CBR Matrix: Social Component & Empowerment

• articles under UNCRPD

  • 09 - information and communication
  • 12 - legal capacity
  • 13 - access to justice
  • 19 - living independently and being included in the community
  • 21 - freedom of expressioni expression opinion
  • 23 - marriage, family, parenthood, and relationships
  • 29 - participation in political and public life
  • 30 - participation in cultural, life, recreation, leisure, and sport
• goal of social component


  pwds to have meaningful social roles and are treated as equal member of the society
• role of social component

  ensure full participation of pwds in social life
• desirable outcomes

  • valued member in their families and communities
  • contribute their skills and resources to their community
  • both micro and macro perspectives are fully addressed to participate in their social contexts
• lgu role

  provide access so that barriers and challenges will be addressed and pwds needs will be met
• social roles

  • positions in society
  • give identity and meaning to life
  • skills improvement
  • change mindset of community
• elements

  • personal assistance
  • relationships, marriage, and family
  • culture and arts
  • recreation, culture, and sports
  • justice
• personal assistance

  • facilitate full inclusion and participation in community
  • support people with variety of tasks in different environments
  • informal or formal means
  • institutional care vs. independent living
• challenges of personal assistance

  • limited options in low income countries
  • breakdown of support systems
  • vulnerability
• activities in personal assistance

  • partnerships with POs for information, standards, options, development, monitoring, and linkages
  • individual support plans to ensure appropriateness
  • support training opportunities for pwds and personal assistants
  • support for families
  • preparation for and managing crisis situations
  • movement towards independent living
• relationships, marriage, and family

  • support for pwds to establish relationships, marry, and become parents
  • address issues of violence
  • access to services and programs
• desirable outcomes of relationships, marriage, and family

  • personal relationships
  • belongingness to a family
  • family responses to disability
  • sexual needs
  • becoming spouse and parent
  • susceptibility to violence
• activities of relationships, marriage, and family

  • address stigma, prejudice, and discrimination
  • support for parents thru identification and inclusion in mainstream services and access to services and programs
  • promote independence thru breaking ideas of overprotection and promote self-advocacy
  • prevent violence thru information, awareness, linkaages, and improved procedures
  • support for those with limited social networks and increase linkages and access
• culture and arts

  • creativity, self-expression, and spirituality = important
  • use of culture and art to address stigma and discrimination
  • access to and inclusion in cultural events and activities
  • passive or active participation
  • participation = empowering
  • means to promote social change
  • disability arts = promote change
  • successful pwds bring greater awareness
• activities in culture and arts

  • promote culture and arts for social change
  • support families to participate, breaking fears, and increase socialization and linkages
  • encourage pwds to participate by linkages, showing role models, and supporting arts as complementary therapies
  • work with mainstream organizations and groups to involve stakeholders, forge alliances, promote inclusive art education, support diversity training, encourage employment opportunities
  • work with religious and spiritual groups
• recreation, culture, and sports

  • improve health and well-being and contribute to empowerment
  • participation, access, inclusion in programs and activities
  • Accommodation of equipment and programs
  • Leisure (free time) - Recreation (refresh) - Sport (organized physical ax)
  • Leisure time is poorly understood and engaged in low-income countries
  • Participation has a variety of benefits for the individual and the community
  • Recreation and sport complement other opportunities
• activities in recreation, culture, and sports

  • Identify local opportunities
  • Facilitate participation in activities as identified by the community
  • recreation and sport to raise awareness about inclusion
  • Encourage mainstream programs to become inclusive by consulting with organizations
  • Develop and support disability specific programs through participatory decision making, linkages and training
• justice

  • Access to systems, procedures, information, and locations used in the administration of justice
  • Awareness of rights, options and procedure
  • Justice stakeholders become sensitive to needs of PWDS
  • Access to informal and formal mechanisms of justice
  • Rights holders and Duty bearers
  • Barriers to Justice
  • Legal Capacity
  • Informal and Formal Mechanisms
  • Legal Awareness, Legal Aid and Legal Centers
• activities in justice

  • Develop understanding of the local justice context
  • Develop networks and alliances with relevant stakeholders
  • Raise awareness about rights to raise legal awareness
  • Promote access to informal mechanisms to swiftly act on injustices
  • Support legal action and enable PWDs and families to become involved and aware of risks
• goal of empowerment

  PWDs to make their own decisions and make responsibility to change their lives and their communities
• role of empowerment

  Promote, support and facilitate active involvement in life issues
• desirable outcomes in empowerment

  • Able to make informed choices
  • Active participants and contributors to society
  • Access to benefits and services
  • Form own groups
• desirable outcomes in communities


  Barriers are removed and accepted as those with potential
• disempowerment

  • overprotection from family and community due to stigma and discrimination
  • Negative attitudes and expectations
• important in empowerment

  • awareness
  • information
  • capacity building
  • peer support
  • participation
  • alliances and partnerships
• elements of empowerment

  • advocacy and communication
  • community mobilization
  • political participation
  • self-help groups
  • disabled persons organization (DPOs)
• advocacy and communication

  • Self-advocacy and effective communication important to empowerment
  • Access to information and communication resources
  • Address communication barriers
  • Encourage self-representation
  • CBR workers as sharers of information
  • Self-advocacy means being assertive, in control and make best decisions
  • Communication allows self-expression in varied opportunities
  • Communication is still possible for people without a voice
  • Barriers: Physical (environment), Meaning (words), Attitudinal (avoidance), Positioning of information (timing and quantity)
• activities in advocacy and communication

  • Communication Assessment to determine available means, quality, opportunities, barriers and other influences
  • Provide support to develop communication skills through referrals to specialists, access to assistive communication devices, alternative communication, inclusion and linkages
  • Address communication barriers at home and in the community
  • Provide support for self-advocacy through awareness, capacity building, provision of access and linkages
  • Ensure CBR personnel are effective communicators linking PWDs to stakeholders and the general public
• community mobilization

  • Bringing people together
  • Raising people's awareness
  • Assist in the delivery of resources and services
  • Facilitate and strengthen community participation
  • Empowering local communities to remove barriers
  • Make disability as "everyone's business"
  • Aware about needs of PWDs and improve QOL
  • Knowledgeable about CBR
  • Participation in planning and managing CBR programs
• stakeholders in community mobilization

  • PWDs, Families, Neighbors, Friends, School, Self-help groups, DPOs, Local authorities, Employers
• activities in community mobilization

  • Know the community including environmental context, political context, and attitudes and behaviors
  • Establish trust and credibility with the community stakeholders
  • Raise disability awareness in the community
  • Motivate the community to participate by sensitizing and orienting them to the CBR strategy, and providing incentives.
  • Create opportunities for community participation by encouraging stakeholders and removing barriers
  • Bring relevant stakeholders together
  • Build capacity in the community
  • Celebrate achievements with the community
• political participation

  • Interrelationships of people and the operation of POWER at every level of human interaction
  • Encourage so right to equity, access to healthcare, education, livelihood, and social sectors will be heard and recognized
  • CBR personnel have increased awareness of the political system
  • Government should have increased awareness of disability issues and rights
  • PWD and families have increased political awareness
  • Barriers to participation are reduced or removed
• barriers in political participation

  • Poverty, Education, Social Isolation, Personal factors, Stigma and discrimination, lack of disability-friendly process, lack of role models, legal barriers
  • Disability as a Political Issue
• activities in political participation

  • Awareness of the CBR personnel about the Political System
  • Facilitate development of Political Awareness (voting, laws, etc) through literacy programs, trainings, skill building, opportunities for self-expression.
  • Raise disability awareness within the political system (local councils. representatives, senators, other leaders)
  • Facilitate access to political process (voting, political representation) 
• self help groups

  • Informal groups of people to address common problems - poverty alleviation, human development and social empowerment
  • Establish in local communities and facilitate access
  • Members develop skills and promote CBR
  • Join to form federation
  • Small groups (efficient) vs. Large groups (more influence)
  • CBR personnel as facilitator
• characteristics of self-help groups

  • voluntary, response to an issue clear goals, informal structure, participatory, shared responsibility, democratic, governed by members
• challenges in self-help groups

  • Rural vs. Urban
  • Women vs. Men
  • Levels of Education
  • Single-Impairment vs. Cross-Disability Groups
  • Dependency
• activities in self-help groups

  • Provide Assistance to Form NEW groups
  • Develop partnerships with existing self-help groups
  • Encourage inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream self-help groups
  • Encourage self-help group members to participate in CBR programs
  • Encourage self-help groups to join together
• Provide assistance to form new groups

  1. Start working in the homes by giving information and encouraging to talk to others in the community

  2. Plan by identifying concerns and focus, resources, leader, membership rules, meeting procedures, and allocate tasks

  3. Run the meetings

  4. Facilitating the development by providing assistance to leaders and drafting of rules, encouraging rotation of roles and mutual support, checking fairness of methods and procedures, providing financial aid

  5. Build Capacity in running meetings, public speaking, documentation, decision making and delegation of tasks, and monitoring
• disabled persons organization (DPOs)

  • Formal in nature
  • Formed in response to societal barriers that prevented equal participation of PWDS
  • Regional and National Levels
  • CBR programs and DPOs work together
  • DPOs support CBR Programs
  • DPOs develop and implement CBR programs