Was it discrimination for disability, in Cuba? (+ recording).
Tamara Caridad Mesa González 6 octubre, 2019
In Cuba about five percent of Cubans and Cubans have some type of disability, according to the Population and Housing Census of 2012. The figure represents half a million people with a prevalence of visual and physical-motor disabilities.
On this subject, the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Havana has conducted several investigations since 2015.
The master in Science of the center, Danay Díaz Pérez, explained that statistics reveal that in the first years of life men prevail over women and then in adulthood there are more females in a situation of disability.
In this area, the Island has universal coverage of the health, education and social security system; development of specialized schools for girls and boys with Special Educational Needs; Outpatient teacher program for home education of bedridden children and the Center for Medical Genetics and its community network.
However, there are still objective and subjective barriers that place them at a disadvantage as the specialist told Radio 26.
.Audio on line
The Master in Science Danay Díaz Pérez said that in employment policies, access to recreation, mobility and language itself exist gaps of exclusion.
.Audio on line
However, the specialist acknowledged that Cuba has worked on accessibility to services with the creation of the Young Computer Club in the community, with special rooms for blind and visually impaired people; the development of programs for the eradication of architectural barriers; the incorporation of the invisible subtitling system in television and the specialized telephone service for the deaf and people with physical-motor disabilities. In addition to that knowledge of writing in Braille systems for the blind and visually impaired is encouraged.
The new Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, ratified on February 24, 2019, promotes a social model to understand disability in its articles 42 and 89.
ARTICLE 42. All persons are equal before the law, receive the same protection and treatment from the authorities and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities, without any discrimination based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age , ethnicity, skin color, religious belief, disability, national or territorial origin, or any other personal condition or circumstance that implies a harmful distinction to human dignity.
ARTICLE 89. The State, society and families have the obligation to protect, promote and ensure the full exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities. The State creates the conditions required for its rehabilitation or the improvement of its quality of life, personal autonomy, inclusion and social participation. For the Law Degree from the University of Matanzas, Adiel García Pérez, the new Law of Laws poses challenges on the subject, such as the need for a legal framework.
…Online audio
From the Athens of CubaAccording to the World Health Organization, people with disabilities are those who, together with a set of abilities, potentials and talents, present a significant decrease or loss, temporary or permanent, of some or some of their physical, mental functions, intellectual or sensory.
In the province of Matanzas there are 18 schools for children with some type of disability. There are also 14 workshops of the Gardis Business Group that offers employment to more than 200 people in this situation.
Likewise, the Afro-Athens socio-cultural integration, intervention and transformation project is inserted directly into the special education educational centers and performs recreational and self-improvement activities, according to its director Yoelkys Torres.
Recently in the Alley of Traditions the workshop was developed: Insertion, law and disability: a look at development and socio-cultural integration. There, educators, caregivers, project managers and mothers with children with disabilities learned and told their experiences, such as Silvia Zúñiga Moreira and Barbara Miré.
.Audio on line
In the province, the Corcel de Esperanza project is inclusive, including its director Marlén Romero.
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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, of which Cuba is a signatory, states that disability is a concept that evolves and that results from the interaction between people with disabilities and the barriers due to the attitude and environment they avoid their full and effective participation in society, on equal terms with others. In the current Cuban context, it is urgent to change mentalities and foster a culture of disability that considers them as enhancers of economic and social development.
