International leaders from governments, healthcare bodies, NGOs,
sports and businesses yesterday issued a global call to improve the
treatment of and attitude to people with intellectual
disabilities.
The pledge was made at a one-day global policy summit on the
well-being of the intellectually disabled on the sidelines of the
2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
China will take the opportunity of the Special Olympics to
further improve the welfare of the disadvantaged and take more
effective measures to assist them, Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu told the summit yesterday.
The Chinese government considers opportunity creation for people
with intellectual disabilities integral to building a harmonious
society across a broad spectrum, Hui said.
China has improved relevant laws and regulations to better
protect the interests of the disabled in the areas of medical care,
education, employment, poverty relief and sports, he said.
The summit brought together a great collection of participants
from more than 60 countries in an effort to educate, inform and act
on critical issues facing individuals with intellectual
disabilities.
Timothy Shiver, chairman of the Special Olympics, said the
summit would underscore the importance of sport as a means to
promote physical health and social inclusion.
"Through sport, Special Olympics lays a foundation for
community-based development and advancement and the commitment made
by leaders from all sectors will help further the opportunities and
rights of people with intellectual disabilities," he said.
Using the powerful platform of sport, the global policy summit
incorporated more than 30 scientific presentations about people
with intellectual disabilities from around the world and especially
offered an in-depth analysis of the progress that China had made
and its plans to strengthen outreach to this vulnerable population
as a world Games legacy.
"The Global Policy Summit is one of China's greatest legacies to
the Special Olympics," said Wang Zhijun, chairman of Special
Olympics China.
"We are honored to showcase 25 years of impact and development
of essential resources serving China's intellectually disabled
community in front of an unprecedented gathering of peers and
influential global leaders," he said.
China is now the fastest growing program in the global Special
Olympics family with athlete numbers reaching 500,000 by the end of
2005, 10 times the figure in 2000. This follows the country's
ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities last year.
The summit yesterday also announced the establishment of a
partnership between Special Olympics and UNICEF in a bid to advance
the rights of children with intellectual disabilities.
Working together, the two organizations will advocate improved
health care, education, recreational sports and employment policies
that will benefit children with intellectual disabilities.
"This new partnership will help make the point that children
with disabilities have the same rights as all other children," said
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.
"They are entitled to adequate health care and quality
education, and to live in an environment that protects them from
abuse, exploitation and disease."
She said that sport plays a critical role in the health and
wellbeing of children with disabilities, explaining it helps boost
self-esteem and physical and psychological rehabilitation.
Timothy Shiver, chairman of the Special Olympics, said the
collaborative effort was in keeping with the goals of the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to
dilute stigma and promote inclusion in developing countries.
The UNICEF-Special Olympics partnership will initially focus on
eight pilot countries including China, Bulgaria, Cambodia and
Uzbekistan.
(China Daily October 4, 2007)
