+Capability Model of Disability Policy: Assessing Equity in the Emirate of Dubai

Victor Santiago Pineda, PhDChancellor’s Postdoctoral Research FellowDepartment of City and Regional PlanningUniversity of California, Berkeley

2+Outline

1. Motivation

2. Research Question

3. Relevance

4. Attitudes Study

5. Contributions

6. Research Direction

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3+Environmental Determinants of Disability

D = f(FL)x f(E)

DFL

= disability= functional limitation

E = environment

4+Motivation: lands far far away...

Boldly go where few western chair have gone before

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5+Motivation

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Dubai is one of the most dynamic and least understood cities…

Dubai 1990 Dubai 2003

Incubator for tremendous experiments

6+Context

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Map of Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf

7+Context

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Issues of Justice: Labor, Gender, Orientation, Environmental

+

Claims

“Law removes barriers for people with special needs”- Gulf News 2006

“future for the disabled is here” - Dubai WTC, 2005

9+Research QuestionHow successful has the UAE and particularly the local government of the Emirate of Dubai been in implementing Federal Law No. 29 of 2006?

10+Relevance to Equity

Who’s Law Is It Anyway?

How do cultural constructs of disability or

social attitudes towards people with

disabilities inhibit the implementation of this

law?

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Physical, Social, Cultural Dimensions

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+ Relevance: Planning for Diverse Communities

Developed Assessment Tools

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What ends?

What means?

What outcomes?assets

resources

knowledge

capacities

skillsmoney

tools

InternationalNorms

LocalImplementation

Local Conventions

?

?

??

?

?

??

?

12+Questions demand an integrative comparative analysis

Executive and Budgetary Support

Legislative Measure

Attitudes Towards Target Group

Participation of Target Groups

Administrative & Coordinating

Capacity

Evaluative Criteria

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13+Attitudes and Bias

Impact of Attitudes on Equity Innate Attraction

Acceptance, “+ ” valence, cultural match Innate Aversion

Rejection, “-” valence, cultural conflict

The Role of Salience in Implementing International Norms “Scholars repeatedly conclude that domestic salience is

crucial to many cases of states' compliance with international norms, but they rarely provide definitions or operational measures for the concept and, instead, merely assert that the norm in question was salient.” (Cortel and Davis, 2000, p. 67)

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14+Salience Analysis and Interpretations “When a cultural match exists, domestic actors are likely

to treat the international norm as a given, instinctively

recognizing the obligations associated with the norm…

When the international norm conflicts with

understandings, beliefs, or obligations established in the

domestic sphere, domestic actors may then find appeals

to the international norm to be ineffective in garnering

support for a particular policy.” (Cortel and Davis, 2000)

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+

Assessing Salience

Studying Attitudes

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+Established Survey Instrument

Example Questions:

8. Disabled people are in many ways like children.

N=630

23 Questions

Piloted in Arabic and English

Demographics

Indicators Measure Attitudes Cross-Sectors

(-3) Strongly Disagree

(-2) Disagree

(-1) Slightly Disagree

( 1) Slightly Agree

( 2) Agree

( 3) Strongly Agree

Instrument: Antonak (1982, 1998)

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International Norm on Education

Cronbach’s Alpha = .71

Coding Constructs

Employment11. Most disabled people are willing to work.  16. The opportunity for gainful employment should be provided to disabled people.

20. Equal employment opportunities should be available to disabled individuals.  21. Laws to prevent employers from discriminating against disabled people should be passed.

22. Disabled workers should receive at least the minimum wage established for their jobs.

23. Disabled individuals can be expected to fit into competitive society.

18+Attitudes towards Persons with Disabilities in the Emirate of Dubai

19+ Findings: Not Salient

CRPD - A.26UAE - 7

CRPD - A.20UAE - 25

CRPD - A.24UAE - 12,15

CRPD - A.29UAE - None

CRPD - A.26UAE - None

CRPD - A.25UAE - 10,11

CRPD - A.27UAE - 16,19

20+ Contribution: Theoretical Framework

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Contributions:Iceberg ofInequity

Basic Functioning

Basic Freedoms

22+Expanding Definitions

D = f(FL) x

D = f(FL)

(Eph, Es , Ei)

x (E)

23+Comparative Measures of Disability Policy (CMDP)

Executive and Budgetary Support

Legislative Measure

Attitudes Towards Target Group

Participation of Target Groups

Administrative & Coordinating

Capacity

24+Research Direction

Refine theory and test methodology

Publish a series of empirical studies

Studies inform assessment of comparative disability policy

Leverage key relationships to impact practice

Larger Context

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5/25/08

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6/29/08

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7/04/08

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7/19/08

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7/31/08

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8/21/08

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9/4/08

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9/25/08

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10/2/08

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10/6/08

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12/19/08

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5/7/09

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7/27/09 - 1041

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7/27/09 - 1051

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9/27/09

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2/5/10

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4/2/10

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10/23/10

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3/23/12

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4/17/13

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+Thank You!If you have any questions you can email me at:

VSP@Berkeley.edu