International Power and Local Action – Implications for the Intersectionality of the Rights of Women with Disability

The recent United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) reframes how policy responds to disability, difference, interdependence and rights. We examine how Australian disability activists used the CRPD to advocate for the intersectional rights of women with disability. We applied a framework from Zwingel's conceptualisation of mutually constituting global norms to analyse the intersectionality of rights represented in three stages of the CRPD process – during the drafting, the wording in the Convention, and the periodic review. We found that disability activists were able to shape the gendering of disability through their targeted representation as people with lived experience. This expertise filled a knowledge gap in the policy process valued by the actors at other policy levels. Extending Zwingel's concept of global discourse translation, it also suggests that the dynamic contribution continues in the international interpretation of the CRPD itself.     

Will the National Disability Insurance Scheme Improve the Lives of those Most in Need? Effective Service Delivery for People with Acquired Brain Injury and other Disabilities in Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities

The aims of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are to provide long‐term, person‐centred care and support to all Australians with a significant and ongoing disability, including individuals with an acquired brain injury (ABI). The scheme has significant potential to provide equitable opportunity of access to health and disability services. Historically, however, service provision in remote and outer regional areas of Australia lags behind more densely populated centres. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living with disability are already significantly marginalised. Further to this, people with an ABI are very often misunderstood and overlooked by disability services, health professionals and governments, and frequently fall victim to the criminal justice system. This paper provides an overview of the state of ABI disability for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in remote and outer regional settings, and the present sets of barriers they face to obtaining quality care and effective interventions. A significant opportunity has emerged with the advent of the NDIS but equitable benefit can only be achieved if additional and specialised measures are devised and implemented to appropriately screen for, and assess, incidence of ABI; disability services are appropriately resourced to overcome the pre‐existing disadvantage, and education, training and recruitment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with the NDIS is undertaken to lead attitudinal changes in community to disability and health services. This paper concludes with recommendations for the NDIS to meet its laudable objectives.     

Social Protection Policy or a Political Largesse: Disability Fund Efficacy Assessment and Roadblocks to Sustainable Development Goals

ABSTRACT

Social protection policies have been tools for fighting social exclusion, inequality and reducing poverty incidence among vulnerable populations in developing countries. In this regard, the government of Ghana through the institution of the disability fund has demonstrated a commitment to advancing the cause of people with disabilities. In assessing policy efficacy, the realities on the ground, as well as policy challenges, 130 persons with disability (PWDs) and 10 Key Informants (KIs) were recruited from across five regions. In addition to conducting face-to-face interviews with PWDs, the study conducted a number of interviews with key informants (KIs). The study findings concluded amongst other things that, the policy is plagued with challenges such as limited information about the fund, fund access difficulty and disbursement delays. It was also revealed that; the policy is saddled with opacity and partisan politics. To ensure efficiency and expedite the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, the research proposed for policy restructuring. In addition to introducing financial literacy and management training for beneficiaries, the study proffers decoupling the fund management from political structures to help meet the objectives for which it was incepted.     

Changing the paradigm of disability from stigma to equity in university social work education in Kyrgyzstan

The main aim of this paper is to tease out the historical and deeply rooted ethical standards, spirituality, and social values that have long supported the social service system in Kyrgyzstan, which, today, faces pressure to align with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The data are based on an intervention conducted as part of the European Union-Social Protection Systems programme in Kyrgyzstan between 2017 and 2018 where 30 university lecturers were part of. Interviews both to the Kyrgyz trainers with disabilities and to the trainees of the university lecturers as well as follow-up survey conducted in 2019 form important part of data for this paper. We first investigate the conventional ethical standards, spiritual explanations, and social values related to disabilities within the Kyrgyz social protection system and social services. We elaborate on the Kyrgyz context of the societal ethics, spirituality, and values around disability in the Kyrgyz university education for social workers. Second, we analyse the transformation of the perception of disability among the university lecturers. We conclude this paper with a discussion on the negotiation between a charity-based approach that reinforces the stigmatization of disability and a human rights-based approach that promotes paradigm change, to contribute to global discourse of social change towards disability inclusion.     

The impact of disability on partnership formation in Sweden during 1990-2009

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggests that disability negatively affects people’s propensity to find a partner. Persons with disabilities that eventually find a partner do so later in life compared to the average population. There is a lack of studies on the differences in partnership opportunities for persons with disabilities compared to those without disabilities in Sweden. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of disability on partnership formation and to assess whether partnership formation varies as a function of individual demographic and socio-economic factors. We use nationwide data available in the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in Social and Medical Sciences (Umeå SIMSAM Lab). We follow persons born from 1973 to 1977 when they were from 16 to 37 years of age and analyze their data using logistic regression. Our findings indicate that regardless of whether a person started to receive a disability pension at an early age or later, it was associated with lower odds for partnership formation. For persons who started receiving disability pension from 16 to 20 years of age, chances for partnership formation reduced with increase in age of partnership. Individuals that started to receive disability pension later were more likely to form partnership prior to receiving disability pension. Partnership formation was less likely among persons born outside Sweden, in persons with mothers born outside Sweden, in individuals born by unmarried mothers and in persons, whose mothers had a high level of education. Partnership was high among women and among persons who had many maternal siblings. In conclusion, receiving disability pension was associated with reduced chances for partnership formation. Receiving disability pension might imply financial constraints that negatively influence partnership formation supporting Oppenheimer’s theory on the economic cost of marriage and the uncertainty hypothesis.     

继承制度与社会保障制度的协调--兼论法定继承制度的重新构建

我国大陆地区继承法在设计法定继承制度时 ,受当时社会生产力不发达、财富较少等特殊国情所导致的社会保障制度不完善的影响 ,于是在确定法定继承人的范围和顺序时 ,注重了对弱者的社会保障 ,使之具有了社会保障的功能。然而 ,随着大陆地区社会保障制度的逐步健全 ,笔者认为 ,将来继承法中的法定继承制度重新设计时应放弃以往所担负的社会保障功能 ,恢复其原貌。     

河南省安阳市6-15周岁汉族人牙龄的研究

目的建立利用牙齿钙化程度推断未成年人年龄的方法。方法选取河南省安阳市1575名（男性900名,女性675名）6～15周岁人群的全口曲面断层影像片,依照牙齿钙化分级标准对下颌恒牙钙化程度进行评分分级;所得数据经SPSS13．0软件统计分析,建立根据牙齿钙化程度推断年龄的方程;采用拟合优度检验、模型方差分析、回归系数检验和共线性诊断、残差分析对方程的合理性进行检验及盲测。结果下颌同名牙间钙化分级评分值无统计学差异（P〉0．05）,而下颌同名牙性别间钙化评分值在部分年龄组存在差异（P〈0．05）;下颌恒牙的钙化程度与年龄相关系数r均大于0．7;所建方程模型调整决定系数均大于0．8,估计值标准误男性为0．92岁至1．04岁、女性为0．92岁至1．00岁;推测年龄与真实年龄的平均误差男性为0．433±0．288岁、女性为0．502±0．297岁。结论本研究建立的方法在推断相关地区、相关年龄段人群的年龄推断中有较好的应用前景。     

肘关节损伤致上肢功能障碍程度评价方法的比较

目的 比较我国<道路交通事故受伤人员伤残评定>(简称<道标>)与美国<永久残损评定指南>(简称GEPI)对肘关节活动功能障碍致上肢功能丧失程度的评价结果.方法 对70例肘关节活动功能障碍者分别用上述两种方法评价上肢功能丧失程度,并对两种方法评价结果进行分析比较.结果 两种方法评价结果的差异具有统计学意义.当肘关节屈伸活...     

交通伤致手功能丧失的伤残评定

在交通事故伤残评定中,手功能评定是目前法医界关注的焦点问题之一.现行《道路交通事故受伤人员伤残评定》标准规定的手功能分配比例是由国外手外科专家的理念与我国手外科的实际情况相结合而产生的.在进行手功能评定时,需考虑缺失、运动、感觉等三方面的功能丧失程度,测算相应的功能丧失比例,然后在标准中寻找对应的适用条款.然而,目前我国的手功能评定中也存在一定的问题,包括手指(拇指除外)远侧关节比例大于近侧关节比例,缺乏对于拇指内收、外展、对掌、对指等功能的评价等.手功能评定方法在司法鉴定的实践中尚需不断完善,在吸取国外成功经验的同时,不应一味追求简便而断章取义,忽视了一些重要的问题.     

我国地方性道路交通事故过错认定程度的分析

如何认定交通事故的过错大小,是交通事故责任认定的关键。通过对国内外相关法规的研究,提出了过错程度的概念。对于单项违法行为的过错,介绍了其量化的表示方法和《道路交通安全法》等配套法规对过错程度的部分规定。