Self-help initiatives: A key to empowerment of people with disabilities in Bangladesh

Md. Mahbubul Ashraf

Self-help initiative is one of the most important means of empowerment of people with disabilities (PWDs). It is an effort of changing situation by utilising own resources and potentials. PWDs' self-help initiative is a group solidarity which enables them to support each other and to overcome common difficulties through the exchange of experiences, information, insight and knowledge. That solidarity and mutual support serve as a basis for collective action to improve the existing situation of PWDs in the community. In Bangladesh, we have got experiences of implementing self-help initiatives in diverse modalities. It has been taken at different levels by different stakeholders including PWDs and parents. Though the modalities of such initiatives are different from one another depending on the needs and circumstances, the objective is common: empowerment of PWDs through establishing their rights.
   Importance of self-help initiatives
   It is an established fact that PWDs have their equal rights, similar human needs and potentials as others living in the community. But they had been increasingly continued to be marginalized because of their lack of wider participation in the mainstream development and decision making process. As a result issues of self-help initiatives of PWDs have come forward and getting stronger day by day. As PWDs are the expert of their own issues they are most appropriate and equipped to help each other for the fulfillment of their rights and development needs, as well as making others to listen to their voices and concerns.
   
   In recognition of this fact
   l In 1982, the United Nations General Assembly, in its World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, stressed the establishment and growth of organisations of disabled persons as well as facilitating participation of PWDs and their organisations in decision making.
   l In 1987, a regional seminar called upon the ESCAP secretariat, ESCAP members and associate members and other concerned agencies and organizations in the Asian and Pacific region to provide assistance in establishing and strengthening self-help organizations of disabled persons in order to enhance the participation of disabled persons at all levels of society.
   l In 1988, the General Assembly, through its resolution 43/98, requested the Secretary-General to, inter alia, to promote and support the establishment of strong national organisations of disabled persons.
   l In 2002, self-help organisations of persons with disabilities and related family and parent associations came up as the topmost among seven priority areas of actions in BMF, intended for the decade 2003-2012 in the Asian and Pacific region.
   l And in September 2006, at a mid-point review meeting on BMF this priority kept with same importance for the rest years of the decade, in Biwako plus five.
   
   Emergence and approaches
   If we look at the emergence of PWDs' self-help initiatives in Bangladesh we will find a history of more than four decades. Since 1963 we have been experiencing self-help initiatives in different modalities and approaches that include Disabled Peoples' (self-help) Organizations (DPOs), parent associations and self-help group/peer group activities. PWDs' self-help initiatives in Bangladesh were pioneered by some dedicated leaders with hearing and visual disability, professionals and parents. In the course of time a large number of people with disabilities from different levels and categories have come forward towards strengthening this movement.
   Self-help initiatives have been taken up by PWDs' self-help organisaitons in different communities on different perspectives. Therefore approaches and modalities were sometimes different from one another though the purpose was same, strengthening self-representation, participation and integration of PWDs in the mainstream. There remains some variation in defining DPOs from organization to organization in terms of composition (percentage/ratio of PWD members), combination and representation (representatives of CWDs, PWIDs and PWSDs).
   
   Trend and Practices
   PWDs' self-help endeavours were initiated in the country in early sixties through the formation of Bangladesh National Federation of the Deaf (BNFD) in 1963 and National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in 1964. Those organizations were mainly comprised of deaf and blind people respectively.
   Bangladesh National Federation of the Deaf (BNFD) comprises majority of deaf men and women. It is governed by an elected body. Deaf people tend to practise a democratic culture within this organisation. Major activities of this organisation include promotion of education and vocational training for deaf people and to promote their sports and cultural activities. Deaf members of this organization have got their strong feelings of affiliation and belongingness to this organization because they have got their united voice on their own issues of awareness, advocacy, rights, dignity and empowerment through it. They feel much comfortable and friendly within the environment of this DPO.
   National Federation of the Blind-NFB, as a pioneer disabled peoples' organization of the country has significant contribution towards consolidating disability movement through promotion of rights, participation, education and other concerns of PWDs of the country. NFB comprised of blind members and sighted associates.
   In 1985 Bangladesh Protibandhi Kalyan Samity (BPKS) emerged as a cross disability self-help organisation in the country. It promotes disabled peoples' organisations (DPOs) at grassroots level through an approach `Persons with disabilities' Self-initiatives to Development (PSID)'. Through this approach BPKS organises people with disabilities at grassroots levels and contributes for the promotion of accessibility, participation, capacity building and issues of the rights of PWDs. Through the efforts of this organisation DPOs have been opened in 29 districts of the county. This organisation comprised of PWDs of all categories and governed by a participatory process.
   Action on Disability and Development ADD, a UK-based organisation started working in Bangladesh in 1995-96 to bring people with disabilities into development work who are rarely included. ADD promotes an action oriented, and rights based approach in the country through the promotion of socio-cultural and political rights, accessibility and participation. It organizes and promotes Grassroots Disabled Peoples' Organizations. Now it has been working in 23 districts of the country.
   There remain a good number of organisations working for people with disabilities in the country those have been organizing self-help groups/peer groups of people with disabilities, parents, children and women with disabilities. These groups have also been playing significant roles in the promotion of rights and dignity of people with disabilities in Bangladesh. These organizations have been playing a catalytic role in the promotion of PWDs' self-help organizations in the country. Among such organizations Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed-CRP has played an encouraging roles to empower PWDs by their own organizations. CRP is the largest Center for treatment and rehabilitation of persons with physical (spinal injured) disability. CRP's effort was to organise those PWDs who have got treatment from this center and living in the community. Initially it organized peer groups (local action groups) of people with disabilities and after that they were organized under their own self-help organizations so that they can have their own legal entity and organized strength.
   
   Parents' Initiatives
   Initiatives by the parents are still insignificant in the country in comparison to others. In 1977, some parents who were having a lot of trouble and agony with their children with unusual behavior, initiated a parents' organization 'Society for the Care and Education of the Mentally Retarded Children (SCEMRC)' with the view to contribute for establishing equal rights of the intellectually disabled and to create provision for education training and rehabilitation of their intellectually disabled children; and to develop skilled manpower for working with the intellectually disabled and working through 44 branches over 37 districts of the country.
   In 1985 there was another parents' initiative through which `Bangladesh Parents' Club of the Deaf (BPCD)' was established, in order to extend mutual support and cooperation for the development and welfare of their deaf children.
   Future Challenges and Consolidation
   Self-help organizations were established here by a spontaneous process even under restricted conditions in terms of resource availability, common understanding and proper coordination. Though there is a National Disability Forum, NFOWD, the largest network of organizations working in the field of disability in Bangladesh having 259 member organizations there emerged two other networking bodies of DPOs in the country `National Alliance of Disabled Peoples' Organizations (NADPO)' having 66 member DPOs under BPKS patronization and National Grassroots Disabled' Organization (NGDO)' having 92 member DPOs supported by ADD.
   In this situation there have been observed a mixed impression and keen interest among PWDs and other organizations working on disability. Strong enthusiasm as well as distortion of understanding has also been observed among them. As self-help organizations of people with disabilities has got utmost importance to promote rights, dignity and an inclusive society for all there remains a strong need for proper information, communication and consolidating all self-help endeavors of PWDs and others.
   Author is a Secretary and Coordinator, AWDP-Bangladesh.

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