The incidence of disability in Costa Rica is about 10.5% of the population. The country is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities since 2008.
According to the 2011 national census 10.5% of Costa Rican's have a disability, 52% of them are female and 48% male. Visual impairment that cannot be corrected with spectacles or lenses is the most common disability (56%). [1]
Costa Rica signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 30 March 2007 and ratified the treaty on 1 October 2008. [2] Under the Ley de Igualdad de Opportunidades (Law of Equal Opportunities), no person can be discriminated because they're disabled if they are equally capable as another person. This law also promotes that public places and transport should have facilities that enable people with disabilities to access them.
May 28 is the Día Nacional de la Persona con Discapacidad (National Disabled People Day) to promote respect for disabled people.
The country first participated in the Paralympic Games at the 1992 Summer Paralympics, missed the 1996 edition, returned in 2000 and has been represented at all Summer Paralympics since then. Costa Rica has never participated in the Winter Paralympics. [3]
The political party Accessibility without Exclusion (Partido de Acceso Sin Exclusión) has disability rights as a major policy, [4] the party's president and, as of the 2014 general election, only member of the Legislative Assembly is Óscar López.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy full equality under the law. The Convention serves as a major catalyst in the global disability rights movement enabling a shift from viewing persons with disabilities as objects of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing them as full and equal members of society, with human rights. The convention was the first U.N. human rights treaty of the twenty-first century.
South Africans with disabilities constitute a sizeable proportion of the population, and their status in society is extremely varied in a developing nation with socio-economic inequality and a history of apartheid. Wealthy city dwellers have access to a wide range of assistance, whereas the poor struggle for even the basic necessities of life.
Disability in China is common, and according to the United Nations, approximately 83 million people in China are estimated to have a disability.
There are 26.8 million people with disabilities in India according to the 2011 census of India, while other sources have offered higher estimates. India is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Legislation that affects people with disabilities in India includes the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, the National Trust Act, 1999, and the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992. People with disabilities in India are faced with negative social attitudes in the wider population.
Disability in Brazil is defined when individuals struggle or are unable to complete standard everyday tasks. This is measured by the health indicators of daily activities and physical movement. Defining disability differs according to legal contexts of different environments and levels of vulnerability. Brazil is one of the heaviest populated countries in the world and is the largest country in South America, with a population of 212.56 million people in 2020. Due to population rates, there is approximately 16 million people in Brazil with a disability. Of this, 9 million of these are of working age, and 1 million are in the labor force.
People with disabilities in Pakistan are seen differently than in most Western countries due to cultural and religious beliefs. The lack of accurate epidemiological evidence on disabilities, insufficient resources, weak health care facilities and worker shortages are major obstacles to meeting the needs of disabled Pakistanis.
In Japan, a person with a disability is defined as: "a person whose daily life or life in society is substantially limited over the long term due to a physical disability or mental disability". Japan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 20 January 2014.
Many disabled people face poor provision of facilities, and disabled children are commonly institutionalized, even though Russia is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, having signed the treaty on 24 September 2008, and ratified it four years later, on 25 September 2012.
There are an estimated 16 million people with disabilities in Bangladesh, or 10% of the country's population. In 2004, the prevalence of disability was about 6% among those below the age of 18 and about 14% among those above that age. People in Bangladesh living with disabilities are entitled to government support, but programs have been limited in scope and restricted to urban areas, and the question of disability has not been integrated into general development programs. In response, NGOs such as the Centre for Disability in Development have moved to provide assistance to people with disabilities.
Reliable information about disability in North Korea, like other information about social conditions in the country, is difficult to find. As of 2016, North Korea is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Disability in Yemen has been increasing over time, especially because of increased conflict in the area. Disabled people in Yemen face many challenges due to poverty, lack of accessible infrastructure, gender segregation and more. The government of Yemen has passed laws to help protect the rights of disabled people in their country, but not all laws are equally enforced.
Disability affects many people in Zimbabwe in both rural and urban areas. In spite of services provided by the government, philanthropists and welfare agencies, people with disabilities and their families often face several barriers. Philanthropist, Jairos Jiri, started services for people with disability in Zimbabwe in the 1940s. He is regarded as the father or founder of disability work in Zimbabwe.
Singapore does not have a formal definition of disability. Singapore signed on to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013 and coordinates the Enabling Masterplan with both government and non governmental organisations.
Disability in Mexico affects a substantial minority of the country's population, though estimates of the prevalence vary significantly. According to the 2000 Mexican census, there were 1,795,000 people with disabilities in the country, or 1.8% of the population. However, a 2005 brief by the Mexican government for a World Health Organization summit argued the methodology used for the census was flawed and led to under-reporting. A 2017 research paper cites a higher estimate of 6.0%, noting the prevalence was greater at 7.1% among Mexicans of indigenous background.
Estimates of the prevalence of disability in Egypt have ranged from 1.8% to 11%. Egypt ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 10 April 2008. The Egyptian constitution of 2014 guarantees a range of rights for people with disabilities, and Egypt passed legislation entitled the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in February 2018.
There are around 447,600 people with disability in Cuba. A large number of people with disabilities in Cuba have an intellectual disability and about 3.2 percent have a severe disability. The government of Cuba has a medical model of disability in its approach to policies on people with disabilities. The government is also hostile to organizations who do not fully support Cuba's politics. Another unique challenge that people with disabilities in the country face is due to the economic embargo of Cuba which has caused shortages in medical materials and assistive technology. The Constitution of Cuba has provisions for protecting the rights of people with disabilities and the country signed onto the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007.
Climate change disproportionately affects individuals with disabilities, both directly and indirectly. Individuals with disabilities are more likely to experience the effects of climate change on humans more acutely compared to those without disabilities. Typically, disabled people are the most likely to be negatively affected by any form of emergency, whether it be an immediate emergency like a flood or tornado or a gradual emergency like rising sea levels, due to a lack of access to emergency resources and the difficulties imposed by limited mobility. Disabled people are also more adversely affected by climate change because a disproportionate number of disabled people live in poverty, and people living in poverty are inherently more at risk due to climate change. Despite this, and despite the fact that disabled people make up more than 15% of the global population, they have had minimal input and involvement in the decision-making process surrounding responses to climate change. A 2022 study by the Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Research Programme revealed that only 37 of 192 State Parties to the Paris Agreement currently refer to persons with disabilities in their nationally determined contributions, while only 46 State Parties refer to persons with disabilities in their domestic climate adaptation policies.
Disability in Spain is characterised by an aging population, thus an increasing proportion of disabled citizens. Social services are provided by regional and municipal authorities. Several laws protect the interests of disabled people, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which Spain signed and ratified in 2007. Disability culture features an active performing and visual arts sector which is supported by government policy and funding. Disabled sport in Spain has a long history but was boosted by the fact that the country hosted the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona and Madrid,and started a lot of policy and structural changes since the 1990s.
About a fifth of Israel's population is affected by disability. The country is a state party of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There is a system of legislation and policies that protect the rights of disabled Israelis.
Around 624,000 people of Azerbaijan have varying degrees of disability, which makes up about 6.4% of the population.