Miscellaneous

Disability Promotion, Community Awareness, Media Reporting, Fund Raising, Marketing & Communication strategies Policy Statement

1. Introduction

1.1 Disabled Peoplesโ€™ International (DPI) is a human rights organization and the peak international cross disability organization of people with disability.

1.2 This Policy Statement reflects our concern that fundraising, community education, awareness campaigns, media reporting, health campaigns, marketing & communications strategies around the world, have not always depicted people with disability in a manner that is positive, dignified and respectful. Too often, these practices have focused on the negative impact in peopleโ€™s lives, rather than the restrictive environmental and social barriers people face.

1.3 We require all agencies, organizations, media and governments to uphold the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to overcome discrimination and negative cultural and ethnic beliefs and practices, and educate the community by providing information and depicting people with disabilities in a manner which promotes positive images by focusing on opportunity, independence, empowerment, achievement and respecting human rights.

1.4 We affirm that as mandated in the CRPD, all people with disabilities have the same rights as others to be regarded with utmost respect and treated with dignity.

2. Principles

2.1 People with disabilities are individuals who have the same rights as other people and who may have specific needs as a result of their disability and who may not have the resources to meet their own needs. Governments at all levels, National, State and Local must ensure the allocation of resources to address the specific needs of people with disabilities regardless of age, race, sexuality or religion.

2.2 The human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people with disabilities are sacred and must not be compromised in any way in fundraising, media reporting, marketing or community education projects. These rights include:

  1. the right to community understanding and acceptance of their individual situation and differences as part of human diversity. The United Nations, governments and non-governmental organizations, including disability, academic, scientific and medical organizations, must use the human rights model of disability, abandoning all concepts of the medical or charity models.
  2. the right to be recognized and valued as equal members of the community,
  3. the right to have their contributions to society recognized and valued, and
  4. the right of informed consent regarding involvement in any fundraising, marketing or community education project.

3. Policy Actions

3.1 These principles should govern the practices of any organization reporting news, raising awareness, providing services or raising funds for people with disability around the world. As the peak cross disability international organization of people with disability, DPI calls upon organisations, agencies, media and governments, to ensure that news reporting, fundraising or community education undertaken about people with disability accords with the above principles.

3.2 We call upon individuals, employees, staff, organisations, agencies and media to:

a. monitor the news reporting, awareness campaigns, fundraising practices and policies of agencies, organisations, governments and media and if they break these principles to publicly speak out against these practices.

3.3 We call upon agencies, organisations, governments and media to:

  1. ensure that their media reporting, awareness campaigns and/or fundraising practices honor the principles set out in this statement and the CRPD.
  2. ensure that all practices are age appropriate to the people with disability directly affected. Where an agency or organization provides services to, or represents a wide age range their general portrayal of people with disability must be balanced to reflect positive images of all those people with disability (i.e. images of children should only be used to the percentage they are provided services and not be used to represent adults).
  3. ensure photographic exhibitions do not dwell on tragedy and are balanced with positive images of how people with disabilities are contributing to their communities.
  4. ensure people with disabilities are involved in every aspect of these activities as equal partners.
  5. ensure only people with disabilities be used to portray people with disabilities in these events.
  6. enable and resource consumer reference groups that will monitor the development and implementation of fundraising, community awareness, media campaigns by agencies and government according to this policy.
  7. ensure that "competition" between agencies to secure what they see as an appropriate "slice of the cake" is not detrimental to those whose needs are to be served, or to other agencies working in similar or related areas.
  8. prepare and present all fundraising, promotional or educational material in such a way that it reinforces full human rights and promotes the basic truth that "people with disability regardless of cultural background are individuals with the same right to dignity, respect and opportunity as all other members of society".
  9. ensure all fundraising, promotional, educational and media material reinforces the immense cultural and linguistic diversity of people with disability around the world.
  10. implement an accessible, informed consent strategy that enables individuals, families or groups to make an informed decision about their involvement in each specific project.
  11. recognize and address the need to break down the myths, misconceptions and negative images regarding people with disability held by the community.
  12. ensure strategies are in place for people using minority languages to reflect positive images of people with disability.
  13. accept the challenge to enhance community perceptions of people with disability and their contribution to society.
  14. avoid negative, pitiful and patronizing wording, etc.
  15. ensure consultations and prior consent are made with the peak disability body via DPI and our National Assemblies regarding correct description of the disability.
  16. provide appropriate and accessible format of promotional or educational materials relating to persons with disabilities.
  17. Ensure the issues raised in this policy paper are part of the curricula of schools teaching marketing and advertising.

Source: http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/details.php?page=991

By:
When: 7/2/2014

Last modified: Friday, 07 February 2014 06:02:58 Valid XHTML 1.1