Right to Development for Disabled People: A Sri Lankan case study

Abstract

Disabled people are often found among "the poorest of the poor" and in a developing country like Sri Lanka, disabled people face discrimination at every level of society. Poverty is both a cause and consequence of disability and a majority of disabled people find their impairment affects their chances of going to school, working for a living, enjoying family life, and participating as equals in social life. In the past, disabled people suffered from a relative "invisibility" on the human rights and development agenda of countries, and tended to be viewed as "objects" of protection, treatment and assistance rather than "subjects of rights". When addressing disability, there has tended to be a charity based approach and often as a result, disabled people were not given the opportunity to shape their own lives. Therefore, historically, disabled people were excluded from mainstream society and development. This research has attempted to study the relationship between human rights, disability and right to development and has sought to establish a linkage between these various aspects. This is particularly important because without access to development, disabled people's rights may not be fully realised and without fully promoting rights of disabled people, it is impossible to achieve development goals, since disabled people are also a part of the society. Even though disabled people of this country are also citizens of Sri Lanka, the question arises as to how many disabled people have access to their basic rights and have the opportunity to participate in development on an equal basis. As there is a new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) adopted by the United Nations in 2006 and signed by Sri Lanka in 2007, it is, important to study the role of the Sri Lankan state and analyse how disabled people's rights are considered in its laws and policies as I undertaken through ratification of the various international treaties including the Bill of Rights. ...