jobs. A handful was able to fill in higher positions or earn above the poverty threshold, while majority have below minimum wage positions or belong to the underground economy.

Mobility impaired workers, which took up 18% of employed PWDs, have jobs as sellers or vendors, storekeepers or store managers, self-employed (sari-sari store owners, barbers, tricycle operators), or technicians or electricians.

The visually impaired laborers found their niche as masseurs. While hearing-impaired persons worked as aide, helper, messenger, carpenter, maintenance worker, painter, laborer, factory supervisor, or information and communications technology employee.

“Unfortunately, only 29% of the PWDs with jobs earned equal to or more than the minimum wage. Only a fifth of both the mobility-impaired and hearing-impaired individuals earned at least the minimum wage. The visually impaired were better off, with 37% of them earning at least the minimum wage,” the authors said.

In response to the growing concern over the general welfare of PWDs in the country, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 437 in June 21, 2005 to encourage the implementation of Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Program for PWDs.

As stated, local government units (LGUs) were tasked to deliver services and allocate funds for Filipinos with exceptionalities, in accordance with the guidelines set by the National Commission on Disability Affairs (the NCDA was formerly known as National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons).

“[The CBR Program] was almost non-existent in the barangays as 92% of the respondents reported that they did not have knowledge of a CBR in their locality,” the authors said in the article.

The program includes medical mission, reflexology training, livelihood training, and health benefits, among others. In addition, PWDs can also avail identification cards (ID) that will serve as their discount card to services like hotel accommodations, leisure and amusement, medical and dental services, domestic transportations, and professional fees of attending physicians.

As of December 2009, there were 213 cities and municipalities in the Philippines issuing ID cards for PWDs.

Moreover, there are so far 10 schools, foundations, and organizations catering to Filipinos with exceptionalities.

Founded in 1993, the Birthright Educators Foundation in Muntinlupa houses an average of 100 students per school year, with ages ranging from three to 42 years old of various exceptionalities.

It provides disabled students academic therapy, phonetic reading, sight reading and pre-vocational training in preparation for employment, among others, as assisted by 25 teachers.

The Cataract Foundation Philippines, Inc., on the other hand, provide services to blind children and adults and to those suffering from cataract, glaucoma, ptyregium, and uncorrected refractive errors.

The others include Cord Foundation, Inc., Dumaguete Effata Association of the Deaf, Inc., Kapatiran ng Maykapansanan sa Goa, Katuwang Sang May Kasablagan, Life Haven, Inc., Mabalacat Association of Persons with Disability, MCCID College of Technology, and Regional Association of Persons with Disabilities Region 1, Inc.

“It is very important for LGUs to accelerate the profiling of PWDs in their jurisdictions. [Also], there is an urgent need for more intensified dissemination of information on the programs and policies involving PWDs. [The government should] enforce anti-discriminatory laws and equal opportunities in employment for PWDs. [And] developing a physical environment conducive for all is very important,” the authors said.

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Source:

— “Looking at Conditions of Persons with Disability in Metro Manila,” by Celia M. Reyes and Aubrey D. Tabuga, Philippine Institute for Development Studies Policy Notes, December 2009.

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More benefits to People with Disabilities

Disabled gets more benefits

By CHARISSA M. LUCI

April 15, 2010, 6:58pm

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday signed the amended Magna Carta for Disabled Persons which directs local government units to establish a “Persons with Disability Affairs Office” (PDAO) to ensure the implementation of programs and services for persons with disabilities in every province, city and municipality nationwide.
Mrs. Arroyo signed the Republic Act No. 10070, a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 3560 and House Bill No. 1387, on April 6.

Under the amended law, the local government units are ordered to promote the formation of organizations of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in their respective areas. The law also encouraged the national agencies and the LGUs to enter into joint ventures with organizations or associations of PWDs “to explore livelihood opportunities and other undertakings that shall enhance the health, physical fitness and the economic and social well-being of PWDs.”

Republic Act No. 10070 also called for the appointment of a qualified PWD to assume as a PWD affairs officer to manage and oversee the operations of the PDAO.
Among the responsibilities of the appointed PWD affairs officer are: formulate and implement policies, plans and programs for the promotion of the welfare of PWDs; represent PWDs in meetings of local development councils and other special bodies; and ensure that the policies, plans and programs for the promotion of the welfare of PWDs are funded by both the national and local government.

“In consideration of budget restraints, local executives of fourth, fifth and sixth class municipalities may designate a focal person who shall perform the PDAO functions,” the law said.

It added that the establishment of a PDAO or the appointment of a focal person should be done in consultation and coordination with the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), NGOs and people’s organizations (POs).

The President has tasked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in consultation with the NCDA, NGOs, and POs, to review the implementation of the law and to recommend to Congress the need to mandate the establishment of PDAO in the fourth, fifth and sixth class municipalities.

The law also provides that the LGUs should ensure that necessary fund from any available local revenues is allocated for the implementation of the initiatives that will benefit PWDs in their respective jurisdictions.

The Amended Magna Carta for Disabled Persons was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on January 18 and January 26, respectively this year.

Challenging a Disabling Society

Got this article written by one of our colleagues in Baguio City. A strong advocate of Inclusive Education. This article was also featured in Sunstar local paper. Read on and be challenged. ;)

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

Albert Einstein.

Challenging a Disabling Society

Naas Demyttenaere

The Saint Louis University Institute for Inclusive Education is sometimes understood as a kind of charitable institution catering to persons with disabilities. The Institute however is NOT a “charitable institution”. Its mission is to effectively create a better society for all by increasing the capacity of “schools” and “teachers” to deal with differences. Since children with disabilities are often the first victims of the school’s or teacher’s failure to deal with differences, the disability issue is the prime focus of the Institute.

Why has our society grown “incompetent” to deal with persons with disabilities and helpless to respond adequately to the real demands differences make upon society?

The basic difficulty is the understanding of disability.

One thing that we all have in common is that we are all different. It is exactly our different physical characteristics that shape us into the unique human beings we are. A physical “impairment” is nothing more than a normal, human characteristic, a difference that creates limitations like all physical characteristics do (when you are a male you cannot bear children etc…). But this impairment, although it might be a physical inconvenience or nuisance, does not create disability by itself.

The problem is the disabling way society thinks of persons with impairments and interacts with them. Many consider people with disabilities as “special” “abnormal”, as individuals who need to be “fixed” implying: “you are inferior”, “you are not OK.” The damage this does to the hearts and minds of persons with disabilities and their parents is what makes our society a disabling society.

“Persons with disabilities” are simply normal, ordinary people. But physical differences seem to give society a license to discriminate. Denying or limiting the opportunities of persons to take part in the life of the community because of a physical difference generates disability and disables.

Why does society discriminate?

From a very young age all of us (including the person with disabilities) were taught the mistaken concept that disability means inferiority. This is why the average person believes that persons with disabilities are incompetent, helpless, unable to care for themselves and are deserving pity and charity. The school system has corroborated these prejudices by keeping persons with disabilities out of school or at best in a “special” environment People are enthralled when persons with disabilities succeed because that is not supposed to happen. It are these negative perceptions that have been the force keeping “persons with disabilities” down, denying them their rightful place in society.

Decisions about education, employment, benefits, and other opportunities in society are made on basis of this kind of negative views, shattering people’s dream for independence, freedom and self-reliance and thus preventing them to lead meaningful lives. If we want our children with disabilities to be included in our communities and lead ordinary and fulfilling lives: it’s not the persons with disabilities who need to be changed but the attitudes and perspectives of society that need to change. The society has to be inclusive. Inclusion has to happen at home, in the school, in the community!

We cannot change the characteristics of people but we can work however to create a society where people can live together with their differences. It is therefore our urgent task to direct and focus people’s minds towards understanding disability; and to do so with enough passion to realize inclusion in our society.

for parents: on disability

Why do some people come into this world with physical challenges? We do not know the agenda of the soul, but the admonition is not to judge, nor call it wrong, but simply to see it as a blessed experience in the life of that soul.

It is the purpose of life to bring us all every experience that the human adventure allows. The up and down of it, the left and right of it, the male and female of it, the here and there of it. The soul will not rest until it has had the sum and substance of the human experience, the totality of its possibilities. Perhaps it is for this reason that in some lifetimes souls enter a body that is what you have called “handicapped.”

You ask about frustration, and I tell you that all frustration within the human experience finds its origin in fear. I grant you that frustration is a very mild form of fear, yet it is fear nonetheless. The one who comes from love and only from love never experiences frustration. Frustration is, of course, a fear that what we are doing cannot be continued; that we will run out of energy; that it is all “just too much;” that we have reached the end of the line. Frustration is our announcement to ourselves that we need to move back into love in order to find our “center” once again.

You say that in your moments of frustration there is neither love nor fear present, just a loss of energy; in other words, you are simply tired. “Tired” is not a condition which is known in the presence of love. Lovers who are deeply in love have been known to stay up day and night for long periods of time, simply being with each other. It is when love changes to fear that energy rapidly drains, leaving the system of the human body.

Don’t berate yourself about this, or beat yourself up. It is a normal human experience and not something to be ashamed of. In your moments of frustration, simply notice that you are frustrated, do whatever it takes to move through that experience in a way which benefits and serves you, and then go on with your life without self recrimination.

Of course you are frustrated. There is much to be done, there is a great deal of challenge in the doing of it, and most people would be frustrated. Don’t look too deeply into this. There is no “mystery” here. There is only what is obvious. And it is all perfectly all right.

Be kind to yourself, and good. And bless you for your service to the soul of your daughter/son, who could not have picked a better Mom/Dad.