The origins and development of independent living centers in Mongolia
The view that a person with a disability is a patient and cannot work still exists in our society. Mongolia's Constitution states that everyone has equal rights. People with disabilities have the right to exercise their rights in society without discrimination. In practice, however, social attitudes create barriers and isolate them. Since 2010, Universal Progress ILC has worked to help society understand that people with disabilities can participate in community life and live independently like anyone else. We spoke with the organization's president, Ч.Унрахбаяр, about how independent living is being implemented in Mongolia.
Hello. First, could you tell our readers about your organization's purpose and activities? What are your main areas of work?
Universal Progress ILC currently has around 140 members and 17 permanent staff, 13 of whom have disabilities. We established the organization to create an independent living system for people with disabilities in Mongolia. People with less severe disabilities may find it easier to adapt to society, while those with more severe disabilities tend to become increasingly isolated. We aim to employ young people with severe disabilities and develop a system that can serve as a model for Mongolia. Of our 13 employees with disabilities, 8 have relatively severe disabilities, yet they work in a range of professional roles.
Our work covers independent living support programs, social participation programs, inclusive education, domestic and international projects, cooperation with government, and the delivery of public services under contract.
Mongolia has many laws and regulations relating to people with disabilities. How well are they being implemented?
There are many laws on paper in Mongolia, but are they reaching people with disabilities? No. More recently, on February 5, 2016, Mongolia adopted the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. For the first time, Article 32 established the right to independent living and services to support its implementation. These include new forms of support such as personal assistance, peer counseling and advice. People with disabilities and their representative organizations participated substantially in drafting the law. In practice, however, implementation remains inadequate. Many issues await solutions, including limited public understanding of the new independent living provisions and the lack of a clear funding mechanism.
Personal assistance is a particularly effective social welfare system for protecting people with disabilities against discrimination and increasing their everyday participation in society. Although the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes these rights, urgent action is needed on funding for independent living support services and on who will receive which services and how, including personal assistance.
Society often assumes that people with disabilities cannot work. That attitude seems to be improving year by year. What changes have you seen?
The government supports employment for people with disabilities and allocates funding. This undoubtedly has some results. From our perspective, though, the intentions may be right while the methods are not well suited to people's needs. We hear about large investments, support for small factories and increasing jobs. As people with physical disabilities who use wheelchairs, we have several concerns about employment. First, accessibility is essential. Employers need suitable parking, accessible stairs and entrances, and appropriate toilets. Intermed Hospital has addressed all these accessibility issues in its building. Yet even when a workplace has removed its barriers, the main difficulty for a wheelchair user may be getting from home to work and back. Colleagues can provide support at work, but the buses are inaccessible, leaving no way to travel by bus in a wheelchair. Instead, a family member must accompany the person in a taxi. Government policy therefore needs to prioritize accessibility and then support and encourage employers who hire people with disabilities. Support need not always be direct funding; tax measures or assistance with operating costs may also help. Mongolia also has an employment placement system for people with disabilities, but it is not sufficiently effective. Finding a person a job and leaving them there is not enough: support during adjustment to the job is essential. Just as mentoring systems have existed in other settings, people need time and support to settle into a workplace. Through placing many people in jobs, we have noticed several issues. First, when colleagues do not understand a person with a disability, that person may gradually lose confidence and no longer wish to participate in society. Second, the environment may be inaccessible. Accessibility means more than toilets, stairs and entrances. We have adapted our entire workplace for wheelchair users. Tables have space underneath for wheelchair access and are comfortable to use. All doors are threshold-free, and everything is designed with people with disabilities in mind. When the surroundings do not suit a person's needs, discouragement can build gradually. That is why it is important to focus on support centered on the person.