Accessibility
There is a lack of physical accessibility in Liberia. [3] Many government buildings do not have ramps and there are not enough sidewalks in cities. [3]
People with disability in Liberia face many challenges. The cultural attitude towards disability in Liberia is largely negative. Often, it is seen as the result of witchcraft or as punishment for a person's behavior. However, the government and non-governmental organizations are working towards a more inclusive country for people with disabilities.
Statistics from 2008 show that around 14 percent of the population of Liberia has a disability. [1]
The government of Liberia has stated that it has a commitment to providing an inclusive society for people with disabilities. [2] In 2005, Liberia created the National Commission On Disabilities Liberia. [3] Liberia signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012. [4]
Liberia has various protections for people with disabilities in the workforce. [5] The government also promotes tax incentives for hiring people with disabilities and has a target of 4% employment for people with disabilities. [5]
People with disabilities have received less attention than other groups of people who are at risk in the country. [6]
The Ministry of Education of Liberia has the Department of Science, Technical, Vocational, and Special Education, which oversees education for students with disabilities. [7] In the FY 2023 National Budget for the Republic of Liberia, this department received 0.28% of the Ministry of Education Budget. [7] Also, the fiscal year 2023 budget did not list a specific allocation to special education that would service students with disabilities in Liberia. [7] In the FY 2023 National Budget, one subsidy is explicitly provided for a school of students with disabilities, the Liberia School for the Blind. [7] In turn, most funding of schools for students with disabilities is based on non-governmental organizations and religious organizations.
Non-governmental organizations in the country have called on the government to secure the rights of people with disabilities. [8] Many of these groups have adopted a National Action Plan for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. [8] Non-governmental organizations advocating for people with disabilities became more involved in the process of advocacy following the 2005 elections in Liberia. [9]
Humanity & Inclusion has been working in Liberia since 2000. [1] The National Union of the Disabled was established in 2009 to advocate for people with disabilities in Liberia. [10] Other prominent non-governmental organizations in Liberia include the Disabled Females International-Liberia, Organisation for the Social Integration of the Liberian Deaf, Liberia National Association of the Blind (LNAB) and the Christian Association of the Blind-Liberia. [10]
Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of schools that serve students with disabilities in Liberia; many schools lack a digital presence due to funding limitations.
Schools for Students with Intellectual Disabilities
My Heart's Appeal Center, a pilot school for students with Intellectual Disabilities, opened in Gaye Town, Monrovia, in 2024. [11] The pilot program is focused on vocational and academic training for teenagers and adults with intellectual disabilities. [11] The NGO My Heart's Appeal Inc. was founded in 2011. [12] It started this school after working with over 150 Liberians with intellectual disabilities through respite care programs and preliminary projects, and it founded the Down Syndrome Association of Liberia. [12]
His Safe Haven is located in Gbarnga, Bong County. [13] It was started by missionaries to meet the spiritual, physical, and educational needs of children with disabilities, including their families and communities. [13] The religious organization operates His Safe Haven Village, a foster care center for children with disabilities. [13] At the same time, it works with families and communities to provide support and resources to care for children with disabilities within the family instead of placing the child at His Safe Haven Village. [13]
Schools for Students with Visual Impairment and Blindness
The Liberia School for the Blind was founded in 1977 in Virginia, Monrovia. In 2023, it was serving 45 residential students. [14] The Liberia School for the Blind was the only school for students with disabilities to receive governmental support through a USD 50,000 subsidy within the FY 2023 National Budget. [7] To provide additional support, the NGO Youth for Global Initiative works with the school, focusing on sourcing assistive technology for visual impairments and delivering trainings for the school on using the technology. [15]
Schools for Students with Hearing Impairments and Deafness
Oscar & Viola Stewart Deaf School was founded in 1996 in Monrovia and is funded through religious organizations. The school provides educational and residential services for students with hearing impairments and deafness, ages 2–18. [16] In 2017, Oscar Viola Stewart Deaf School served 50-75 students in pre-primary school to 9th grade. [16]
Oscar Romero School for the Deaf, founded in 2008, is in Tubmanburg, Bomi County. Mary's Meals and religious organizations fund it. In 2024, Oscar Romero School for the Deaf served over 150 students. [17] The school is pre-primary and elementary, for ages 3 to 6th grade. [17] The school provides supports and services for students with hearing impairments and deafness to attend community-based junior and senior high schools. [17] In 2024, Oscar Romero School for the Deaf served over 150 students. ref name=OVS/>
United Methodist Church Hope for the Deaf School is located in Sinkor, Monrovia, and is funded through religious organizations. [18] In 2017, the school served 60 students with hearing impairments and deafness. [18]
There is a lack of physical accessibility in Liberia. [3] Many government buildings do not have ramps and there are not enough sidewalks in cities. [3]
People with disabilities in Liberia often face discrimination and marginalization. [1] There is a tradition of believing that a family has been subject to witchcraft when a child with disabilities is born and the family may be shunned and the child subject to cruel treatment. [19]
Disabilities that were caused by war are also stigmatized. [3] These can be mental disabilities, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or physical disabilities, such as amputations. [3]
The Second Liberian Civil War caused various types of disability to as many as 800,000 people. [4] Many people in Liberia have congenital conditions, but others become disabled due to birth trauma. [3]
Many of the members of the Liberian amputee football team were once former child soldiers. [20] Liberia participated in the first All African Amputee Football Tournament in 2007 which was sponsored by FIFA and held in Sierra Leone. [21] After the tournament, Liberia along with Ghana and Sierra Leone formed the African Nations Amputee Football Federation (AFFA). [21]
Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have a non-disabled equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, was founded in 1829 and is the oldest school for the blind in the United States. It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind.
NextSense, formerly the Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children (RIDBC), in Sydney provides a range of educational services for students with vision and/or hearing impairment, including specialist schools for signing deaf students, oral deaf students, and students with sensory and intellectual disabilities.
In the United States, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a special education law that mandates regulation for students with disabilities to protect their rights as students and the rights of their parents. The IDEA requires that all students receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), and that these students should be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). To determine what an appropriate setting is for a student, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team will review the student's strengths, weaknesses, and needs, and consider the educational benefits from placement in any particular educational setting. By law the team is required to include the student's parent or guardian, a general education teacher, a special education teacher, a representative of the local education agency, someone to interpret evaluation results and, if appropriate, the student. It is the IEP team's responsibility to determine what environment is the LRE for any given student with disabilities, which varies between every student. The goal of an IEP is to create the LRE for that student to learn in. For some students, mainstream inclusion in a standard classroom may be an appropriate setting whereas other students may need to be in a special education classroom full time, but many students fall somewhere within this spectrum. Students may also require supplementary aids and services to achieve educational goals while being placed in a classroom with students without disabilities, these resources are provided as needed. The LRE for a student is less of a physical location, and more of a concept to ensure that the student is receiving the services that they need to be successful.
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 80 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 15% of the world's population experience some form of disability or impairment. The proportion of disabled people is much higher in Sierra Leone, a West African country which had emerged from a decade-long civil war back in 2002 where the trademark of the rebel groups was to hack off the limbs of civilians.
Disability sports classification is a system that allows for fair competition between people with different types of disabilities.
Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, founded in 1997, is a non-profit organization providing education, accommodation, food, vocational training and placement based rehabilitation. It is based in Bangalore, India with centers across India and abroad. The organization is affiliated to the World Blind Union and received Special UN Consultative Status in 2015.
Disability golf classification is used for deaf golf, blind golf, amputee golf, golf for mentally disabled people, paraplegic golf and other forms of golf involving people with disabilities.
Disabled sports in Spain started in the 1910s with the emergence of deaf sport. Blind sport began in the 1930s. Sport for people with physical disabilities began in the 1950s, and was primarily rehabilitative. The first major organization for disabled sports was created in 1968 at the direction of then president of the Spanish Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch. Spain competed at its first Paralympic Games that same year. ONCE became the official organization for organizing Spanish representation in international blind sport competitions in 1986. Spanish sport was restructured because of changes in law during the early 1990s, resulting in the creation of four new disability sport organizations and the Spanish Paralympic Committee. During the 1990s and 2000s, funding opportunities for disabled sports improved.
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.
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.
People with disabilities in Sri Lanka typically face significant stigma and discrimination. The main causes for disability in Sri Lanka are poor hygiene, lack of medical care, the prevalence of 30 years of war, the aftereffects of the 2004 tsunami, and an increase in accidents.
As of 2007, there are almost one million people with various levels of physical and mental disabilities in Taiwan. Taiwan adopted a universal healthcare system in 1995 to properly support patient care and provide more transparent access to its people, including those who identify as disabled. Taiwan is a nation that has grown tremendously to support those that are disabled. This includes having a socialized form of medical care that is run by the Executive Yuan. Overall this universal scheme includes the law, public facilities, and educational aspect of healthcare. Taiwan also has different aspects of healthcare to effectively support those that are disadvantaged or disabled, this included subsidies, loans, plans, service guarantee and specific care for medically vulnerable populations. Taiwan's healthcare development and dedication to support its people plays an important role in its transformation of benefits for disabled people.
In the Philippines, disability is one of the social issues affecting a portion of the Philippines' population. To ensure the equality and rights of disabled persons, there are Philippine laws and policies that were passed regarding persons with disabilities (PWDs). There are also numerous non-government associations that seeks to encourage and help improve the wellbeing of people with disabilities.
People with disabilities in Togo face many unique challenges. Disability in Togo is often seen as a curse or sign of witchcraft, leading to poor outcomes for people with disabilities. Accessibility in the country is lacking. However, Togo has signed onto the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has created plans to encourage greater inclusion for people with disabilities in the country.
People with disability in Algeria are protected under the law. Algeria has adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Arab Charter on Human Rights. Algeria is working to make the country more accessible to people with disabilities. Overall, about 2.5 percent of the country has some type of disability with men having a higher rate of disability than women.
Around 35,000 people in Belize have a disability. There are efforts to raise awareness about people with disabilities in Belize and counter social stigma. Several non-governmental organizations, including Special Olympics, help increase awareness and the government sponsors an annual Disability Week. Services for people with disabilities is limited and most areas of the country have limited accessibility.