
Statistics and fates
In Germany "8.6 million people are officially recognised as being disabled. This means that one in every ten people is disabled," according to information from the German Federal Statistical Office. Behind all the figures there is a multitude of individual fates – moving cases like that of Manfred Beslé, "I was in hospital all the time and couldn't walk until I was seven. My brothers and sisters taught me." In Germany there are more and more people like Manfred. Over the last five years the number has grown by over half a million.According to statistics three per cent of all children are born with a disability. Two out of every hundred suffer some sort of impairment during pregnancy or at birth. Most of the disabilities however develop in the course of people's lives due to illness or accidents, resulting in 74 per cent of disabled people being over 55 years of age. Most of them, about 6.7 million, are severely disabled; 1.9 million are classed as slightly disabled. But what does this word "disabled" mean? The German Social Security Code (9) defines disability like this, "People are disabled if their physical functions, intellectual skills or mental health are likely to deviate more than just temporarily and hence their participation in the life of the community is adversely affected." By virtue of this definition disabled people have become outsiders and refuse to accept this – they see disability as "Any measure, structure or behavioural pattern that curtails, restricts or hampers the lifestyle of people with an impairment," as stated by a special forum set up by disabled lawyers.
Life beyond the norm

And on a private level? Half of all disabled people between the ages of 25 and 44 are unmarried and live at home with their families. Others live in homes run by the social services and only a very small number indeed live alone. Almost all of them are in fact in need of care and help – from their relatives as well as from the state. For the year 2006 the state spent 10.5 billion euros on integrating disabled people, 64 per cent more than ten years before. With a share of 58 per cent of the total net expenditure on social security this integration support for the disabled is by far the most significant form of aid provided by the social security system in Germany.
Dismantling barriers

On 30th March 2007 Germany signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is now bound to instigate the ratification process, i.e. to obtain the approval of the Bundestag (German Parliament) and the Bundesrat (Upper House). One year later various lobbies are still fighting over it "for the aim of this social development process has to be to enable and support disabled people to participate more in the life of the country, as this is the key to being included in society – all members of society co-existing as a matter of course," explains Michael Conty from the Bundesverband evangelische Behindertenhilfe (Federal Evangelical Association for the Disabled). This matter-of-course approach has been given a huge boost by the new, unlimited legal right to, what is called, the personal budget. Since January 2008, instead of the usual non-cash benefits, disabled people have been able to draw money or vouchers to finance the care and help they require and to combine it in a way that is really in line with their needs. Everybody is entitled to do this – and, because of this, many now even see a better hope of being treated more equally by society.
More open and more respectful interaction

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