Archive Article: Rights For People With Disabilities. 28 Feb 03
December 27, 2008

There is a great deal of talk about human rights. But one very large group of people continue to miss out: people with disabilities. A scandal concerning the 2004 Athens Paralympics shows how far we need to go.

On February 21, the University of New South Wales hosted a one-day conference on “A Comprehensive and Integral Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. I was one of the speakers.

The proposal for such a treaty has a very long history. 1981 was the International Year of Disabled People and Wesley Mission devoted a lot of resources to making the most of that “year”. For example, I was a member of the Australian Government’s advisory committee

The proposal for having such a treaty was raised back then. Therefore I am a little surprised that here we are 22 years later still having a discussion on the same subject. We are obviously only making very slow progress.

The need to respect the rights of people with disabilities has been highlighted by a scandal associated with next year’s Athens Paralympics. Wesley Mission has been advised that athletes with an intellectual disability will not be allowed to compete at the Athens Games. This is a reaction – or perhaps over-reaction – to the cheating at the Sydney Games when some countries, notably Spain, included athletes without an intellectual disability in their teams.

An Australian coach has been quoted as saying: “It is completely unfair that everyone else should pay for the Spanish cheats. This is incredibly sad. We are reducing the participation of these athletes instead of increasing it.”

I raised this matter at last week’s conference and apparently it is true. There are, in fact, two scandals here: one is that such a decision against people with disabilities should be made in the first place – and the second is that there should be so little outcry against it. Where are the media?

Once again, it shows how the rights of people with disabilities are very low down on the political radar screen, to use a common expression. Some issues get considerable attention (such as drugs tests of sporting personalities without disabilities), while other issues receive little attention – such as this one involving the Athens Paralympics.

Therefore, this human rights treaty initiative by the Disability Studies and Research Institute and the Social Relations of Disability Research Network is to be welcomed. Such a treaty would contain specific obligations to be followed – and would help give the subject of the rights of people with disabilities a higher profile.

Such a treaty would also be a rallying point for church and non-governmental organizations, such as Wesley Mission, to call on governments to live up to those obligations.

Finally, it would also provide a coast peg on which to hang media statements. The lack of media attention to the Athens scandal shows that the media are still not according issues affecting people with disabilities the sort of priority they deserve. It is necessary to educate the media so that the media can be used to educate the rest of society.

Broadcast Friday 28th February 2003 on Radio 2GB’s “Brian Wilshire Programme” at 9pm.