CHAPTER 10 PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES “Problems of people with disabilities are multiple, interrelated and intersected. Disability rights are indivisible and interdependent. They need holistic and integrated interventions, and not ad hoc, reactionary and piecemeal.” – National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH) There are an estimated 1.4 million persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Zimbabwe,41 although there are no real reliable statistics to verify this. It is hard to make an accurate estimate regarding how many disabled people are in Zimbabwe, but available figures estimated this to be at about 7% of the total population. Other than absence of statistical studies, it is conceptually difficult to come up with an accurate figure given that there is no universally agreed definition of “disability”, and even the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) does not define disability. Under the Constitution recognition of the rights of persons with disabilities is made under section 3(2)(i). Section 22 requires the State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level to recognise the rights of persons with physical or mental disabilities, their right to be treated with respect and dignity. There is a progressive duty on the State to assist persons with physical or mental disabilities to achieve their full potential and to minimise the disadvantages suffered by them. Section 83 provides that the state must take appropriate measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to ensure the full realisation of rights by people with disabilities. On the downside, section 83 of the Constitution reinforces the subjection of all disability rights to the availability of state resources. To its credit, Zimbabwe was one of the first countries in the world to enact disability discrimination legislation.42 However, the existing legal framework in Zimbabwe is inadequate to cater for all the needs of people with disabilities, and legal loopholes allow for duty bearers to abdicate some of their duties. Laws that address disability in Zimbabwe, with the exception of the Constitution, predate the UNCRPD and are based on an outdated medical model of disability, which treats people with disabilities as sick people in need of medical treatment and charity.43 The UNCRPD places at the core the social model of disability, which maintains that disability arises from the attitudinal, physical and institutional barriers that systematically exclude disabled people from fully participating in society. Therefore, rather than focusing on the physical and/or psychological limitations of individuals, the emphasis of the analysis focuses upon empowerment, social inclusion, choice and human rights. It is hard to make an accurate estimate regarding how many disabled people are in Zimbabwe, but available figures estimated this to be at about 7% of the total population. 41. T Choruma “The forgotten tribe: Persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe” (2007) a t http://www.africacampaign.info/uploads/media/forgottribeprogressiozim_01.pdf 42. “Being a Zimbabwean Woman with a Disability” Her Zimbabwe. 9 June 2015 at http://herzimbabwe.co.zw/2015/06/being-azimbabwean-woman-with-a-disability/ and “Spare a thought for the disabled” The Herald, 16 June 2013 at http://www.herald.co.zw/spare-a-thought-for-the disabled/ 43. The social model is explained further below. 45 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018