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CRPD jurisprudence on Assistive Technologies through Concluding Observations: An analysis from Global South perspectives

INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY ALLIANCE (IDA)
GLOBAL DISABILITY INNOVATION HUB (GDI)
October 2023

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States parties have several obligations with regard to assistive technologies under the CRPD under Article 4, including undertaking and promotion of research and development of or new technologies, incorporating information and communications technologies, mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies that are suitable for persons with disabilities. It also prioritizes technologies at an affordable cost. States are also to provide accessible information to persons with disabilities about mobility aids, devices, and assistive technologies, including new technologies, as well as other forms of assistance, support services and facilities. This obligation is further elaborated in other Articles of the Convention, which may explain why the CRPD Committee has not focused observations around assistive technology related to this Article

The impact of corruption on the rights of persons with disabilities

ATLAS ALLIANCE
September 2023

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Corruption and discrimination go hand in hand. In 2021, Transparency International and the Equal Rights Trust published a report highlighting how corruption and discrimination reinforce each other, leaving marginalized groups with little room to access public services, exercise their human rights, and live their lives with dignity. In this seminar organized by Norad, CMI/U4 and the Atlas Alliance collectively, researchers and DPO representatives discuss research findings and the situation as lived experience for persons with disabilities.

Supporting young children with disabilities in humanitarian settings

BEILER, ROSALENGA BERMAN
ZUIDEMA, SUZANNE
BECKERLEGGE, FIONA
RODRIGUEZ GARCIA, DEBORAH MARIE
June 2022

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The rapid growth that occurs in the first years of life provides an opportunity to influence and improve developmental outcomes that may impact the entire course of an individual's life. Addressing the developmental needs of children with disabilities during this critical period is essential if they are to survive, flourish, learn, and be empowered (WHO, n.d.). 

Recognizing the importance of addressing all children's unique needs and acknowledging the influence of social stigma and misconceptions about disability that may lead to underdeveloped potential and social exclusion, we seek to advocate for and support the inclusion of young children with disabilities in Early Childhood Development in Emergencies programming. 

The webinar was moderated by Rosangela Berman Bieler, UNICEF’s Global Advisor on Disability, and included presentations on foundational concepts for disabilities-inclusive programming, and alternatives to address young children with disabilities needs in a resourceful, creative manner. 

Global Disability Summit 2022 - Oslo, Norway

GLOBAL DISABILITY SUMMIT
February 2022

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The International Disability Alliance (IDA), the Government of Norway, and the Government of Ghana hosted the second Global Disability Summit on 16 and 17 February 2022 (GDS22). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure inclusive participation at the Summit, the event was held on a digital platform.

The first Global Disability Summit (GDS18), held in 2018 in London, generated an unprecedented level of focus on and commitment to disability-inclusive development. 171 national governments, multilateral agencies, donors, foundations, private sector, and civil society organisations made 968 individual commitments. More than 300 governments and organisations signed the GDS18 Charter for Change, encouraging the focused implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The Global Disability Summit 2022 (GDS22) in was built on the results achieved at the first Summit, to further accelerate much-needed progress towards the fulfillment of the rights of persons with disabilities worldwide.

The Summit led to concrete commitments that brought genuine change for persons with disabilities. GDS22 gathered a total of 1413 commitments on disability inclusion.

People with disabilities want equality through access and participation. To obtain lasting change at the country level, we seek collaboration with States, multilateral organisations, and civil society. We seek action and we seek the voices of persons with disabilities themselves.

Global Disability Youth Summit and a Civil Society Forum. was also held under the auspices of the GDS22.

 

The Chair's summary, recordings of GDS22, commitments made and the program are available.

Global Disability Youth Summit 2022

GLOBAL DISABILITY SUMMIT
February 2022

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IDA, UNICEF, and the Atlas Alliance, represented by Youth Mental Health Norway, co-hosted a Youth Summit on 14 February 2022 to ensure the inclusion of youth in the Global Disability Summit. 

All planning and decision making around the Summit were led by youth with disabilities, including through the design of a novel format to ensure the participation of youth from around the globe, from local to global.

 

The Summit showcased the innovations of organizations led by youth with disabilities. Youth with disabilities at the local, regional and global levels have created groups and activities, both online and offline, fostering a sense of community, even during the COVID-19 period. Through the Summit, the youth focused on topics that they have identified to be particularly important in this regard, such as participation of youth in OPDs and youth mainstream organizations, inclusive education, deinstitutionalization and community inclusion, access to employment, climate change, new technologies, humanitarian action, access to inclusive healthcare including sexual reproductive health and mental health, among others.

 

A working group consisting of co-hosts and selected partners was responsible for developing a Youth Charter for Change - summing up and challenging the commitments

 

The Globalization of the Diabetes Epidemic

BONNEAU, Claire
2021

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As globalization continues to bring everyone and everything closer together, not all of the trade-offs are necessarily positive. As we export our unique cultures and experiences around the globe, we also increase the spread of chronic health problems.

For much of the 20th century, a person’s likelihood of developing a chronic health disease like type II diabetes depended on the wealth of the country they lived in equally as much as their own biology and genetic factors. In wealthy, developed countries, people are much more likely to survive to old age and eventually pass away from diseases of affluence — chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes that primarily impact the ageing population. In contrast, people living in developing nations are much more likely to experience malnourishment, violence, and communicable diseases that have a major impact on their overall health and quality of life.

This distinction has proven to be true across many developed countries, including globalization giants like the United States. Even in the more economically disadvantaged areas of America, hardly anyone dies as a result of communicable diseases like tuberculosis, a disease that is still a serious problem in lesser developed nations. Alternatively, in low to middle-income countries, these types of health concerns are still a going concern. Alongside the increased risk of encountering a communicable disease, people living in these areas are also at a higher risk for developing diseases of affluence such as type II diabetes. In this way, people living in developing nations are more likely to experience cancer while also battling cholera infections, and someone living with diabetes is also more likely to be struggling with chronic malnourishment. This lack of distinction between diseases of affluence and communicable diseases puts people living in developing nations at a disadvantage.

In this new global landscape of health and disease, the impact of diabetes is truly overwhelming. Since 1980, the number of people living with diabetes has almost doubled from 152 million to between 285-347 million (1). As a result of this dramatic increase, health spending and global costs have also had to increase to meet the growing demand for care. In 2019, it is estimated that diabetes caused over 760 billion USD in health expenditures, making up about 10% of all global spending on adults (2).

As the prevalence of diabetes continues to grow around the world, we need to shift our attention to finding global solutions to this invisible epidemic. Understanding the connection between obesity, globalization, and diabetes is a great starting point in order to tackle this ever-growing global health problem.

The importance of rehabilitation for achieving SDG3: SIDE EVENT at the HLPF 2021

July 2021

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Organised by HI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Health of Guyana and CSEM. Participants discussed challenges and best practices to access quality rehabilitation services and inclusive health systems. The event highlighted the often side-lined role of rehabilitation in achieving SDG3 on health and wellbeing and its positive repercussions on many other SDGs. The lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis were presented in the panel discussions, showing not only the relevance of rehabilitation for people affected by COVID-19, but also the need to maintain essential rehabilitation services operating during health crises

COSP14: One Pandemic, Different Realities.

July 2021

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Evidence on the Experience of the Diversity of Persons with Disabilities, their Representative organisations and Civil Society Organisations in dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic and preparing to Build Back Inclusively. The International Disability and Development Consortium, the International Disability Alliance, Inclusive Futures, Social Development Direct, UK AID and the UNPRPD's side event as part of the 14th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP14).

 

This event aimed at providing guidelines to local, national and international stakeholders to support their recovery and build sustainable resilience to future shocks, based on the findings from three complementary research projects. With the UNPRPD support, IDA and IDDC gathered data respectively on the experience of persons with disabilities since the first wave and on the COVID-19 consequences on projects and programmes run by CSOs in the Global South. The Disability Inclusion Helpdesk, a FCDO funded facility, IDA and Sightsavers investigated the pandemic impact on OPDs

Frequently Asked Questions: Questions you have about inclusive education but didn’t know whom to ask

INCLUSION INTERNATIONAL
June 2021

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Inclusion International is often asked what we mean by “inclusive education”. Here are the most common questions from our members together with our responses. The responses are based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and General Comment 4 issued by the UN CRPD committee, which outlines the implications of the CRPD for inclusive education.

Questions:

  • What is inclusive education?
  • What are the differences between exclusion, segregation, integration and inclusion?
  • What are the key ingredients of an inclusive education system?
  • What are some of the steps toward achieving inclusive education?
  • What is the difference between an inclusive education system, an inclusive school and inclusive classroom/practices?
  • What is meant by the “twin–track” approach to funding inclusive education?
  • What is the difference between accessibility and reasonable accommodation?
  • How can teachers provide equal opportunities for all students within their allocated classrooms?
  • Is transforming special schools into resource centres a good strategy for moving towards an inclusive system?
  • What is sometimes called “inclusive education” but is not?
  • What are the benefits of inclusive education for students with disabilities?
  • Is inclusive education good only for students with disabilities?
  • Is inclusive education more expensive than segregation?

Intersessional Meetings 20-24 June 2021. Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction

June 2021

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This year’s Intersessional Meetings are particularly important given efforts to build upon the established baseline for the implementation of the Oslo Action Plan (OAP).

 

The sessions included:

Preliminary Observations of the Convention's Committees

Thematic Session – Mandate of the President

Thematic Session - Victim Assistance: Establishing or Strengthening a Centralised Database

Thematic Session: Integrating Gender and the Diverse Needs of Affected Communities in Operational Planning and Prioritization

Informal Presentation of Requests for Extensions to be considered by the Nineteenth Meeting of the States Partie

Thematic Session: Completion and Sustainable National Capacities

Thematic Session: Mobilising Resources Towards a Mine-Free World

Thematic Session: Strengthening Compliance Measures

EDF-IDA workshop on Using the UN Optional Protocols to defend the rights of women and girls with disabilities

SUAREZ, Natalia
PELAEZ NARVAEZ, Ana
May 2021

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Several international human rights treaties exist to protect their rights, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). These Conventions are complemented by agreements called Optional Protocols. They establish individual complaints mechanism for individuals or groups of individuals who have seen their rights violated in their country.

This online workshop organised on the 10th of May, 2021 jointly by the International Disability Alliance and the European Disability Forum informed participants on the role and functioning of the Optional Protocols, as tools to defend the rights of women and girls with disabilities. Speakers included representatives and legal experts from the Officer of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Disability Alliance, the International Women’s Right Actions Watch Asia Pacific and Validity Foundation. The workshop was introduced and moderated by Ana Pelaez Narvaez, Vice President of the European Disability Forum and member of the CEDAW Committee.

How to talk to kids about disability inclusion

NANYENYA, Godfrey
April 2021

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Godfrey Nanyenya's work as a disability and inclusion specialist, involves community outreaches in the slum communities of Kampala engaging families raising children with disabilities in physiotherapy and inclusive home schooling. He encourages parents to talk to their children about disability as a normal topic. He suggests ways to approach the subject including: 

  • normalise disability
  • be mindful of language
  • keep it value neutral
  • don't shame them for their questions
  • say I don't know
  • point out similarities
  • make it a continuous conversation

First Philippine workplace inclusion forum

PFIP - Philippine Financial and Inter-Industry Pride
J P Morgan Chase and Co
Baker McKenzie
April 2021

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Breakout Sessions were:

Technology for Inclusion

Business Continuity, Resiliency and Inclusivity

Hiring for Diversity and Inclusion

The Language of Inclusion

Disability inclusive Universal Healthcare

CENTRE FOR INCLUSIVE POLICY
March 2021

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The inclusion of direct medical costs, indirect medical costs and indirect costs incurred by people with disabilities into Universal Healthcare is discussed. The importance of including assistive devices, rehabilitation and extra transportation costs in the system is highlighted. Social protection measures are also highlighted.

Impact of Covid-19 on the education of children with disabilities in Malawi: results from a survey with parents

MBUKWA-NGWIRA, Jenipher
TANEJA JOHANSSON, Shruti
SINGAL, Nidhi
March 2021

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The overall objective of this study was to examine the impact of school closures due to Covid-19 on the education of children with disabilities attending primary schools. Using phone surveys, 99 parents/carers were interviewed to gain insight into the educational experiences of their children, any barriers faced and their main concerns. All the families had at least one child with a disability in the 6-15 years age group, with approximately six families reporting two or more children with disabilities (though not in the same age range)

An inclusive digital economy for people with disabilities

FUNDACION ONCE
ILO GLOBAL BUSINESS AND DISABILITY NETWORK
February 2021

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The objective of this publication is to increase awareness of the impact of a digital world of work on people with disabilities and identify actions needed to shape a future of work in a more disability-inclusive way.

 

Chapters include:

  • Current work situation of people with disabilities
  • Digitalisation: a trend of the future of work
  • A new world of work scenario for people with disabilities
  • Main levers for the digital inclusion of people with disabilities at work
  • A roadmap for an inclusive digital economy

The Complete Guide to Insomnia - and How You Can Manage It

January 2021

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It shares comprehensive information such as:

  • An in-depth look at insomnia: what causes it, the different kinds of insomnia, and its effects on health and wellbeing.
  • Advice for managing insomnia effectively with stress management and relaxation techniques, proper diet and exercise, good sleeping environment, CBT, and mindfulness meditation.
  • How certain medications and treatments can affect sleep, the importance of routine for good sleep hygiene, and why you should keep a sleep journal.
  • Links to other useful resources and websites to better understand and develop good sleeping habits.

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