Although there are many positive features of the Libyan legislation, it is written in diagnostic terms. This can limit the potential of all people with disabilities, not just those people with Down syndrome, because it describes people in terms of their medical condition rather than their ability.
If the legislation were written in functional terms, it would recognise that there is variation in the abilities of people with Down syndrome and the focus would then become the environmental barriers to the achievement of people with disabilities rather than the intrinsic condition that people with Down syndrome have.
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is the agreed international method of describing the interaction between a health condition (diagnosis) and the environment. There are several levels of complexity to the ICF but even at its most basic, it provides a useful system.
Use of the ICF would benefit other people with disabilities and therefore there is an opportunity to work with other groups for people with disabilities to create strategic alliances to lobby the government.
Learning about the ICF could assist the LDSA to think about the functional needs of their members with Down syndrome and advocate that legislation be written in functional not diagnostic terms. Many of these resources are in Arabic and therefore would be accessible to members of LDSA without the need for translation.
Examples of legislation:
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Disability Services Act (1986) Australia
Americans with Disability Act (1992) USA
