Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean LIMITED LC/CAR/L.237 14 December 2009 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH A FURTHER STUDY ON DISABILITY IN THE CARIBBEAN: RIGHTS, COMMITMENT, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS, AND MONITORING __________ This document has been reproduced without formal editing. Table of Contents I. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................ii II. International Initiatives Towards the Rights and Protection of Persons Living with Disabilities........3 Regional initiatives................................................................................................................................6 III Government Initiatives of Three Caribbean Countries: Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago Commitment towards the Rights of Persons Living with Disabilities.......................................................8 A. International Commitments ..............................................................................................................8 B. National Commitments .....................................................................................................................8 C. National Focal Point .........................................................................................................................9 D. Programmes and Projects ...............................................................................................................11 1. Employment ................................................................................................................................11 2. Education.....................................................................................................................................12 3. Health and Care...........................................................................................................................14 4. Reproductive Health....................................................................................................................15 5. Accessibility and Personal Mobility............................................................................................15 6. Social Protection and Financial Aid............................................................................................16 IV. Disability in the Caribbean: Census Analysis....................................................................................18 A. All Disabilities................................................................................................................................19 B. Disability by main age groups .......................................................................................................25 C. Type of disability ...........................................................................................................................27 1. Mental disability.........................................................................................................................27 2. Sight- and hearing-related disability ..........................................................................................29 3. Disabilities related to the upper and lower limbs .......................................................................32 D. Age start disability and Origin of disability...................................................................................34 E. Further research...............................................................................................................................37 V. Measuring disability and rights and policy for persons with disabilities...........................................38 A. Measuring Disability ......................................................................................................................38 B. Measuring Commitment .................................................................................................................40 VI. Conclusions and Further Research ...................................................................................................42 Annex I: Census Questions on Disability from the 2000 Census Round.................................................43 Annex II: Census Results.........................................................................................................................50 Annex III: Draft of Questionnaire............................................................................................................52 iii Tables Table 1: Caribbean States and Signing and Ratifying of Conventions related to Disabilitya....................5 Table 2: Commitments to Persons with Disabilities in Jamaica’s Vision 2030.........................................9 Table 3: Basic information persons with Disabilities, 2000 Census Round ............................................19 Table 4: Share of persons with disabilities standardized for population structure of all countries, sex within the countries, and sex and population of all countries..................................................................23 Table 5: Share of persons with disability by broad age group (%)..........................................................25 Table 6: Share of persons with mental disability by broad age group (%) ..............................................28 Table 7: Share of persons with sight related disability by broad age group (%) .....................................30 Table 8: Share of persons with hearing related disability by broad age group (%) .................................31 Table 9: Share of persons with disabilities related to lower limbs by broad age group (%)....................32 Table 10: Share of persons with disabilities related to upper limbs by broad age group (%)..................33 Table 11: Number of persons by reported age of start of disability and persons with disability by age for first two age groups..................................................................................................................................35 Table 12: Participation in Caribbean in ...................................................................................................40 Figures Figure 1: Persons with disabilities, Census Round 1990 and 2000 .........................................................21 Figure 2: Absolute number and share of persons with disabilities by age groups in the nine countries..21 Figure 3: Absolute number and share of persons with disabilities by age groups and sex in the nine countries...................................................................................................................................................22 Figure 4: Standardization and sex differentials, male:female ratio of shares ..........................................23 Figure 5: Share of persons with disability, unweighted and weighted by population by age of all countries .................................................................................................................................................................24 Figure 6: Percentage point change in shares of persons with disabilities after standardisation by sex and age............................................................................................................................................................24 Figure 7: Share of each broad age group in total number of persons with disabilities ............................26 Figure 8: Male:Female ratio of share of persons with disability for four selected countries...................27 Figure 9: Prevalence of mental disabilities by age and sex for nine countries ........................................28 Figure 10: Absolute number and prevalence of mental disabilities for total population by ages for the nine countries...................................................................................................................................................29 Figure 11: Absolute number and prevalence of sight related disabilities for total population by ages for the nine countries...........................................................................................................................................30 Figure 12: Absolute number and prevalence of hearing related disabilities for total population by ages for the nine countries .....................................................................................................................................31 Figure 13: Absolute number and prevalence of disabilities related to lower limbs for total population by ages for the nine countries .......................................................................................................................33 Figure 14: Absolute number and prevalence of disabilities related to upper limbs for total population by ages for the nine countries .......................................................................................................................34 Figure 15: The risk of disability and the number of disabled by age of start of disability (log scales) ...35 Figure 16: Origin of disability by type of disability ................................................................................36 Figure 17: Origin of disability by age at which the person became disabled ..........................................37 I. INTRODUCTION A significant part of the population in the Caribbean is living with disabilities. The regional meeting