30.11.1999

Preface

I Introduction

1. Goals

Society for all

2. The UN definitions

3. The reforming idea of man

4. Prerequisities for independent living

II The prerequisites for equal participation

1. An increase in awareness

Triately visible.

The best communicators of disability-related information are persons with disabilities themselves or their own or their parents' organizations. This is why they must make themselves visible in a positive way. They must organize systematic information campaigns to promote their own needs and goals. The campaigns must be directed to all members of society, especially to the communities near to persons with disabilities. They must start from the life environment of the person with disabilities and advance to where major decisions are taken, both political and practice-oriented. Disability information must be made a part of everyday social activity. Only then may it transform into an awareness guiding practical activities.

For the general awareness on disability to increase, the level of disability awareness must also increase among persons with disabilities themselves. The persons in question must be capable to recognize their own needs, possibilities, expertise, duties and rights. In this process, disability organizations must support their members. They must improve the increasing of awareness among family members of persons with disabilities, also. We must strive towards this goal by the means of both functional and social training.

2. Accessibility

Removal of invisible obstacles

Today, the society is not open to all. It is not always a question of direct discrimination but rather of a lack in proper consideration. In Finland, we must also recognize as important goals both the consideration of the needs of persons with disabilities and the accessibility of society as part of the equalization of opportunities in all fields of society.

The greatest obstacle to approaching, gaining access and to acting in society are the attitudes. If the community does not take into account the demands caused by differences, persons with disabili- ties will not be able to participate fully in the activities of society. The obstacles that are invisible because of attitudes turn into stairs, buildings without lifts etc. All the ramps con- structed only bring one to new obstacles, if the community continues to be intolerant towards the disabled. This is why we must take action to change the attitudinal climate more positive towards persons with disabilities. By changing attitudes>

---

Transfer interrupted!

visible, so that they can be removed.

Persons with disabilities themselves have a central role in all this. They are good advocates of their own issues. By being involved in everyday activities, by being visible and by influencing decision-making in society as experts, persons with disabilities can best promote change in attitudes towards the positive direction.

Disability organizations are to support and train their members in this task. In addition, they are to organize regular information campaigns directed to the public. All options of modern media must be used in the realization of these campaigns. In this task, society must provide financial support to disability organizations.

The functional openness and accessibility of society may be improved through constructing within the ordinary systems "the special", which is necessary for the removal of obstacles. This must not be done by separate costs or by activities realized in a physically separate location. "The special" must not be anything for which the costs are covered by someone other than the customary organizer of the service or activity. The services of the municipality must be available to all its members. Persons with disabilities are members of their society and municipality just like everybody else. Thus, in their services production, municipalities must consider the needs of persons with disabilities, as well. The service providers must be aware of disability as a person's special quality and to react positively to the need of special solutions caused by disability.

The accessibility of physical environment

The member states of the United Nations are required to initiate measures to remove any obstacles to full participation in physical environment. The accessibility of physical environment can be taken to include at least four aspects:

• The development of norms, guidelines and, if necessary, legislation to ensure accessibility to housing, buildings, traffic, the streets and other outdoor environments;
• The provision of adequate information to architects, engineers and other professional designers about the principles and suitable measures to guarantee accessibility;
• The inclusion of accessibility requirements in the design and construction from the beginning of the designing process;
• The use of disability organizations as consulting experts in the development of norms; the local involvement of these organizations in public construction projects.

Construction

Internationally, Finland has a modern set of binding legislative norms over construction. The goal is obstacle-free access for persons with disabilities into public buildings, services and businesses. In renovation of existing public buildings, accessibility is one of the goals today. Access to buildings may be guaranteed by constructing ramps and lifts and by increasing the level of equipment in the buildings. Increasing the level of equipment means, for instance that public buildings are equipped with the most common assistive devices needed by people with different disabilities. Such aids could be, e.g., text phones, induction loops or character-reading machines. Old buildings can be rendered accessible through a redesign of the space. The disability perspective must also be taken into account in the development of construction legislation. Further, is necessary the direct and democratic participation of persons with disabilities in the decision-making process of municipal community planning. Such planning must be promoted and supported as includes the disability perspective also as a security factor. The maintenance activities of streets and the environment must be influenced by bringing forward the needs of persons with disabilities.

The construction legislation has recently been amended to include a requirement on the suitability of dwellings to persons with disabilities. Now, we must strongly reenforce and develop the present methods of guidance and financing, especially to renovate old dwellings free of obstacles to accessibility and activity. The goal must be full lifetime validity of the dwelling, which means that it must be suitable to inhabitants of all ages. Apart from the built environment, more attention must be paid also to the improvement of the functional environment, its usability through the design, colouring and recognition of everyday utensils, for example.

Public transport

Also, in recent planning and decision-making regarding public transport, more attention has been paid to accessibility aspects. The relative weight of the perspective emphasizing the need of all users has not yet been fully understood, however. Therefore, we must concentrate on making the principle known and on securing continuity so that public transport would develop into a service for passengers with functional impairments.

In the planning and realization of traffic arrangements, we must take into account the needs of those passengers for whom the use of transport is especially difficult. Thus, we create equal opportunities to participate in the activities of the society. Most often, these solutions are the most cost efficient and best ones for the average passenger, as well.

It is important that this perspective be considered in all fields. It must be considered in major development and research projects regarding public transport, in the planning, acquisition and servicing of the normal traffic environment and transport vehicles, as well. All new and existing public transport vehicles must be rendered accessible in their entry when they are serviced. The goal is total accessibility in public urban and rural transport, the different types of transport (buses, trains, aeroplanes, ships etc.). Also, in furbishing vehicles, the comfort of different client groups must be considered (height of seats, armrests, footrests etc.). What is essential for passengers with functional impairments is the accessibility of the whole route, from home to the destination, and the availability of travel- related information in a suitable form.

The terminals of long-distance traffic must have guidance and assistance services available. Also travel-related information, such as announcements and timetables, must be available in a form suitable for all client groups. If public transport services fail to secure an accessible route for a passenger with disabilities, then complementing transport services are necessary.

The value of public transport as one of the most important basic services in society must be recognized. Starting from this evaluation, it is possible to develop traffic arrangements in such a way as renders public transport truly capable of providing equal service to all passengers, whatever their place of residence, age or disability. In practice, this requires a continuing open cooperation between those responsible for traffic planning and those constructing and importing traffic vehicles. Both traffic companies and their customers should enforce their cooperation. Disability organizations are an essential part of the organizations representing consumers. As the goal is public transport suitable to everyone, it is especially important to guarantee continuity in the financial support of development projects and in further development of the guidelines and especially the technical legislation and standards.

Access to information and communication

The UN asks all states to undertake measures to ensure access to information and communication to all persons with disabilities. Access to information on their own environment and possibility to social involvement are basic prerequisites for full participation, social activity and the development of true control over one's own life.

Accessibility of information and communication include at least the following points:

• Persons with disabilities (and their families) should have access to information on treatment, research, rights, services and programmes.
• There exist development programmes for appropriate technol- ogies to provide information services and documentation accessible for persons with visual impairments, auditory impairments and mobility impairments.
• The use of sign language is ensured in the education of deaf children and more extensively in services provision.
• Also the needs of people with other communication disabili- ties must be considered.
• The media, especially television, radio and newspapers should be made accessible to all; new computerized informa- tion and service systems should be adapted to be accessible to users with disabilities.
• Organizations of persons with disabilities should be consulted when information services are being developed.

There are many kinds of impairments that cause difficulties to or prevent communication and access to information. Examples of these are auditory and visual impairments, deaf-blindness, aphasia, dysphasia, autism, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, stammer and brain injuries. They make more difficult or they totally prevent communication and exchange of information between persons in an ordinary way. For this reason, persons with communication disabilities are a group which is particularly discriminated against and marginalised in our society. Without suitable methods and instruments of communication, they will not be understood in matters relating to their own affairs.

Yet, the right to become heard and understood is one of fundamental human rights. During the parliamentary process on the Finnish constitutional reform, the Permanent Constitutional Committee added into the text of the Constitution Act a new paragraph 14, according to which the rights of persons using sign- language and of persons in need of interpretation and translation services because of disability will be protected by Act or Decree. On this basis, each group of disabled persons must be secured to have some way of access to information and self-expression. Deaf persons must be offered a possibility to communicate by using the sign language, blind persons the right to use braille in written communication, for those with difficulties in reading and conception in simplified text and for those with speaking disabilities through other speech-supporting or speech-replacing methods.

To improve the communication possibilities of all groups of persons with disabilities, the use of existing information and other techniques should be made more efficient. Different communications-related technical aids should be made available to all those needing them. Equipment should be provided for individual use and placed in sufficient numbers to locations deemed necessary by persons with disabilities. For example, induction coils and text telephones should be made available in public buildings. Alongside visually-functioning communication instruments, speech synthesizers and reading televisions should also be available. The number of television and radio programmes whose contents are in simplified form should be increased. The same applies to the relative amount of all subtitled and sign- language programmes in television and video. Furthermore, the personnel in services should be trained in communication with persons with different kinds of disabilities.

3. Rehabilitation possibilities

The states should ensure the provision of rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities in order for them to reach and sustain their optimum level of independence and functioning. The states should develop national rehabilitation programmes for all groups of persons with disabilities. These programmes should be based on the actual individual needs of persons with disabilities and on the principles of full participation and equality.

In Finland, rehabilitation is conceived to include all measures aiming at managing physically, functionally or socially. This is a process that sustains or strengthens the attained level of functioning or which helps to find new capabilities. Generally, rehabilitation is a process where the instruments and methods suitable at the given time and for the given individual or their family are used.

For some groups of persons with disabilities, rehabilitation is a continuing activity within the daily life. For others, it is a one-time event, which will not necessarily repeat itself during their lifetime. Some individual persons or groups with disabilities need rehabilitation in all these sectors. Others need it only in some particular areas.

To realize the principle of full participation, persons with disabilities and their families should be able to participate in the design and organization of rehabilitation services concerning themselves. Now, rehabilitation services are often directed from the outside and defined by the systems of financing and the professional personnel. In their organization, only the knowledge is valued that is based on professionalism, not the knowledge based on experience. This is why a change is necessary in the ways of thinking and acting.

From the idea of rehabilitation, we must move towards a more subject-centered thinking of "self-rehabilitation". Then the centre of activities is the person with disabilities himself or herself as he or she is or is capable of becoming through rehabilitation, starting from his or her own needs. The aim is not to mould the person into a nondisabled person. Instead, he or she has the right to be him- or herself. Since the person with disabilities him- or herself knows best what good quality of life means just for him or her, it is he or she who sets the goals for the rehabilitation. This also means the increase of the person's own responsibility over the results of rehabilitation.

During the early stages of illness/disability, when a person has limited capabilities to outline his or her own life or to take the responsibility for it, then an outside motivator, a rehabilitation professional is necessary. The most important task for the motivator is to bring available right information and assistive devices to support the rehabilitation process. Thus, they promote the person_s rehabilitation and learning of new skills in replacement. By no means, shall the outsider set the criteria along which the person with disabilities is moulded. Individual growth must be allowed sufficient room for. Further, the growth of the person with disabilities as a person with disabilities shall be supported by the ways of peer support and peer counselling. Their proportion in the rehabilitation process must be increased from the present levels.

The person in rehabilitation as a part of the community

The individual always lives as a member of a community built upon a set of multidirectional relationships. Therefore, the individual_s rehabilitation must be woven into an integral part of communication and everyday activities of this community, as well. In the ideal case, the whole community is involved in a supportive role in the rehabilitation process of a person with disabilities. Then, the family, the school and the workplace have a chance to renew and adapt themselves in a way considerate of the needs of the person with disabilities.

Not yet does the system which produces the rehabilitation services in Finland sufficiently involve the environment in the rehabilitation process. The system is both in its way of thinking and its practices very institution-centered. It isolates the person with disabilities away from his or her own life circles for the duration of the rehabilitation. Learning even minor skills of ordinary life requires one to participate in a rehabilitation period in an institution. In the future, rehabilitation services should be organized when appropriate in the life environment of each individual with disabilities so that the near community is also involved: one rehearses moving around in one_s own environment, learns the use of assistive devices there etc.

The above-mentioned does not mean that the institutions producing rehabilitation services would become unnecessary. Both those who have recently become disabled and those who have progressive diseases may need a period of institutional rehabilitation even several times a year. A sufficient amount of high-quality rehabilitation services, which meet the needs of those persons, must be made available to them. As for the other activities, there is reason to develop rehabilitation units into resource centres. Then they could act as producers of services demanding special skills and expertise, such as assistive devices technology. Based on these skills and expertise, it is appropriate for the resource centres to organize courses directed to persons with disabilities to teach skills necessary in the use of assistive devices. In addition, the centres can act as trainers of the regional and local rehabilitation personnel. Then their services would provide purposeful support to the Òeveryday rehabilitationÒ taking place in the field.

For this development to become reality, should the prerequisites for their continued action be ensured for these centres. For persons with disabilities, the right must be secured to acquire the necessary skills through participating in courses at the centres or other training. Thus, the state should answer for the costs of rare or expensive rehabilitation needs.

Quality of life as a goal

In developing the rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities, the equal rights of all groups with disabilities to improve their quality of life shall be secured. Special attention must be paid to the rights of persons with retarded development, with mental health problems or with multiple disabilities to have rehabilitation. For them, alternative modes of rehabilitation must be found and the necessary financial resources must be secured. These groups are easily left outside rehabilitation activities based upon finances-centered benefit thinking. Further, the rights of Swedish and Sami-speaking citizens to have rehabilitation services provided in their own mother tongue must be secured.

In no stage, must the rehabilitation process turn into a goal. A person with disabilities needs not to live for rehabilitation, but he or she should have the right to rehabilitation to live. From this basis, rehabilitation services should form a whole and active process to improve a person_s life situation. Rehabilitation should offer support and information according to the needs of the person for an inventory of his or her life situation. At their most concrete, rehabilitation services can provide a chance for training independent living, or physical capabilities or speech etc. Rehabilitation may also include different types of education or the learning of a new profession. Both the goals and the methods of rehabilitation should be open to flexible adaptation during the process, for instance as independent living training turns into job coaching. In order to ensure the flexibility of this process, follow-up methods should be developed, so that the course of events could be corrected through them.

4. Support services

It is the primary duty of the society to organize its general services so that they are accessible to all citizens. The support services only come in as a secondary choice. In the organization of the support services, the principle followed must be that they are realized by and within the ordinary service organizations.

When the general services are not sufficient to secure the full participation of disabled persons, the state should ensure the availability of assistive devices and support services for the persons with disabilities. On this basis in Finland, a disabled person has the right to services and assistance in accordance with the Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act. This right is enforceable when the disabled person does not receive sufficient and suitable services or benefits under any other act. The purpose of the Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act, according to its Section 1, is to improve the ability of a disabled person to live and act as a member of society in equality with others. Another purpose is to prevent and to eliminate the disadvantages and obstacles caused by disability. According to Section 1, subsection 2 of the Support and Assistance for the Disabled Decree, the services and support measures needed by disabled persons shall be arranged so that these measures support the self- sufficiency of disabled persons in their daily lives. The services shall be provided of a content and on a scale that meets the need (Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act, Section 3). To ensure the equalization of opportunities, the persons with disabilities should themselves be involved in the design and production of services and support measures. The support services include e.g., the following services:

• Information and counselling services
• Services related to the adaptation and flexibility of the environment
• Services related to assistive devices and equipment
• Individual assistive devices and equipment as well as other services (such as personal assistants, interpreters etc.)
• All such individually adapted services that a person with disabilities needs to participate fully into the life of his or her community.

In cases where special expertise is needed, it should be possible to take advantage of the top-level special professional skills available in major university hospitals or resource centres. Especially, persons with rare disabilities should have the possibility to use the services of resource centres, such as top- level expertise on high technologies. Although the resource centres were maintained by disability organizations or other private parties, the state should take the ultimate responsibility of securing the prerequisites for their activity.

III Target areas for equal participation

Equal opportunities should be realized in all spheres of life. This programme deals with the following central spheres of human life:

• 1. Education
• 2. Employment
• 3. Income maintenance and social security
• 4. Family life and personal integrity
• 5. Religion, culture and recreation

1. Education

The basic principles of education

According to the UN Standard Rules, in states where education is compulsory it should be provided to all boys and girls with disabilities and with learning difficulties despite the degree or nature of their disability, disease or learning difficulties. Education should be provided for those with the most severe disabilities, as well. Special attention should be paid to education according to the needs of the different age groups: preschool teaching of children under the school-going age, school- aged children and youth and adults, especially women with disabilities.

Finland has in force a general obligation of compulsory school attendance for all children, regardless of their gender or disability. The right to learning is a fundamental right of every child. Also the recently-reformed Constitution Act of Finland (Section 13) emphasizes that each person shall have equal opportunities to receive teaching according to his or her ability and special needs and to develop oneself. The provision covers all teaching from preschool teaching to adult education. For the individual this entails a recognition of lifelong education.

Finland should take practical action to ensure equal opportunities for all children, youth and adults with disabilities, with long- term illnesses or with learning difficulties to receive preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as continued and further education in an integrated setting. This would require that Finland recognize the principle of normalization. Integration should be absorbed in all sectors of education of every age period.

Finland should also ensure that education of persons with dis- abilities is included as an integral part in national education planning, curriculum development and the overall education system. In order to integrate the education of persons with disabilities into the normal education system, the education authorities should

• have a clearly stated policy, understood and accepted at the school level and by the wider community;
• allow for curriculum flexibility, addition and adaptation;
• provide for quality materials, ongoing teacher training and support for teachers;
• involve the parent groups and organizations of persons with disabilities in the education process at all levels;
• monitor the realization of legislation and renew it to meet the needs of education;
• provide sufficient resources for research and for the equipment of schools and education establishments.
• to maintain close cooperation with different administrations, such as social and health care administration, the labour markets and the organizations of persons with disabilities as well as other partners and client groups.

Adaptation of the school environment

Considering Section 80 of the Construction Decree, all new school buildings and those existing ones shall be made adaptable to the needs of persons who have a reduced ability to move or otherwise to function. For school children and students with disabilities to be able to integrate into the ordinary school environment, the schools should be equipped or renovated as accessible. The schools should also get equipment enabling good communication. Further, more support services, e.g., assistant and interpreter services, must be introduced to make studying possible or easier. These support services should be designed to meet the needs of different groups of persons with disabilities. Also, additional teaching should be organized, when necessary. The starting point of all activity related to teaching and learning should be the adaptation of the school environment to meet the needs of the student. For example, in case of children with dysphasia this means reducing the group size.

In situations where the general school system with the support services does not yet adequately meet the needs of all students, special education may be considered. Even when this solution is arrived at should the teaching be integrated into a part of the general education and environment. In a decision about the placement of a child within special education services, the parents or guardians must always be consulted.

For example, deaf and deaf-blind persons have the right to education with sign-language. In cases of this kind of teaching, it is appropriate to organize it in special classes or units of mainstream schools. At the initial stage, in particular, special attention needs to be focused on culturally sensitive instruction. This will result in effective communication skills and a possibility to lead an independent life for persons who are deaf or deaf-blind. Sign language should be awarded the status of a mother tongue in the instruction of those who are deaf or deaf- blind. Furthermore, the reading difficulties of persons with severe multiple disabilities in all age groups and the individual_s life situation should be taken into account in the design of the education.

Apart from the capabilities provided by the school, the resource centres of disability organizations can provide training to encourage all studying children and young adults to a better control of their own life. The activity of the resource centres should be supported financially, too. Furthermore, the expertise of different kinds of institutes must be taken to better use in the design and realization of different education projects. In the design and realization of the instruction, we should move away from teacher-centered work methods towards more student-oriented ones.

Even in cases when special education is designed and organized, the aim should be to prepare students with special needs for education in the general school system by using sufficient support services. For this transition to be possible, the special education should be closely linked to the general education. To ensure sufficient amount and quality of the instruction, sufficient funds should be allocated to the education of persons with disabilities. The responsibility over the education of all persons with disabilities should belong to the education authorities. Therefore, the education of people with the most severe forms of intellectual disabilities should be transferred away from the purview of the social services into the responsibilities of the education authorities. In teaching persons with disabilities, the aim should be to move away from all actions that are differentiating or segregating, following the principle of integration.

The kind of development outlined above is based upon close cooperation between different parties. It requires the training and guidance of general teaching personnel, information activities about the goals, contents and methods of teaching and education, as well as the production of materials for teaching and guidance. The municipal education authorities bear the responsibility over the organization of teaching and education of all children under compulsory education. In their planning and design activities, the authorities should take into particular consideration the needs of those children and youth who are in need of special support, and to maintain a continual follow-up and evaluation over how these needs have been met.

2 Employment

Basic requirements for employment

The laws and regulations in the employment field must not discriminate against persons with disabilities and must not raise obstacles to their employment. Finland should recognize the principle, according to which persons with disabilities must be empowered to exercise their human rights, particularly in the field of employment. They must have equal opportunities for productive and gainful employment in the labour markets in both rural and urban areas. To reach this aim, different action programmes promoting the employment of persons with disabilities must be initiated. The need for initiating such action programmes is also noted in the Finnish national action programme concerning the rehabilitation of disabled persons. The programme has been adopted in the Kuntoutusasiain neuvottelukunta (Committee on Rehabilitation Matters) on 2.7.1995.

The contents of the action programmes

The largest barriers to the employment of persons with disabilities are attitudinal ones. Further, environmental factors, difficulties in obtaining assistive devices or assistants make it difficult for or prevent many persons from gaining employment. In order to remove these barriers, the following actions should be started:

• measures to design and adapt workplaces so that they become accessible to persons with different disabilities; The state should also encourage employers to make reasonable adjustments in the working conditions to accommodate persons with disabilities. The costs and revenue reductions caused for the employer due to the employee_s disability should be compensated by the state. Then the employers would feel it less riskier to employ persons with disabilities.
• Support for new technologies and the development and production of assistive devices, tools and equipment and measures to simplify access to such devices and equipment for persons with disabilities, thus enabling them to gain and maintain employment;

  Special attention should be paid to the possibilities of employment for persons with disabilities created by the new information technologies. In the development of information technology adaptations for persons with disabilities, these persons should themselves be involved. In order to find and develop new professions suitable for persons with disabilities, they should have access to modern equipment.

• Provision of appropriate training and placement and ongoing support such as rehabilitation services, the acquisition and maintenance of the social skills needed in a working community, assistive devices, transportation and interpreter services as well as personal assistance. Systems of assistance for work should be created for the needs of both the employees and the employers. Such systems already exist, e.g., in Germany.

It is important that the quality of this kind of programmes is evaluated against the way they are suitable and sufficient to provide employment opportunities and income for persons with disabilities. Therefore, their contents should be redesigned when the need arises. The guiding principle should always be the right of persons with disabilities to obtain employment providing sufficient income. Only as secondary solutions should this be followed by other actions and programmes creating systems of support and of compensation.

Vocational training

Persons with disabilities should be ensured equal opportunities with others to seek vocational training. Vocational training should be offered both at secondary and tertiary level. In addition, various other forms of training which are profession- oriented, such as apprenticeship training and distance learning, should be offered. Special attention must be paid to the training being up-to-date.

The choice of professions suitable for persons with disabilities is constantly growing. Notwithstanding, persons with disabilities unnecessarily often end in "professions for persons with disabilities", which are traditional and partly obsolete. To change this state of affairs, we should encourage the psychologists in career counselling to seek new sectors of professions suitable for persons with disabilities. The work of these psychologists should be supported from the organizations of persons with disabilities. Also, the awareness among persons with disabilities themselves should be raised regarding the possibilities of vocational training open to them.

By ensuring the availability of various support services for students with disabilities, they can be promoted in finding a career and a mode of studying suitable to them. One essential form of support is the organization of rehabilitation services adapted to the needs of each individual. Then, the studies themselves are not rehabilitation. Rehabilitation consists of those support services that a person needs, because of his or her disability, to advance in the studies.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has in 1983 passed a Convention concerning the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), Convention No. 159. This Convention states that the purpose of vocational rehabilitation is to enable a disabled person to secure and retain employment and also to advance in the career. The authorities should take action to organize vocational guidance, vocational training, services of job placement and employment and other related services. These services should be organized in a way which ensures that this purpose of vocational rehabilitation is met. The essential importance of recognizing in time the need of vocational rehabilitation is also included in the section 1/6 of the ILO Recommendation No 168. It states that vocational rehabilitation should be started as early as possible.

When a person with disabilities discovers that his or her chosen path of education or profession is unsuitable, he or she should have equal opportunities with others to make a change. Those who are financing vocational education should not stereotypically restrict the vocational training or rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. Apart from the opportunity to change their choice of profession, persons with disabilities should also be ensured an opportunity to continued training during the whole of their career. Only in this way, can the risk be reduced that the group would be excluded from the working life.

Persons with disabilities should also be trained more to self- employment. By launching education and experimentation projects, can their becoming entrepreneurs be promoted and their stages in self-employment be monitored.

Measures supporting employment into the open labour market

The best way to achieve an adequate level of income is by employing the persons with disabilities in the open labour market. In relation to this, the UN Standard Rules state that laws and regulations in the employment field must not discriminate against persons with disabilities and must not raise obstacles to their employment.

The present legislation on working time and on unemployment benefits both favour full-time employment. Many long-term illnesses and handicaps restrict the managing through a working day of normal length. Yet many persons belonging to these groups can work fully for a part of the normal working time. This is why a possibility should be ensured for them to work on the open labour market, as well.

Apart from working time arrangements, some persons with disabilities need a considerable degree of other special arrangements regarding other working conditions. Apart from those already mentioned, these include, e.g., work experiments, wages support systems and other forms of economic and mental support etc. By using these separately and in combinations, it is possible to secure the right to earn an income to as many persons with disabilities as possible.

In today's labour markets, there are various possibilities to increase its diversity and the freedom of choice. Therefore, they should be used in the employment of persons with disabilities, too, both as for existing solutions and the development of new ones. The disability may cause difficulties in some areas of work duties. Yet, it may be fully possible that a person can manage quite well in another area of the same work. Then he or she should have the opportunity to gain competence in that area. The opportunities should be improved for persons with disabilities to engage in distance working, freelance or contract work, also. Either home work or any other work outside the working community should in no circumstances become a factor isolating persons with disabilities from the society. Persons with disabilities should not be pressured against their will to working at home. They must be ensured the right to join a work community, if they want to.

According to the goal of employment into the open labour market, for persons with disabilities should be created more work opportunities, in which the same conditions of recruitment and pay are followed as with employees generally. When the disability causes a considerable reduction in income formation, this reduction should be compensated by the state. Thus, it would be possible to ensure for persons with disabilities a fair and equal treatment regarding pay policies.

Both the workers' organizations and employers should cooperate to realize these goals aiming at the employment of persons with disabilities. In their activities, they should pay attention to equitable recruitment, promotion policies and rates of pay. The workers' organizations and employers should also ensure equitable working conditions, measures to improve the work environment to prevent injuries and impairments. In addition, employers must initiate measures for the rehabilitation of employees who have sustained employment-related injuries.

The labour unions in particular have till now carried a rather small share of the burden of responsibility over those excluded from the working life. Because of this, their interest should be engaged in the improvement of the employment situation of persons with disabilities. The responsibility for the increasing of awareness falls onto the organizations of persons with disabilities. They should, when possible, start negotiations and consequent cooperation with the labour unions. The goal should then be that the rights and obligations of persons with disabilities are adapted into the system of collective bargaining agreements. According to the conditions set by this system, the parties are obligated to treat persons with disabilities equally with all others in all their polices regarding the rates of pay. The basis of remuneration should be the persons' professional skills, not their disability.

In addition, organizations of persons with disabilities should among themselves take more vigorous action to insure the equal treatment of those persons with disabilities seeking employment. The recruitment and personnel policies of organizations of persons with disabilities are in need of reform, if only because of the credibility of the disability issue and of the organizational activity itself. It is in the interest of the organizations of persons with disabilities to recruit persons with disabilities who have the required qualifications whenever there are such persons coming forward as applicants. Working in the field of organizations, disability is a strength complementing the professional skills.

Other measures ensuring the employment of persons with disabilities

In cases, where it is, for one reason or another, not possible for a person with disabilities to be employed directly in the open labour market, it is necessary to consider either supported employment or sheltered employment as alternatives. Supported employment or sheltered employment should not, however, become the only or the automatic solution. On the other hand, they should not be alternatives of the last resort, either. In as many cases as possible, the goal should be to provide vocational skills so that the person may move directly from supported employment or from sheltered employment via supported employment to the open labour market.

There will always be, however, a group of persons with disabilities for whose employment it is necessary that there exist permanent places of sheltered employment. Sheltered employment provides a possibility of employment for those persons in particular whose needs cannot be sufficiently met in the open labour market. Then, the only realistic alternative to employ these persons may be small units of sheltered or supported employment. The contents of sheltered employment and supported employment should be developed so that they would offer persons with disabilities a possibility to use their skills and training in more varied ways.

The separation of the present system of sheltered employment from the open labour market is both contrary to the principle of integration and labelling, too. Therefore, sheltered employment should be physically and functionally integrated into the normal working life. Further, its pay practices should be developed towards convergence with the normal ones. The present way of adjusting together the pensions and the income from sheltered employment is not one that encourages to work.

Though the primary objective of employment for persons with disabilities is to obtain a sufficient income, the employment means more than just income: it means social relationships, communication, doing work together and being together. From this perspective, for those persons with very severe disabilities who are excluded from the labour market, some kind of meaningful activity should be offered outside the home.

3. Income maintenance and social security

The UN recalls that the states should ensure the provision of adequate income support for persons with disabilities who, owing to disability or disability-related factors, have temporarily lost their income. The same applies to persons who have received a reduction in their income or who, owing to disability, have been denied employment opportunities. The states should ensure that the provision of support also takes into account the costs frequently incurred by persons with disabilities and their families because of disability. The costs of assistive devices and services necessary because of disability should not become a barrier to preclude some possibilities of action of persons with disabilities and their families.

The Finnish social security system is based mainly on the principles of universal service and benefits. The starting point of the constitutional reform was a system of universal (for every citizen) benefits and services. According to Section 15 a subsection two of the Constitution Act of Finland, it shall be ensured by an act that every citizen have the right to a secure income in time of unemployment, illness, incapacity, old age and the birth of a child or loss of guardian. Equally, in disability policy the basic principle must be that of universality.

The principle of universality also covers services (Constitution Act, section 15 a, subsection 3). The state shall ensure, as further enacted by an act, sufficient social and health care services to every citizen and shall promote the health of the population.

In Finland, basic income for those persons with disabilities excluded from the labour market is ensured by the pensions system. The incapacity pension, payable from the age of sixteen, cannot be considered an appropriate way in all cases. As it is now, the incapacity pension may turn into a mechanism whereby the young persons with severe disabilities as well as adults of employment age are excluded from working life and are thus deprived of an opportunity to make choices and influence their own future.

The Finnish system of income maintenance requires elements that would activate persons to seek employment or other activity. It is also necessary to redraw the line between social security and paid employment: there should be less friction in the transfer from social security into paid employment. This reform would also promote the change in thinking. Persons with disabilities experience the general conception of their employment capacity as a black and white picture: they are regarded as either fully capable for employment or fully incapacitated. In reality, people have very different capabilities that they can use in the labour market for the benefit of themselves and others.

4. Family life, the right to privacy and personal integrity

Persons with disabilities have the right to activities compatible with their age and the right to choose their own lifestyle. They have the right to become independent and to disengage themselves from their childhood home and to raise their own family. According to Finnish legislation, disabled persons have the right to conclude a marriage and raise a family freely and without restrictions. Only the general impediments to marriage which are applicable to all Finnish citizens do apply equally to disabled citizens, as well (Marriage Act 411/1987).

The European Convention of Human Rights requires that legislation shall not discriminate against persons with disabilities in questions of sexual relationships, marriage and parenthood or adoption. In addition, the states shall remove all unnecessary legislative or other obstacles to persons who want to foster or adopt a child or adult with disabilities.

Apart from the legislative solutions, Finland should promote measures to change negative attitudes still prevalent in our society towards marriage, sexuality or parenthood of persons with disabilities. This is especially necessary regarding girls and women with disabilities. The media should be encouraged to play a more active role in removing such negative attitudes.

In consequence of the negative attitudes of society and many other factors, persons with disabilities may experience getting married and setting up a family as unreasonably difficult. To support them, it should be ensured that appropriate counselling is available. Family counselling should also include a module regarding disability and its effects on parenthood and family life. Like others, persons with disabilities also need information on the sexual functioning of their bodies and equal access to family planning methods. All scientific methods for conception must also be equally available for the benefit of persons with disabilities.

Persons with disabilities and their families need to be fully informed about how to take precautions against sexual, financial and other forms of abuse. Persons with disabilities are especially vulnerable to abuse in the family, community or institutions. Thus, it is important to think about and provide information on how to avoid these occurrences. We must also find ways to recognize the occurrences of abuse and to report on such acts.

Abuse and violence within families are problems, whose prevention, detection and care under Finnish legislation is the responsibility of the municipal social authorities. The social authority is also responsible for the organization of relevant guidance, counselling, support services and directing persons towards these services. Services and information should be made available in forms accessible to different groups of persons with disabilities (such as sign language, braille etc.). The organizations of persons with disabilities play an important role in detecting cases of violence or abuse and in supporting family members with disabilities.

The rights of persons with disabilities to personal integrity should also be promoted in many other ways. In the reform of the Constitution Act, an amendment was made which expressly stipulates over the right to personal liberty and forbids any treatment inimical to human dignity (Section 6). Under the law, personal integrity and liberty shall be protected against both mental and physical violence.

We should pay particular attention to the situation of those persons with disabilities who live in institutions regarding their right to privacy or to both mental and physical integrity. In Finland, the County Administrative Boards and the Parliamentary Ombudsman have the right, when necessary, to receive submissions from the authorities under their control. The Parliamentary Ombudsman can also make inspection visits to institutions under his or her control. According to Chapter 6 of Social Welfare Act (710/1982), the County Administrative Boards and the municipal social welfare boards have the task to control private social welfare, as well. If any deficiencies or faults are found in the organization of services, the County Administrative Board shall issue directions and an order to correct the situation, and determine the period during which the necessary measures must be completed.

In Finland, there is an ongoing debate over the boundaries, possibilities, benefits and drawbacks of institutional and community care. To equalize the position of persons living in institutions in comparison with other citizens, institutional care should be regarded as one form of housing among others. Then it will be possible to attach similar kinds of services to institutional care than it is to other forms of housing. In 1992, the working group, which was to monitor the realization of the Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act, considered it important that no border be created between institutional care and other housing, no two worlds, one of general services and the other where persons' right to move, to communicate, to participate and to contact relatives and friends is dependent on institution funds and any developed practices that are unsupervised.

In this sector, too, we would need to find solutions to combine institutional care and accommodation with community services. They need not be mutually exclusive alternatives. Following individual solutions, they could form a mutually complementing package of services.

As a general comment, we may state that through community services the right to self-determination, to personal integrity and to a freedom of choice are best guaranteed for persons with disabilities. For persons with disabilities, being within institutional services may mean that decisively important factors to the realization of a meaningful life and personal integrity fall out of their reach. This is why it is important that the services of persons with disabilities, too, must be organized as community services as far as it is ever possible. To ensure the functioning of community care services all assistive devices and support services available must be taken into use and the use of assistant systems must be enhanced. Special attention must be paid to the availability and sufficiency of assistant services. Also, systems of respite-care and attendant-care should be made available for the families of persons with disabilities. Now, the levels of assistance available are not sufficient in quality or quantity to ensure neither freedom of choice for persons with disabilities and their families nor the independence or personal integrity of persons with disabilities.

5. Religion, culture and recreation

Religion

Man is a whole constructed out of physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions. The spiritual dimension includes both the religious and the ideological world view. These together build up the world view.

In this action plan on disability policies, it is necessary to pay attention to the persons' religious and spiritual needs. In delineating the actions, we must not forget either the persons belong to religious communities or those who abstain from these communities. Today. there are more persons than ever, including persons with disabilities, who have come into Finland from other countries and whose religious or ideological world view is different from the traditionally Finnish one. To meet their religious needs and problems, the state should cooperate with different churches, religious and ideological communities.

States should encourage, in consultation with religious authorities, measures to eliminate discrimination and to make religious activities accessible to persons with disabilities. The equal opportunities to participation should be ensured through a cooperation between the state, the churches, religious and ideological communities and organizations of persons with disabilities in a way that considers the needs of persons with disabilities within the normal activities of the community. Persons with disabilities should also have the right to abstain from religious activities, if they so wish.

The state should ensure the accessibility of religious and ideological literature to persons with sensory disabilities, in consultation with the churches and religious communities. The state should also support the distribution of information on disability matters to religious and ideological institutions and organizations. The state should encourage the authorities in question to include information on disability policies in the training of religious and other professionals as well as in their education programmes.

Arts and culture

The UN Standard Rules stipulate that states will ensure that persons with disabilities have the opportunity to use their creative, artistic and intellectual potential. This should be not only for their own benefit but also for the enrichment of their community, be they in urban or rural areas. Examples of such activities are dance, music, literature, theatre, plastic arts, painting, sculpture and architecture. For this to be possible, should the access of persons with disabilities to arts education be made easier through adapting the entrance examinations and through improving the attitudinal climate. Today, it is next to impossible for persons with disabilities to gain access to art studies due to the nature of entrance examinations.

Also, the position of disability arts should be recognized as an equal one with other art forms. It should receive similar kind of support as any other forms. The disability minorities should also be allowed to present their culture and arts to the public. The cooperation between the culture administration and organizations of persons with disabilities is necessary to integrate the minority culture of persons with disabilities into the mainstream of Finnish cultural life.

To ensure full participation, we should promote accessibility to places for cultural performances and services. These include theatres, museums, cinemas and libraries. Finland should also initiate the development and use of special technical arrangements to make culture and different art forms available to persons with disabilities in an accessible form.

Recreation and sports

The UN Standard Rules require that states should take measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunities for recreation and sports. To ensure opportunities for recreation, Finland should also improve the efforts to make places for recreation and sports, hotels, beaches, sport arenas, gym halls etc., accessible to persons with disabilities. Related to this is the obligation that tourist authorities, travel agencies, hotels, voluntary organizations and others involved in organizing recreational activities or travel opportunities take into account the special needs of persons with disabilities and develop their services to accommodate travellers with disabilities. General tourist guides should also mention the special services which support or make easier the tourism and recreation of persons with disabilities.

Finland should support the participation of persons with disabilities in both national and international events of sports and recreation. Also, the organizations of persons with disabilities, sports organizations and municipalities should improve their cooperation and enhance their coordination to integrate persons with disabilities in the mainstream of sports activities. The organizations of persons with disabilities should encourage other organizers of sports and recreation activities to consultation, when the question is the development of sports services for persons with disabilities. In this way, it should be encouraged that persons with disabilities participating in sports activities have access to instruction and training of the same quality as other participants.

In some cases, accessibility measures could be enough to open opportunities for participation to persons with disabilities. In other cases, special arrangements or special games would be needed. The appreciation of disability sports should be enhanced through the media, by influencing attitudes. The media should be informed of all sports events of persons with disabilities so that they would be increasingly willing to report on these events. To realize full accessibility, the staff of recreation and sports services should receive support and training in as many ways as possible. This could be the task of sports organizations, various institutions training sports personnel and of municipalities in consultation with the organizations of persons with disabilities. In addition, there should be various kinds of campaigns started on issues of participation, information and training; these should develop new methods to increase accessibility. The starting of these is the responsibility of the state.

On a more practical level, we should have more diversity into the activities of recreation and sports. Variants accommodating persons with disabilities should be developed out of traditional forms of sports. Further, municipalities should ensure the continuation of expertise by employing professionals who have information on alternative forms of sports and recreation services. Persons with disabilities should also be offered an opportunity to experience the outdoors and nature by providing nature trails and recreational areas conforming to the principle of accessibility. In practice, this would mean, e.g., an opportunity to move safely around with a wheelchair, a white cane, elbow or forearm supported crutches or other aids of personal mobility. Also, a sufficient number of benches need to be available for resting. Like any other solutions supporting the opportunities to full participation for persons with disabilities, these, too, should be constructed within the normal system, not as separate ones. Persons with disabilities do not need recreation areas or sports arenas of their own. Instead, they do need opportunities to participate in the common activities and support and encouragement to join in them.

IV Implementation measures

Finland has also adopted the UN Standard Rules and is thus morally committed to their implementation. This is the reason why we have divided the actions to be taken for the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities following and adapting the division of the UN Standard Rules as follows:

• 1. Policy-making and planning
• 2. Legislation
• 3. Economic policies
• 4. Information and research
• 5. International cooperation
• 6. Participation in the international monitoring and evaluation of the UN Standard Rules
• 7. National coordination and monitoring
• 8. The role of the organizations of persons with disabilities

1. Policy-making and planning

The UN Standard Rules state that the states should ensure that disability aspects are included in all relevant policy-making and national planning. For this, the states should initiate and plan adequate action programmes for persons with disabilities. The states should also stimulate and support action at regional and local levels. The needs and concerns of persons with disabilities should be incorporated into general development plans and programmes of national, regional and local level. They should not be treated separately. The question here is to increase sectoral responsibility.

The ultimate responsibility of the state for the equalization of the situation of persons with disabilities does not, therefore, relieve others of their responsibility. Anyone in charge of services, activities or the provision of information should be encouraged to accept responsibility for making such programmes, especially political ones, available to persons with disabilities. For this reason, the political awareness of disability issues should be raised in all levels of societal action. Without an increase in awareness among the various sectors and levels of administration and the resulting commitment to the issue, we would not be able to achieve the sought-for results.

Organizations of persons with disabilities should be received in all decision-making relating to plans and programmes concerning persons with disabilities or affecting their economic and social status. No planning or decisions should be made without hearing those concerned and considering their views. To ensure this, opportunities for negotiations and hearings should be organized. The National Council of the Disabled is with the organizations of persons with disabilities in a contact with the decision-making authorities. In practice, the hearings and negotiations could become cooperation with MPs. The discussions with the MPs should be included in the normal routine of the Parliament.

The opportunities of persons with disabilities to influence the political decision-making has been improved by, e.g., the introduction of the home vote. Home voting is possible in municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections (Act on the Elections of Members of Parliament 391/1969, Act on the Elections of the President of the Republic 1076/1991, Act on Municipal Elections 361/1972).

The new Municipalities Act (365/1995) governing the actions of municipalities entered into force 1.7.1995. One essential purpose of the act is to improve the possibilities of citizens to influence. The purpose is to create the prerequisites for direct citizen participation. Particularly important is to involve the users of municipal services and minority or opposition groups in municipal activity. The Act gives direct basis for the cooperation between municipalities and organizations; one form of direct participation and influence is the municipal council on disability. One task of the organizations of persons with disabilities is to encourage and train their members to join in municipal politics.

2. Legislation

According to the Constitution Act of Finland (969/95), citizens of Finland are equal before the law. Section 5 of the Constitution Act includes a general antidiscrimination clause in subparagraph two, which rules that without acceptable grounds, no one shall be placed in a different position because of, e.g., state of health and disability. Also the reform of the Finnish Penal Code (in 1995) includes a prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. The National Council on Disability proposes that a report be made on the needs to amend earlier legislation in the context of the equality of persons with disabilities.

The thinking SOCIETY TO ALL must be included in all legislation. The states have a responsibility to create the legal bases for measures to achieve the objectives of full participation and equality for persons with disabilities. This is the reason why national legislation, embodying the rights and obligations of citizens, should also include the rights and obligations of persons with disabilities. National legislation concerning persons with disabilities may appear in two different forms. The rights and obligations may be incorporated in general legislation or contained in special legislation. In order to achieve equalization of opportunities, it may be in some cases necessary to have special services and complementary services as well as subjective rights to ensure their availability. It is often necessary to legislate the realization of these rights in a special procedure. However, special legislation should only support/complement other legislation. It should never become the only practice.

Apart from promulgating legislation, the state is under an obligation to enable persons with disabilities to exercise their rights and obligations on an equal basis with other citizens. These include human, civil and political rights. In this, Finland should involve the cooperation of organizations of persons with disabilities and their families. The organizations should be able to participate in the development of national legislation concerning the rights and duties of persons with disabilities and in the ongoing evaluation of that legislation and its realization in practice.

3. Economic policies

The UN Standard Rules state that the states have the financial responsibility for national programmes and measures to create equal opportunities for persons with disabilities. This is why they should include disability matters in regular budgets of all national, regional and local government bodies. They should also consider the use of economic measures to stimulate and to support equal participation of persons with disabilities in society.

The UN lists as economic measures loans, tax exemptions, earmarked grants, special funds and so on. With special funds the states could support various pilot projects and self-help programmes with the aim of promoting independent living for persons with disabilities. The states, nongovernmental organizations and other interested bodies should interact to determine the most effective ways of supporting projects and measures relevant to persons with disabilities.

In Finland, municipalities enjoy an extensive political and economic autonomy. Municipalities are for all their residents, and persons with disabilities are members of their municipalities, too. Their status is influenced by both the general and the special legislation. Municipalities follow the legislation through their decisions on budgeting. The responsibility over the arrangement of social security and health care services lies with the municipalities. There may be differences in these activities between municipalities according to the local conditions and the needs of the population. Private services production complements the services.

It is the strategy of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to ensure availability of social security and health services in an equal and diverse way in all parts of the country. The purpose of graded services according to need is to maintain and promote the health and self-sufficiency of the citizens. Services that are qualitatively good will be organized with the resources available. The services charges should not become unreasonable, the necessary services must be available to the citizens regardless of their social or economic situation.

The cutting of welfare services poses a threat to the well-being of many marginalized groups. Particularly weakened are the living conditions for those who have meagre economic, functional and social resources at their disposal. The state and the municipalities must become aware of their responsibility towards small groups, such as persons with severe disabilities, in providing the necessary services. The relocation and privatization of services must not mean weakening their availability. The state and the municipalities should clarify their mutual division of responsibilities with the private sector for the appropriate and economic organization of services e.g., the traffic services. It is essential that the availability of more rarely necessary and expensive services be ensured in cases when these are necessary for the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. In Sweden, for instance, to ensure equality, the state assumes a great responsibility over the costs of making the personal assistant -system available for persons with severe disabilities.

The organizations of persons with disabilities have pointed out that the transfer of decision-making to the local level brings persons with disabilities who are residents in different municipalities into a position of inequality as service users. Resources are not always adequate or appropriately targeted. In addition, the increased introduction of markets-based models in the production of welfare services has brought new elements of insecurity. When organized in the new way, many services reveal themselves to be inappropriate to some client groups or the service charges rise too high. There are variations to the quantity, contents, quality and costs of services.

The National Council on Disability has repeatedly dealt with the concern that while we are transferring responsibility over income, social security, the acquisition and costs of health care and other services back to the individual citizens themselves, the opportunities of persons with disabilities to have the services which are vital for them, are put in considerable danger. The increasing number of service charges weakens the long-term consistency of the most important areas of human life, namely coping with everyday life, health care and the treatment of illnesses. Disability causes extra costs. The service charges accumulate to those persons who need the services the most. The burden of costs caused by disability should not be left for the person with disabilities to carry alone. One alternative would be to determine a maximum level of service charges.

In the determination of service charges, the starting point should be the principles of justice and the equalization of opportunities. According to them, persons with disabilities should not have to carry any more costs of everyday coping and of participation in social life than what similar activities cost for other persons.

4. Information and research

According to the UN Standard Rules, the states should assume the ultimate responsibility for the collection and dissemination of information on the living conditions of persons with disabilities and for the promotion of comprehensive research on all aspects that affect the life of persons with disabilities. They should take measures to disseminate the collected information to the different political and administration levels nationally, regionally and locally. While information collection and research are undertaken, the states should particularly encourage the recruitment of qualified persons with disabilities. This would require that study and work environments are accommodated to meet their needs.

Disability-related information should be collected from gender- specific statistics. This kind of data collection could be conducted in the context of national censuses and household surveys, in close collaboration, inter alia, with universities, research institutes and organizations of persons with disabilities. However, the normal data collection should include some questions on the living conditions of persons with disabilities. This is essentially important for the surveys over the opportunities of persons with disabilities. Although the municipalities no longer have an obligation to report to the state over their use of appropriations from the state, should the municipalities which still receive them be obligated to monitor the living conditions of persons with disabilities.

The states should consider establishing a data bank on disability, which would include statistics on available services and programmes as well as on the different groups of persons with disabilities. They should bear in mind the need to protect individual privacy and personal integrity.

The Finnish Committee of the UN Year of Disabled Persons 1981 has proposed the setting up of a Centre of disability-related studies, training and information within the framework of the National Council on Disability. This project has not yet been realized and this would require a further allocation of funds into the activities of the Council. In the future, the need for coordinating and monitoring the research on disability will be even greater; it should have sufficient resources both economic and human capital ones.

Though the coordination and the monitoring of information should be centralized, it is necessary that disability-related research is done in a decentralized way within the general research institutions. The different scientific branches, universities and research institutions should be involved in this research. A purely medical, technical or economic approach is not enough. Neither should the research have an outside perspective of targets or anomalies. What is needed now is rather environment and social research with a broader perspective onto the lives of persons with disabilities.

The research funding should come from ordinary sources, too. Then we can ensure the ties of disability-related research with other scientific activities. The Academy of Finland has a significant position in the funding of scientific research. It should ensure for universities and research institutions the possibilities to conduct high-quality research on disability. Based on the above, the state should initiate and support various research programmes on disability issues in different institutions. The research should be concentrated on the economic and other questions related to the participation of persons with disabilities and their families. The research should also include surveys over the causes, types and frequencies of disabilities; the availability and efficiency of existing programmes and the need of development and evaluation of services and support measures. To create uniform and comparable research practices and results, should the interested bodies create and approve the terminology and criteria used in national surveys and other research work. This must be done in cooperation with the organizations of persons with disabilities.

5. International cooperation

The UN Standard Rules require the states to participate actively in international cooperation concerning policies for the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. This includes e.g., the development of disability policy within the United Nations, the specialized agencies and other concerned intergovernmental organizations. In order to create the conditions for cooperation, it should be ensured that the United Nations and its specialized agencies include in their work the global and regional organizations of persons with disabilities. This requirement also covers all intergovernmental and interparliamentary bodies, at global and regional levels. The states are also encouraged to support the formation and strengthening of organizations of persons with disabilities.

In order to ensure frictionless cooperation between the different parties, Finland, too, should encourage and support the exchange of information among the following:

• Nongovernmental organizations concerned with disability issues;
• Research institutions and individual researchers involved in disability issues;
• Representatives of field programmes and of professional groups in the disability field;
• Organizations of persons with disabilities
• National coordinating committees.

The states, both industrialized and developing countries, have the responsibility to cooperate in and take measures for the improvement of the living conditions of persons with disabilities in developing countries. These measures should be integrated into all forms of cooperation: technical and economic, cultural and social etc. It must be a part of both bilateral and multilateral, governmental and nongovernmental cooperation. Priority areas for cooperation should include:

• The development of human resources through the development of skills, abilities and potentials of persons with disabilities and the initiation of employment-generating activities for and of persons with disabilities.
• The development and dissemination of appropriate disability- related technologies and know-how. Further, the states should take measures to improve the knowledge of disability issues among staff involved at all levels in the administration of technical and economic cooperation programmes.

The disability issue should be brought up in discussions on such cooperation between Finland and other states. The disability aspects should be introduced in general negotiations concerning new standards, information exchange, development programmes etc. The measures concerning the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities, including refugees with disabilities, should be integrated into general development programmes.

When planning and reviewing programmes of technical and economic cooperation, special attention should be given to the effects of such programmes on the situation of persons with disabilities. It is of utmost importance that persons with disabilities and their organizations are consulted on any development projects designed for persons with disabilities. They should be directly involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of such projects.

Also the Department of Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should change its line of international policies insofar as it concerns persons with disabilities. Common lines based upon the UN Standard Rules should be found for the activities. In addition, the Finnish Slot Machines Association should review its position concerning international cooperation. The international activities of national organizations of persons with disabilities have been increasing and will continue to do so. Also, Finnish organizations will more often act as hosts for international activities. Financial resources for this activity should be available; the Finnish Slot Machines Association could direct funds to the organizations for this purpose.

6. Participation in the international monitoring and evaluation of the UN Standard Rules

The realization and monitoring of the UN Standard Rules require the following measures:

• Information about the Standard Rules for the administration and the field
• Clarifying the living conditions of persons with disabilities in relation to the Standard Rules
• Choice of strategies and measures:
  • the strengthening of the organizations of persons with disabilities
  • the creation of a legal basis for the realization of the Standard Rules
  • the maintenance and strengthening of councils on disability
  • the preparation of national action programmes through open debate
• to take action in the sectors (education, working life, legislation etc.) from the perspective of the needs of persons with disabilities.

7. National coordination and monitoring

States are responsible for the establishment and strengthening of national coordinating committees, or similar bodies. They should be permanent and based on legal as well as appropriate administrative regulation. They should be provided with sufficient autonomy and resources to fulfill their responsibilities in relation to its decision-making capabilities. It should report directly on its activities and results to the highest governmental level.

In order to make the committees functioning and diverse in their composition, they should be drawn from the combination of representatives of private and public organizations. The members should be drawn from the various ministries, nongovernmental organizations and organizations of persons with disabilities. However, the organizations of persons with disabilities should have considerable influence in the committees in order to ensure proper feedback in disability issues.

In addition to ensuring coordination, the states are responsible for the continuous monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of national programmes and services concerning the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. The evaluation of various programmes in the disability field should be built in the planning stage. This would have the result that the overall efficiency in fulfilling the policy objectives could be evaluated.

The states should periodically and systematically evaluate national disability programmes and disseminate both the bases and the results of the evaluations. They should also develop and adopt terminology and criteria for the evaluation of disability-related programmes and services. Such criteria and terminology should be developed in close cooperation with organizations of persons with disabilities. This should begin from the earliest conceptual and planning stages. The states should also participate in international cooperation in order to develop common standards for national evaluation in the disability field. The national coordinating committees should be particularly encouraged to participate also. In Finland, the coordination and monitoring of disability issues is largely the responsibility of the National Council on Disability (in Finnish VANE). Different administrative bodies and organizations of persons with disabilities are represented in this Council. However, the resources still remain insufficient for any comprehensive coordination and monitoring. Apart from only encouragement, the council should be awarded more support in terms of financial and personnel resources so that it could meet the expectations.

What is the role of the National Council on Disability in the field of sectoral responsibilities? At present, the Council belongs under the purview of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. For the Council to be better able to answer the expectations and challenges facing it, it should be transferred directly under the Prime Minister's Office. This was the original plan already at the time of the formation of the Council. This would also make its cooperation easier in the direction of the various ministries and other administrative bodies.

8. The role of organizations of persons with disabilities

Finland should encourage and support economically the formation and strengthening of organizations of persons with disabilities, family members and/or advocates. Finland should also recognize the right of organizations of persons with disabilities to represent persons with disabilities at national, regional and local levels. The position of local organizations of persons with disabilities should be developed and strengthened so that they can exert their influence on a community level. The position and resources of municipal councils on disability should also be improved.

The state should recognize the advisory role of organizations of persons with disabilities in decision-making on disability matters and in the development of disability policy. To ensure this, the state should establish ongoing communication with organizations of persons with disabilities and ensure their participation in the development of government policies. The role of organizations of persons with disabilities as equal partners in negotiation with the administration should be acknowledged. The state also has the obligation to provide the organizations with information on legislative changes and other matters related to persons with disabilities already when these are still in the preparatory stage.

In order to the organizations of persons with disabilities to play their role as a serious force in the society, they must find stronger ways of cooperation and mutual solidarity. Both on national and regional level, the cooperation bodies between organizations of persons with disabilities can significantly increase their influence and improve the dissemination of information on disability-related information.

Advisory work is one of the most essential tasks of organizations of persons with disabilities. They should enact this role in many different ways. They should seek permanent representation on boards of government-funded agencies, serve on public commissions etc. and providing expert opinions on different projects. The expertise based on experience that the organizations can offer must be brought alongside professional knowledge. The advisory role should be ongoing in order to develop and deepen the exchange of views and information between the state, the municipalities and the organizations of persons with disabilities. Through this role, the organizations of persons with disabilities could bring forward the needs of persons with disabilities and issues important to them. Similarly, they could participate in the planning, implementation and evaluation of services and measures concerning the lives of persons with disabilities. Then they could also contribute to public awareness and advocate change.

Apart from influencing society, the organizations of persons with disabilities should also promote opportunities for the development of skills at the level of the individual person with disabilities. They should encourage persons with disabilities to provide mutual support and should improve information sharing as a way to increase self-sufficiency.

The Standard Rules put the organizations of persons with disabilities facing many other challenges, as well:

• the organizations should find the "common ground" related to disability and develop their cooperation and joint advocacy work from this basis. This would make persons with disabilities into a group to be reckoned politically.
• the organizations should focus their attention in the field: to encourage and train persons with disabilities to advocacy work in their own community.
• the organizations should promote the development of peer counseling and independent living.
• the organizations should recruit persons with disabilities to their own activities and place them in positions of representing the organizations externally.

The organizations of persons with disabilities should join their resources to reach the goal of equality and the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. This can be done in the following ways by adapting nationally the UN Standard Rules:

• The organizations should seek information about the UN Standard Rules.
• They should find out which government body has the central role in the realization of the Standard Rules.
• The organizations should be in communication with this body.
• The organizations should collect information.
• The organizations should also disseminate information.
• In disseminating information, all possible media channels should be used.
• The organizations must know what they are talking about.
• It is also important to coordinate the work with other organizations.
• The organizations should cooperate at all levels.
• The organizations should keep the UN Special Rapporteur informed about the situation in Finland.

Recommendations on the basis of the action programme

Finland should adopt the United Nations Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

The reform of the Constitution Act of Finland, which entered into force in August 1995, prohibits discrimination on the basis of health or disability. Other earlier legislation should be amended so that it correspond to this reform.

Disability-related matters should be included in all general planning, political decision-making and the implementation of activities. Persons with disabilities should be included as full members of society in the decision-making concerning matters related to them.

The society should remove all obstacles, be they physical, functional, social, attitudinal or communication-related. All public and private services should be accessible to persons with disabilities.

Rehabilitation services should be available to all persons with disabilities regardless of the nature of the disability or the place of residence. We should move from a rehabilitation system centered on the financing party towards a system centered on the needs of the subject/client of rehabilitation.

Without regard to their place of residence, persons with disabilities should have equal rights to the services and assistance under the Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act, including interpretation, personal assistance and technical aids.

The costs incurred by disability should not remain the burden of persons with disabilities. For example, the indispensable personal assistants and interpreters need to be able to accompany persons with disabilities in traffic and in places of recreation free of charge.

Persons with disabilities and their families should be ensured their right to privacy, personal integrity and independence. Persons with disabilities should be supported in their realization of their sexuality, parenthood and the raising of a family.

In the education of persons with disabilities, the principle of integration should permeate into all levels of education and all ages. Disability should not be an obstacle to admittance into institutions.

The right of persons with disabilities to use their creative, intellectual and artistic potential should be ensured. In addition to the removal of obstacles to participating in the general culture activities, the art of persons with disabilities should also receive support.

In employment, the goal should be to integrate persons with disabilities into the open labour market. The work environment and tasks should be accommodated to meet the capabilities and needs of persons with disabilities. The organizations of persons with disabilities should act as role models in this respect.

The system of income support should be developed in a way which encourages persons with disabilities to participate in the working life.

The activities of organizations of persons with disabilities should be developed starting from the needs of persons with disabilities themselves.

ISBN 952-00-0154-9 ISSN 1236-2050