VI. Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Service Providing to the Sector
In the comprehensive efforts to improve the lives of the persons with disabilities and in the experiences derived from service delivery processes, greater insights were gradually acquired resulting in three paradigm shifts: the expansion of service delivery from Institution or Center based to Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), transformation from the Disability Focused
services to the Ability/Potential Focused
services and finally the transformation in the manner of dealing with persons with disabilities, from mere Clients
to Active Partners
in the movement to uplift the lots of the sector. These developments relate closely to the transitions from the medical views of disability to the social model and finally to the rights based approach of rendering services to the sector. Within these maturing attitudinal frameworks, partnerships among the various sectors: notably, the government, non government organizations (NGOs), private enterprises (e.g. business, church, etc) and the sector of persons with disabilities continue. This is also the character in the international relations relative to issues and concerns of and for persons with disabilities. Participation of particular members of disability groupings (deaf represented by the deaf, blind by the blind, etc.) is moving towards the direction of sectoral representation and partnership, including sharing of resources and skills.