Parliaments play a critical role in ensuring laws comply with international, regional, and national standards and are responsive to the public interest. They can also raise public awareness on human rights concerns and elevate issues of importance to marginalized communities, including people with disabilities. Parliaments have the power and responsibility to make meaningful contributions toward improving accessibility at local, national, and international levels. 

Despite making up 15 to 20 percent of the world’s population, people with disabilities remain largely excluded from public life and underrepresented in political institutions, limiting their ability to engage in decisions that impact their lives directly. However, parliaments that embrace accessibility and the inclusion of diverse disability voices are more democratic and can better respond to citizen needs.

In Sri Lanka, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is partnering with parliamentary leadership and the local disability community to enhance accessibility and expand the inclusion of people with disabilities in Parliament and its decision-making processes. In collaboration with the Parliament Secretariat and in close consultation with disability leaders from the Disability Organization Joint Front (DOJF), a network of disabled persons organizations (DPOs), NDI conducted a comprehensive assessment to identify gaps in disability inclusion and inform recommendations for increasing access to parliament. The assessment outlined key priorities to advance disability inclusion, make parliamentary buildings more accessible, help parliamentary staff to understand disability rights and accessibility issues, expand inclusive policies and procedures, and develop accessible outreach materials. These research findings were then used to inform the development of a steering committee comprising Parliament Secretariat leadership and chaired by the Secretary General, as well as an action plan to expand disability access in Parliament. 

Since its establishment in May 2023, the steering committee has procured assistive devices in several parliamentary buildings to improve the physical accessibility for people with disabilities. These modifications are critical to ensure issues of physical accessibility are addressed, enabling people with disabilities to exercise their rights and engage politically. Additional building upgrades, including the construction of accessible bathrooms, are planned in the coming months in order to remove physical barriers and ensure people with diverse disabilities have equal access to parliamentary buildings. MPs and parliamentary staff, including media and outreach teams, have also participated in training sessions to deepen their knowledge of key disability principles, including the social model of disability, which supports the right of persons with disabilities to fully participate in society on an equal basis with others. These efforts have helped to raise awareness of disability rights and accessibility issues among parliamentarians and their staff, and combat discrimination experienced by people with disabilities in Sri Lanka. 

Another result of the partnership between NDI, DOJF and the parliament was Sri Lanka’s parliamentary disability caucus, which was established in September 2023. It also works to ensure accessibility and disability inclusion are at the forefront of discussions related to the national budget debate. For example, in November 2023, NDI facilitated a cross-caucus discussion in collaboration with the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus on social protection and unpaid care work for people with disabilities in Sri Lanka. The discussion, which brought together MPs and members of the disability community, called for the amendment of Sri Lanka’s draft disability bill to ensure alignment with Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The discussion also highlighted the need for incentives for unpaid caregivers, enhanced social protection, and budgeting for accessibility to increase inclusion of people with disabilities within each Ministry. On the day of the parliamentary budget debate, DOJF and the disability caucus organized a site visit to Parliament for students from the School for the Deaf and Blind. As their first ever visit to Parliament, this provided a unique opportunity for students with disabilities to meet with MPs and parliamentary staff, provide input on parliamentary initiatives to deepen disability inclusion and ensure the ongoing budget discussions reflect the diverse voices and perspectives of the local disability community. NDI has also engaged the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on key issues related to budgeting for reasonable accommodations and accessible transportation and is currently advocating to set up a monitoring mechanism within COPF to promote accountability for inclusive financing. 

In celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December 2023, the disability caucus held a press conference with MPs and disability leaders, including representatives from DOJF and the Central Federation of the Deaf. Together, they raised awareness about barriers to inclusion experienced by Sri Lankans with disabilities as well as parliamentary initiatives to remove these barriers and expand inclusion for people with disabilities. The disability caucus also explained to MPs and media correspondents the challenges people with disabilities face participating in decision-making processes and emphasized the importance of establishing partnerships between media and the disability community. These partnerships are critical in amplifying the voices of people with disabilities while ensuring rights-based reporting. 

These efforts to strengthen inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities in parliament are helping Sri Lanka realize the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us.” NDI’s work with parliamentary leadership and the local disability community has both put the physical infrastructure in place for people with disabilities to engage politically and access new political relationships to ensure broader policy making initiatives take disability priorities into account. By bringing together parliamentarians and the disability community in Sri Lanka, NDI and its partners are helping to ensure political institutions uphold their commitment to enhance accessibility and participation of people with disabilities in public decision-making.

NDI's engagement with this program is implemented with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS).

Author: Hilary Collins, Program Director, Citizen Participation and Inclusion; Conor Maxwell, Program Officer, Sri Lanka

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NDI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works in partnership around the world to strengthen and safeguard democratic institutions, processes, norms and values to secure a better quality of life for all. NDI envisions a world where democracy and freedom prevail, with dignity for all.