October 23, 2006 AM
History of the Global Disability Movement
Lecture by Mr. Yutaka Takamine, Professor of Faculty of Law nad Letters, University of the Ryukyus
Mr. Yutaka Takamine lectured in JICA Okinawa and we relayed it to JICA Headquarters by using JICA-net (satellite system). The distance between Okinawa and Tokyo is as much as 2000km. The participants could not believe the distance because through the screen it seemed as if Mr. Takamine was sitting just in front of us. It was a first experience for seven participants to use JICA-net, so they looked very much interested in the system.
Mr. Takamine used to work for UN ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific) as Project Expert on Disability and he is familiar with the situation of persons with disabilities in Asia and Pacific regions.
He started his lecture with the information on globalization of the disability movement. It covered from UN Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons in 1975 to UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, of which draft text was adopted at the eight session of the Ad Hoc Committee from 14 to 25 August 2006. Then he explained us about relation between poverty and disability by using the statistics. According to it, 70 to 80% of persons with disabilities living in rural area are poor and facing many difficulties. In order to emerge from poverty, it is essential to set up income generating programs and he lectured on SHO (self-help organizations), SHG (Self-help groups) and a success case of SHG in India.
Participants from Latin America were exited to know that the Latin America Decade started from this year.
Lecture material : History of the Global Disability Movement [ PDF (187KB) ]
