In First, UN Holds High-Level Disability Summit

Advocates and dignitaries from around the world converged at the United Nations on Monday for the international body’s first-ever high-level meeting on disabilities.

With more than 1 billion people with disabilities globally, those behind the historic event at U.N. headquarters in New York said the gathering was convened to encourage inclusion of those with disabilities in all aspects of life.

“Far too many people with disabilities live in poverty. Too many suffer from social exclusion. Too many are denied access to education, employment, health care, and social and legal support systems,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who implored leaders to “break barriers and open doors.”

More than 800 representatives from disability organizations attended the meeting, officials said, which included remarks from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and musician Stevie Wonder, among others.

Read more of Shaun Heasley's Disability Scoop article HERE.

A new report says that discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health problems "persists" throughout Europe.

The report, by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), said this is the case despite the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the EU and 21 member states.

The FRA says the report "captures the experiences of exclusion and discrimination" of people with intellectual disabilities or mental health problems.

The agency says it "highlights the need to move from institutional to community-based living arrangements and to "reformulate" laws and policies to make them "more inclusive".

FRA director Morten Kjaerum said, "Much still remains to be done to realise the rights of Europe's 80 million people with disabilities.

"The UN convention sets out an ambitious path to improve the situation of people with disabilities. The challenge now is to implement it.

"FRA's research illustrates that the fundamental rights of people with disabilities are lagging behind legal guarantees, particularly as austerity measures begin to bite.

"This work provides the basis for discussions of practical measures that will make a difference to their daily lives."

The FRA looked into the experiences of independent living of people with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health problems in nine member states.


Read more of  Martin Banks' The Parliament article HERE.

Obama Urges Senate To Ratify Disability Treaty

Nearly three years after signing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Obama administration is asking the U.S. Senate to grant final approval of the treaty.

The United States signed the convention in 2009, but Senate approval is required in order to make participation official.

The convention is designed to expand community access and improve the standard of living for the estimated 650 million people around the world with disabilities. It is the first new human rights convention this century.

President Barack Obama officially sent the treaty to the Senate Thursday and asked lawmakers to ratify it.

“The rights of Americans with disabilities should not end at our nation’s shores,” Obama wrote in his request to the Senate. “Ratification of the disabilities convention by the United States would position the United States to occupy the global leadership role to which our domestic record already attests.”

It is customary for the administration to fully vet any treaty before it is transmitted to the Senate for approval, which accounts for the years that have passed since the convention was initially signed.

Read more of Michelle Diament's Disability Scoop article HERE.

Down Syndrome Awareness Gets Boost From UN

by Shaun Heasley, Disability Scoop

Beginning this year, the United Nations — and all of its member countries — will set aside a special annual day to recognize Down syndrome.

A resolution approved by consensus vote in the U.N. General Assembly late last year named March 21 World Down Syndrome Day. Accordingly, member nations will be asked to promote awareness of the chromosomal disorder starting this spring.

Now officials at the U.N. say they will mark the day by gathering members of the Down syndrome community at U.N. headquarters in New York for a conference tackling issues ranging from education and independent living to research and working with the media.

Organizers with the Brazilian delegation, which spearheaded the effort, say they’re hoping to get representatives from as many countries as possible to attend the event.

For at least six years, Down syndrome advocates have promoted an awareness day on March 21. But the U.N. action stands to bolster their efforts. The date, 3/21, is considered significant because Down syndrome occurs when an individual has three copies of the 21st chromosome.

In addition to World Down Syndrome Day, the U.N. previously set aside an annual day to honor autism. April 2 was named World Autism Awareness Day in 2007.

United Nation's International Day of Persons with Disabilities - December 3

Saturday, December 3 marks the 20th United Nation's International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This international day of observance promotes recognition of the rights, inherent dignity, and inclusion of people with disability. It gives us an opportunity to join with people around the world to renew our shared commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities realize human and civil rights. It reminds us that there remains work to be done here and abroad.

The United States has been a leader in ending discrimination and exclusion of people with disabilities and our strong body of civil rights laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have been models for laws in other countries, evidenced in DREDF's Directory of National Disability Non-Discrimination Laws.

Read more of the the DREDF article HERE.

Ensuring rights of persons with disabilities benefits all of society – Migiro

From the UN News Centre

7 September 2011 – Persons with disabilities must enjoy full human rights and fundamental freedoms and enabling them to do so benefits society as a whole, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today at the opening of a United Nations forum that is seeking to improve their lives.

“You and I and millions of others know, that when we respect the inherent dignity of persons with disabilities, we enrich our human family,” she stated in her remarks to the fourth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The conference, which runs through Friday, brings together over 500 participants around the overall theme of “Enabling development: realizing the rights of persons with disabilities.”

Read complete article HERE.

UN conference to focus on ways of improving lives of people with disabilities

From the UN News Centre

6 September 2011 – Hundreds of delegates from governments and civil society will gather at United Nations in New York tomorrow to discuss ways to improve the lives and well-being of people with disabilities by addressing some of the challenges they face, including unemployment.

The three-day Fourth Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will bring together up to 500 delegates, including 78 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with more than 300 representatives, under the theme “Enabling Development, Realizing the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”

Ronald Clive McCallum, the chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stressed, at a news conference at UN Headquarters, the need to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities to help them support themselves and give them the opportunity to use their talents for the larger good of society.

“It is only through employment that we can play full roles as citizens in our countries. It is only through employment that we can use our talents to contribute to the better of society. It is only through employment that we can support ourselves and our families,” said Mr. McCallum, who has a visual disability himself.

Read complete article HERE.