disability and human rights

International organizations

• United Nations - enable - "(i) to support the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development; (ii) to advance the rights and protect the dignity of persons with disabilities and; (iii) to promote equal access to employment, education, information, goods and services."


• Disabled Peoples International - "a network of national organizations or assemblies of disabled people, established to promote human rights of disabled people through full participation, equalization of opportunity and development."


• Human rights and disability - Amnesty International interview with Bengt Lindqvist, former UN Special Rapporteur on Disability (July 2003). Surprised to see that AI doesn't list "disability" as a theme. Although, in 2003 AI reported about conditions faced by people with "mental disabilities" in Bulgaria.


• Disablism - How to tackle the last prejudice by Paul Miller, Sophia Parker, and Sarah Gillinson. very good read

The prejudice and discrimination that people with disabilities experience is the product of the more general human tendency to label as "inferior" those who are somehow different. The only way to change this experience is to educate every member of society to see disability for what it really is -- a condition that may make everyday life more challenging, but that does not affect a person's soul, spirit, creativity, imagination or determination.

When society's attitudes are more welcoming, so will be the designs that we use to communicate, work, shop, and play. When designers understand that it is the stairs leading into a building that disable the person using a wheelchair rather than the wheelchair, they will innovate new building designs."

Based on Human Rights and Disability (1988) and South African White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy.

Why comment on this today? I've been reviewing a CD about Project APPLE and trans-active - an authoring system to create multimedia "passports" for people with learning disabilities.