The Ministry of Health and Welfare must do more to safeguard the rights of people with disabilities, the Control Yuan said on Monday.
The systems used to assess disabilities and the need for welfare services remain too narrowly focused, concentrating primarily on injuries, and welfare-related services are not conducted well, Control Yuan members said in a report.
New assessment systems were introduced in 2012, but the more conventional approaches remain in use, said Control Yuan members Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) and Yang Fang-wan (楊芳婉), who conducted the investigation.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The original assessment for disabilities used a system with 16 categories of injuries and diseases, but the categories sometimes contradicted one another, while not all types of disabilities were included, Wang said.
The nation later adopted the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, which has eight main health and health-related domains, and a list of “activities and participation,” and “environmental factors,” for more accurate assessment.
However, adoption of the new systems appears to have been just a formality, as people with disabilities who have true welfare needs can fail to meet requirements stipulated in the regulations, Wang said.
There is a large gap between the initial intent to protect the human rights of people with disabilities when the systems were introduced, and the reality of their enforcement today, she said.
For example, people who have only one functioning ear or eye are not considered to have a disability and therefore cannot access relevant services, she said.
When using the new system, it is important to include comprehensive factors, such as individual experiences, needs, activities and participation, and social environments, Wang said.
The ministry needs to adjust its practices so that the human rights protection model stated in the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can be truly met, she said.
During their investigation, she and Yang reviewed documents from the ministry, consulted experts and made site visits to five cities and counties, Wang added.
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