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Independent Living Seminar

Report on the 3rd National Seminar on Independent Living, Social Impact and Local Participation
26-30 January 2004, Bangkok and Pattaya

APCD organized a one-day seminar of Independent Living (IL) at the Prince Palace Hotel in Bangkok on 26 February 2004 in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Redemptorist Vocational School for the Disabled (RVSD). It was an introduction to the IL concept for concerned individuals wishing to learn more about the project and demonstrate what has been accomplished by the project in the past two years. Mr. Apai Chantanachulaka, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, who gave the inaugural speech showed much interest in the Thai IL project. Approximately 300 persons participated, such as governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, students, and the mass media. The one day seminar was followed by four days training at the RVSD in Pattaya.

The morning sessions introduced IL and the implementations by the 3 pilot projects in the past 2 years; Chonburi Association of PWDs from Chonburi, Nonthaburi Society of PWDs from Nonthaburi, and Nakorn pratom Club for the Disabled from Nakorn pratom. Afternoon sessions were open floor sessions for group discussion covering the following three topics.

1. How does the IL concept of PWDs affect the services of other private and public sectors provided for PWDs?
2. How does the role of organizations at the grass-roots level support the IL of PWDs?
3. How does the attitude of society affect PWDs?

Some Participants' Voices

"It's very difficult to define the origin of the IL movement, which sprang from two main sources: the efforts of disabled persons to seek a more fulfilling life in an able-bodied world and of reaching integrated rehabilitation for persons with severe disabilities. IL has focused on the following points:

• PWDs are not persons living in institutions but are persons living in their communities.
• PWDs are not patients or children who need to be taken care of and protected by their parents.
• PWDs can control their lives, express their needs and manage by themselves.
• PWDs are not suffering from their disabilities but rather from social prejudices.
• PWDs should not be shy or embarrassed to ask for help regarding their necessary needs.
• The most important factor for PWDs to live independently is to make their own decisions regarding their needs."

Interviews

APCD interviewed two resource persons for the seminars, Mr. Shoji Nakanishi and Ms. Kyoko Kawamoto.

Q1     What is your opinion about the theme of this year's Independent Living?

A

Mr. Nakanishi: This is the last year of the 3 year training program. I am so happy that we met the goals of the previous 2 years and are now moving into training for the establishment of an independent living center as an outcome of the past two years' training in which we emphasized peer counseling. I thought it would be too early for IL center management training but from what I have seen there should be no difficulty to achieve the goal. That is one reason why I decided on the theme for this year's training. Initially, the training appeared difficult for the participants to understand but after giving more practical examples, participants easily understood.

Ms. Kawamoto: Contents of the 3rd year training program covered the:

1. concept of an IL center as an advocator and implementer
2. role and responsibility of the human resource development officer in an IL center
3. training of disabled and non-disabled workers and
4. system of day-care services in the organization.

I think that the contents were carefully developed and covered all matters necessary to run an independent living center.

Q2     What are your expectations from the outcome of this training course?

A

Mr. Nakanishi: IL projects have already been operating for two years in the three provinces. Participants submitted a program for next year at the end of the training and the contents were almost the same. Provincial governments have decided to support these programs by providing funds for 50% of the expenditures. That is great progress to have public funds utilized for this IL program. Next, it will be important to establish a system for personal assistants. Today, many countries in Asia are competing to establish an IL center. For that reason, I hope more Asian resource persons can participate in the training from next year onwards.

Ms. Kawamoto: I think participants of this training are able to establish an IL center for PWDs. I strongly believe that more IL centers will be established in addition to the 3 pilot projects. More PWDs will become aware of the importance of IL. They will then be able to support other countries as well.