Know the disability. Istat and Eurostat reports
World Disability Day, December 3rd
2 December 2019
Spinal injuries, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. State of the art of research on treatments
5 December 2019
Lo International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), December 3, (1) provides an opportunity for 'Know the disability'. With some data, at least. Those offered by Istat, in the report of the same name. And those of Eurostat, on disabled people and poverty. The numbers of shame, to follow.
'Know the disability', the Istat report
3,1 million individuals in Italy - equal to 5,2% of the population - suffer serious limitations in daily life, due to health problems. People with disabilities, in fact. In one of its many and unique expressions. With relative prevalence in the over-seventy-five-year-old age group (almost 1 million disabled people, of which 990 women).
'In the areas of life analyzed still emerge significant disadvantages of people with disabilities compared to the rest of the population (…). For example, the welfare policies, implemented largely through monetary transfers, (…) have not solved the problem of material deprivation from which people with disabilities suffer. (...)
Employment levels are still far below the national average and workers with disabilities are often relegated to secondary jobs' (Istat, report 'Know the disability'. See note 2).
Discrimination photographed in October in Eurobarometer report therefore finds relevance. The cultural barrier against the disabled - steeped in ignorance and pietism - is a real fact and has a decisive impact on their participation in social life.
Social inclusion in Italy, the great absent
Social inclusion in Italy it is rarefied and fragmented. There are serious imbalances in the management of services provided to the disabled and their families, which vary atrociously from one Region and one Municipality to another. What has been mentioned with regard to the personal mobility it is even more valid for individual assistance, which is crucial for the severely disabled and yet very scarce.
'Families in our country they continue to play a crucial role around which the institutions have built a network of complementary interventions of a social and welfare nature. In perspective, however, the rarefaction of family networks and the progressive aging of the population risk undermining the sustainability of this welfare model '. (3)
Material deprivation and isolation
Material deprivation it affects almost 1 in 3 families with one or more disabled members (28,7%), compared to 18% of the national average.
'67% of families in which at least one person with disabilities lives cannot afford a week's vacation a year away from home, 53,7% are unable to face an unexpected expense of 800 euros, more than one fifth cannot heat the room sufficiently home or eat an adequate meal at least once every two days' (Istat report).
Isolation it concerns instead 'over 600 thousand people with severe limitations ', who' live in a situation of great, without any network they can rely on in case of need. Of these, 204 live completely alone'.
Eurostat, people with disabilities and poverty
28,7% of people with disabilities aged 16 and over - at European level - are at risk of poverty or social exclusion (19,2% non-disabled). And a further 68,1% would be at risk of poverty if they did not benefit from social benefits, allowances or pensions. (4)
The AROPE index (At Risk of Poverty or social Exclusion) includes three indicators:
- material deprivation, 9,4% of the disabled (D) vs. 5% of non-disabled (NA),
- risk of poverty, 20,9% D vs. 15% ND,
- low labor intensity, 22,5% families with disabilities vs. 7,1% of those without.
Europe, the classification of discrimination
The severe material deprivation of the disabled, according to Eurostat, is prevalent in Eastern European countries. With peak in Bulgaria (35,9%). On the other side of the ranking are Sweden - which still maintains an appreciable level of welfare (3,8%) - and tiny Luxembourg (2,1%).
Discrimination expressed by the risk of poverty or social exclusion of Ds compared to NDs, it is also marked in Bulgaria (49,4% vs 29,9%), Latvia (43,6% vs 21,2%) and Lithuania (43% vs. 22,5%). Even the Germany of Wolfgang Schäuble - a long-time politician, now president of the Bundestag (Federal Parliament), a paraplegic since 1990 following an attempted murder - records a gap significant.
In Germany in fact, 31,2% of people with disabilities are at risk of poverty or social exclusion (vs. 16,1% of the ND). The situation is equally dramatic in Belgium (30,5% vs. 15,3%). A little better in Denmark (23,5% vs. 15,6%), Spain (31,1% vs. 24,1%), France (21% vs. 14,3%).
Italy, politics below zero
The first government under the leadership of Giuseppe Conte he had a League minister, without portfolio, with responsibility for family and disability. It is not worth remembering his name as he did absolutely nothing, not even to mitigate one of the many areas of hardship suffered by the disabled and their families in Italy.
Giuseppe Conte - in celebrating the world day of disability - announced the opening of apermanent office for people with disabilities'. At Palazzo Chigi, from 1.1.20. The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella has instead invoked the 'Barbie' with the face of Bebe Vio (also cited by the Minister of Sports and Youth Policies Vincenzo Spadafora). To invite 'all our fellow citizens with disabilities, without disabilities or with no apparent disability'to practice sports.
Well they would do, the leaders of politics in Italy, to read the report just released by Istat. Maybe even to get out of their buildings and meet the last of the last. Since this is the condition in which people with disabilities live in Italy today, who - apart from the few cases of formidable Paralympics - often cannot even leave their homes due to omnipresent architectural barriers. Nor go to school, with 2/3 of the institutions inaccessible.
No one left behind? Shame!
Dario Dongo and Sabrina Bergamini
Note
(1) International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), December 3
(2) ISTAT (2019). Know the disability
(3) The precariousness in which i find themselves should also be highlighted caregiver family members, without any protection in Italy. V. https://www.egalite.org/italia-madri-e-caregiver-senza-tutela/
(4) Eurostat (2019). Disability statistics - poverty and income inequalities.
On poverty and inequalities, see also the previous articles https://www.egalite.org/poverta-1-su-5-a-rischio-in-europa-1-su-4-in-italia-il-rapporto-eurostat/, https://www.egalite.org/poverta-ed-esclusione-sociale/
(5) International Day of Disability. Mattarella: 'Realization and opportunities must be guaranteed. Think of Bebe Vio's Barbie'. La Repubblica, March 3.12.19, XNUMX,
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
