Disability in Israel

About a fifth of Israel's population is affected by disability. The country is a state party of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There is a system of legislation and policies that protect the rights of disabled Israelis.

Demographics

In 2019, people with disabilities were 17% of the population of Israel. Adults from 18 to 64 years constituted 50% of the total, adults 65 years and older were 33%, and children 0–17 years old made up 17%. About 6% of working-age (20-64) people had significant difficulty with activities of daily living while some 10% had moderate disability.[1]

Disability rights
Main article: Disability rights in Israel
Demonstration and blocking of the road near the Knesset building with Member of Knesset Dov Khenin, Jerusalem, September 2017.

Legislation and policy

Israel signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 30 March 2007 and ratified it on 28 September 2012.[2]

The Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law of 1998 was enacted to change previous welfare oriented legistion and social policies to a rights based regine in line with the social model of disability. The intent is to change the attitude towards people with disabilities and reducing the socioeconomic gaps between them and the rest of the population in the various spheres of life. This law and others also regulate disability pensions, accessibility, therapy, special education, sheltered workshops and assisted living.[3][4] The Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities was created in 2000 under the Ministry of Justice to oversee, promote and enforce disability rights legislation and policy.[5]

Activism

Since the beginning of the 21st century, disabled people in Israel, with a population of 250,000,[6] have managed to equalize the disability pension from the Bituah Leumi (National Insurance Institute of Israel) to the minimum wage level in Israel. In 2017,[7] activists protested the low disability pension by demonstrations, blocking main roads, highways and industries, activity in social networking services, petitions to the High Court of Justice, negotiations with the Government of Israel and bills in the Knesset.

In 2017, a full disability pension was 2,342 ILS.[8] The minimum wage in this year was 5,000 ILS, and in December 2017 it went up to 5,300 ILS per month.[9][10][11][12][13]

Sport
See also: Israel at the Paralympics

Israeli athletes have participated in every Summer Paralympic Games since 1960 and hosted the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv. As of 2021 Israel have never participated in the Winter Paralympics.

See also

References
  1. Barlev, Lital; Pur, Yaara; Bachar, Yael (October 2021). Facts and Figures – People with Disabilities in Israel 2021 (PDF) (Report). Jerusalem: Meyers-JDC-Brookdale Institute.
  2. Initial report submitted by Israel under article 35 of the Convention, due in 2014 (PDF) (Report). United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. p. 2.
  3. Rimmerman, Arie; Araten-Bergman, Tal; Avrami, Shirley; Azaiza, Faisal (15 September 2005). "Israel's Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law: Current Status and Future Directions". Disability Studies Quarterly. 25 (4). doi:10.18061/dsq.v25i4.626.
  4. "The Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law Explained". GOV.IL. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  5. "About Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities". GOV.IL. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  6. Zeev Klein (18 September 2017). "The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved: The disabled pension will be raised". Israel Hayom (in Hebrew). Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  7. Itay Blumental and Omri Efraim (13 June 2017). "Disabled Israelis demonstrating in Tel Aviv: Our war of independence". Ynetnews. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  8. Telem Yahav (9 August 2017). "Disabled protest against NIS 2,342 disability benefits". Ynetnews. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  9. National Insurance Institute of Israel (28 May 2018). "General Information – Minimum Wage". Bituah Leumi. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  10. Max Schindler (24 October 2017). "Knesset votes to raise monthly minimum wage to NIS 5,300". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  11. Amiram Barkat (24 October 2017). "The minimum wage will be raised by NIS 300 in December, and will rise 23% in three years". Globes. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  12. Telem Yahav and Gad Lior (29 October 2017). "Minimum wage to rise to NIS 5,300 in December". Ynetnews. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  13. "Minimum wage rising to NIS 5,300 on December 1". The Times of Israel. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
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