Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on assistance to disabled people in developing countries. GAO found that: (1) the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations have taken steps to address disability issues, but have not met all program goals; (2) UN lacked adequate financial contributions to support its program and a voluntary trust fund for disabled persons; (3) as of June 1989, contributions to the voluntary fund totalled $2.4 million, an amount that UN officials reported as inadequate for continued program funding; (4) several UN agencies promoted the goals of the world program through a variety of activities; (5) several U.S. government agencies provided assistance to disabled persons in developing countries, but with the exception of the Peace Corps, they sporadically provided assistance rather than including it in regular programs and objectives; (6) the Department of State has been the leading advocate for major UN efforts; (7) the Agency for International Development (AID) did not attempt to target the disabled in its regular bilateral programs but provided several million dollars in assistance to the disabled in developing countries; (8) since fiscal year 1989, AID has had authority to provide assistance to civilian war victims; and (9) nongovernment organizations continued to provide a wide range of assistance to disabled persons, but many of those programs remained limited because of a lack of sufficient staffing and funding.

The future of disability in America will depend on how well the U.S. prepares for and manages the demographic, fiscal, and technological developments that will unfold during the next two to three decades. Building upon two prior studies from the Institute of Medicine (the 1991 Institute of Medicine's report Disability in America and the 1997 report Enabling America), The Future of Disability in America examines both progress and concerns about continuing barriers that limit the independence, productivity, and participation in community life of people with disabilities. This book offers a comprehensive look at a wide range of issues, including the prevalence of disability across the lifespan; disability trends the role of assistive technology; barriers posed by health care and other facilities with inaccessible buildings, equipment, and information formats; the needs of young people moving from pediatric to adult health care and of adults experiencing premature aging and secondary health problems; selected issues in health care financing (e.g., risk adjusting payments to health plans, coverage of assistive technology); and the organizing and financing of disability-related research. The Future of Disability in America is an assessment of both principles and scientific evidence for disability policies and services. This book's recommendations propose steps to eliminate barriers and strengthen the evidence base for future public and private actions to reduce the impact of disability on individuals, families, and society.

This report tries to put boundaries around the abstraction that is "social inclusion". It is intended for policy makers, academics, activists and development partners - indeed anyone who is curious about how to address inclusion in a world that is witness to intense demographic, spatial, economic and technological transitions. Placing the discussion of social inclusion within such global transitions and transformations, it argues that social inclusion is an evolving agenda. While it does not purport to provide definitive answers as to how to achieve social inclusion in any given context, the report offers an easy-to-use definition and a framework to assist practitioners in asking, outlining and developing some of the right questions that can help advance the agenda of inclusion in different contexts. There are seven main messages in this report: 1. Excluded groups exist in all countries. 2. Excluded groups are consistently denied opportunities. 3. Intense global transitions are leading to social transformations that create new opportunities for inclusion as well as exacerbating existing forms of exclusion. 4. People take part in society through markets, services, and spaces. 5. Social and economic transformations affect the attitudes and perceptions of people. As people act on the basis of how they feel, it is important to pay attention to their attitudes and perceptions. 6. Exclusion is not immutable. Abundant evidence demonstrates that social inclusion can be planned and achieved. 7. Moving ahead will require a broader and deeper knowledge of exclusion and its impacts as well as taking concerted action.