THE RIGHT OF INDEPENDENT LIVING AND ITS CHALLENGES IN TAIWAN

Taiwan Insight

10th March 2021

THE RIGHT OF INDEPENDENT LIVING AND ITS CHALLENGES IN TAIWAN

Written by Kuo-yu Wang.

Although Taiwan is no longer a UN member since the year 2000, the government has ratified at least five human-rights-related conventions through legislation. One of these five conventions is the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Ratified by the Taiwan Legislative Yuan in 2014, the CRPD begin to implement in Taiwan. It will replace the current Rights Protection Act of People with Disabilities, which has been in place for 40 years and has established various systems for people with disabilities in Taiwan.

The transformation from the current system to the CRPD is a challenge for Taiwan. Article 19 will be the most interesting challenge. Article 19 in the CRPD states that people with disabilities have the same rights as others to live independently and be included in the community. This implies that people with disabilities should have equal rights to access community services, and all service systems should include people with disabilities. Among all these three principles listed in article 19, living independently and being included in society are important concepts and policy direction set up by convention. However, the first challenge is to clarify what independent living (IL) means for different generations of people with disabilities.

Second, to determine how IL services are to be implemented in Taiwan. Finally, we need to decide what independent living means for people with different disabilities and how to think about using the term “interdependent” rather than “independent.”

https://taiwaninsight.org/2021/03/10/the-right-of-independent-living-and-its-challenges-in-taiwan/