Of particular concern to DPI is that there be as much attention paid to the reintegration of landmine survivors as there is to the production of replacement limbs. Each of these is equally important in order that the survivors continue to contribute to their families and communities. Existing instruments and mechanisms DPI focuses its efforts on promoting the United Nations World Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons through the Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination against Minorities. Disabled people have worked diligently to establish a permanent and acknowledged role in both groups as the representative on any issue of human rights that deals with disability. Under strong influence from the international disability movement, it advocates a human rights concept that is based on the independent living philosophy.
Definitions are dependent upon temporal, cultural, and situational factors.
The human being is perceived as flexible and alterable while the physical and social environments are assumed to be fixed and unalterable. This is clearly unrealistic since, historically, humans have always molded the environment to suit their needs rather than the reverse. Psychological and physical impairments are presented as the cause of disability, curable by psychological or medical intervention. People with impairments became objects to be treated, changed, improved and made normal. While medical intervention for treating illness and disease may be quite appropriate, from the perspective of the disabled person, it is quite inappropriate for treating disability.