Most definitions of disability used within the country focus on the characteristics of the individual who has a disability rather than on the environment or the barriers that determine the impact on the individual. The 1979 law that created the National Institute for the Protection of Exceptional People (INPRO), for example, defined a person with a disability as "any individual that suffers from any reduction, caused by a congenital or an acquired condition, of his or her mental or physical ability that affects his or her possibilities of self-reliance, learning or working."1
The definition of "different abilities" adopted by the Central Department
survey is "a permanent restriction, resulting from a mobility, sensory or mental
impairment, of ability to perform daily life activities in the manner or within the
range considered normal for a human being."2
According to the most recent, 2002 National Census the total population of
Paraguay is 5,183,080 people.3 The census included a disability-related question
intended to identify the number of people with disabilities in the country. The
question asked "Is there any person in this home who has a permanent physical
or mental impediment?"4 The results have not yet been tabulated. Leaders of
the disability community do not expect the forthcoming census data to be fully
reliable. According to the reports received by disability associations, census
interviewers in some areas might not have been adequately trained and, in some
cases, questions about disability were not asked.5
1. Law 780/79,30 November 1979, http://www.iin.oas.org/badaj/docs/l780py79.htm.
2. National Census, Encuestas a personas con Capacidades Diferentes del Departmento Central [Central Department Survey of Persons with Different Abilities], August 2002, 9, http://www. dgeec.gov.py/Publicaciones/biblioteca/capacidades_diferentes/capacidades_diferentes.pdf.
3. National Census, Principales Resultados Del Censo 2.002 Vivienda Y Población [Results of the 2002 Housing and Population Census], 2002.
4. Encuestas a personas con Capacidades Diferentes del Departmento Central. The survey includes the following list of possible "impediments": "Paralysis or diminished strength of the legs or arms; missing body part; completely deaf; does not hear well, needs, or uses appliance to hear; mute (does not speak); speaks with great difficulty; blind in both eyes (does not see at all); blind in one eye; seeing difficulty (even with eyeglasses); down syndrome; mental retardation; dementia." Lastly, the census provides the following list as possible causes of disability: "born with impediment; illness; accident; product of aging; another cause."
5. Panel discussion with leaders of disability organizations, discussion facilitated by author, Asunción, 11 September 2003.