Methodology

As was previously mentioned, this methodology was created by York University in Canada, sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and a series of experts. Its goal is, basically, to prove the existing gap between what governments claim and promise through their policies, legislation, or speeches, and what actually happens on the field. This project intends to provide an objective perspective of the current and tangible situation of people with disabilities in Colombia. Moreover, given its very goal and nature, the DRPI methodology emphasizes full participation of these disabled persons, not only as recipients but also as key and active participants of this process.

With the purpose of measuring the importance of this methodology and its actual application on the field, this scientific method includes three major areas: an individual view, a systemic view, and a view from the mass media.

By individual view we refer to the method by which a snowball-sampled group of 100 people share some of their personal experiences of the last 5 years in open semi-structured interviews. The purpose of such interviews is that these personal declarations account for the main aspects and areas where general basic human rights, and particularly the rights of persons with disabilities, are respected or violated.

Finally, the information gathered from the interviews is audio-recorded and transcribed into digital text documents for its later systematization. Once the information has been digitalized, both through audio records and in written, the Nvivo 10 software is used to structure the testimonies on the basis of the 5 principles established by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The resulting data serves as a basis for later partial conclusions on how it is that people with disabilities actually live and experience their rights.

The holistic and integral view underlying this report also includes the analysis of public policies and regulations, as well as the analysis of governmental programs. For this purpose, there has been designed a matrix. It is a double-entry chart that allows executioners to record what the instrument to be analyzed is, and whether or not it provides for the principles and key elements that should guarantee the effective enforcement of the rights of persons with disabilities.

Although the individual accounts and the systemic analysis are evidence enough of the brutal reality of people with disabilities, in order to make an integral report it is necessary to understand what the social attitude toward disabled people is, and how people with disabilities are perceived and assessed by society in general. In this respect, the mass media is a key element for us to understand how, as a result of their use of vocabulary or their imaginary social constructs, the community portrays people with disabilities.

Once these three views have been clearly identified, a final integral report is made which accounts for reality and actual experiences in terms of human rights and a fair social inclusion.

For the purposes of this monitoring report on the human rights of persons with disabilities in Colombia, which is based on the methodology previously described, only the individual and the systemic view shall be approached.

This work has been structured in such a way as to portray, as faithfully as possible, the life situation and the context of people with disabilities in the areas mentioned earlier, and where the present study was conducted. That is: the Central Area, including central cities of the country, Bogotá, Ibague, and some rural areas of Cundinamarca such as La Mesa and Las Mesitas; the Coffee Triangle Area, including cities like Medellin, Pereira, and Armenia; and the Pacific Area, including the city of Quibdó in El Choco.

Photograph 1: Participants of the monitoring project conducting the individual interviews, in teams.

3.1 Socio-Demographic Context of the Interviewed People

The following chart displays the socio-demographic characteristics of the 100 people who participated with their stories. The data is structured according to the guidelines and the methodology set for the collection of information about the individual experiences within the framework of the project to monitor the human rights of persons with disabilities. The chart shows the quantitative distribution of the participants, their level of education, type of disability, source of the disability, employment status, type of housing, their area within the country, and the age ranges.

As table 1 shows, the sample is balanced in terms of gender distribution, since men constitute 57% of the people interviewed, and women are 43% of the total number of participants. The age range is between 18 and 62 years of age, 68% of which are in working or in schooling age (18-39 years old). Regarding the source of the disability, 72% acquired it through life and the causes differ, violence or domestic conflicts being the most relevant causes. 28% of the sample was born with their disabilities, especially in the case of physical or sensory disabilities.

People with all types of disabilities were thus included, allowing us to learn about the different obstacles that the interviewees have to deal with. 37% of these persons have physical disabilities, 29% have sensory disabilities, 23% have psychosocial disabilities. In regards to the latter group, it is important to mention that this report is the first one to include the voices and experiences of users and survivors of psychiatry ² from our country. People with cognitive disabilities were also included: 3%.

Note #2

Users and Survivors of Psychiatry are the people who use mental health services, survivors of inadequate practices related to mental health such as excess of medication, forced hospitalization, isolation and segregation, stigmatization due to the so-called mental diseases, persons with psychosocial disabilities. Read more about Users and Survivors of Psychiatry here.

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As regards educational background of the disabled people interviewed, 34% had access to education applicable to the labor market, having finished high school and some technical training. 7% managed to enter college but were unable to finish their studies due to economic difficulties, health problems, or lack of curricular adjustments, among others. 19% finished their college studies, 6% took up graduate studies, 3% finished elementary school only, and only 1% had no access to education, whether formal or informal, due to multiple disabilities or to lack of access to the education system. People in this group are always under the care of their families and at home.

As for employment, 47% of the interviewees are unemployed, which shows little labor inclusion for the disabled people in the country. The employed 32% have mostly short-term or temporary jobs; 17% are self-employed, usually in informal sales activities; and only 4% receive a pension: 2% have an old-age pension, and the other 2% have a disability pension.

Taking these two aspects into consideration, it is evident that, in spite of their access to basic education or, at least, to some work-related training, the initiatives for labor inclusion are not sufficient to meet the demands of the disabled population in the country. There are still great obstacles to the labor inclusion of people with disabilities, as the focus is on deficiency rather than on individual abilities. This situation has a direct impact on their access to financial resources, which is evidenced by the fact that 21% of the interviewees live on rented properties, and 79% live in their family homes. The percentage of people who own a house is minimal.

7 couples of supervisors were assigned to the Central Area, and conducted 70% of the individual interviews; 2 couples of supervisors were assigned to the Coffee Triangle Area, and conducted 20% of the interviews; and one couple of supervisors were assigned to the Pacific Area, and conducted the remaining 10% of the interviews. This distribution was established according to the different characteristics of the people who joined the training process; it caused the methodology to have different regional impacts. A total of 25 persons with disabilities were included among the supervisors, coordinators, and logistic support teams, and implemented the learned procedures during their training for the collection of the individual experiences. Such training included: project information, the acquisition of informed consents to conduct the interviews, audio recording, text transcriptions, the process of data systematization and the corresponding coding, and the implementation of the Nvivo 10 software. All these actions took place between June and September 2013.

Gender, type of disability, source of the disability, age ranges, educational background, employment status, and areas of the country where the methodology was implemented, are the variables of the demographic, social, and economical context that were analyzed. Through this differential approach, our diverse sample allows us to objectively understand the feelings of the disabled participants of this monitoring project as a result of the situations they face on a daily basis in Colombia. The results obtained are discussed in depth below in relation to their impact on the human rights of persons with disabilities. Taking the CRPD principles as a departing point, the results focus on the following aspects: the systematic roots of discrimination; the reasons not to report abuse; response to abuse; the relation between gender and disability, social class and disability, and ethnicity and disability; and a series of recommendations taken from the interviews conducted.

3.2 Systemic Follow-Up

The purpose of the systematic monitoring and analysis is to identify and highlight the existing gaps and deficiencies of our national legislation, and the policies pertaining to the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities. This would be achieved through the analysis of the following principles: dignity, individual autonomy, participation, inclusion and accessibility, non-discrimination and equality, and respect for difference.

The analysis was based on the systemic monitoring parameters published in the context of the DRPI methodology. The departing point was the vast legislative framework developed in Colombia on the matter, with particular emphasis on the five most relevant laws related to disabilities in Colombia: law 1405 of 2007; law 1346 of 2009; law 1306 of 2009; law 1616 of 2013; and law 1618 of 2013. The work of analysis and compilation was carried out between June and September 2013.

Photograph 2: One of the information-gathering teams.

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