Wish List for Written Materials and Resources

We Can Do wants to receive submissions from YOU–We Can Do readers–to be published at this blog. Listed below are examples of materials or information that I would like to publish at We Can Do. It may be revised at any time. If you can assist, then PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. Email me at ashettle at patriot dot net or leave a short note in the comment area and I’ll contact you.

Current Top Priority for We Can Do

Are you from Croatia, Cuba, Gabon, Hungary, India, Jamaica, or Panama? If so, were you involved with the movement to persuade your government to sign and ratify the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)? If so PLEASE CONTACT ME (ashettle at patriot dot net, or leave a comment below with your email address).

I want to interview people involved with these movements (via email) so I can write a story describing what strategies you used in your campaign; any barriers you faced along the way; how you overcame these barriers; any mistakes you made, how you corrected them, and how other countries can avoid them; what activities or techniques you think were the most critical to your success; and so forth. Sharing this type of information at We Can Do–and elsewhere–could be immensely helpful to disability movements in other countries that are working toward the same goals.

My primary written language is English, pero puedo escribir y leer, mas o menos, en espanol tambien. (Lo siento para la mala ortografia–no se como crear acentos en WordPress.) Once we are in contact, I will probably have many questions for you–and follow up questions after that!

Other “Wishes” For We Can Do

• “Best Practice” Case Studies: Are you involved with a project or program that has made a difference in the lives of poor people with disabilities in developing countries? This can be a program that is targeted at disabled people, or it can be a mainstream program that pro-actively and successfully includes disabled people in its activities. Please help other organizations learn from your success. What did you do right that similar projects or programs in other countries may want to emulate? What barriers did you face, and how did you overcome them? What mistakes did you make along the way, how did you fix them, and how could other projects avoid them?
• “Failed Practice” Case Studies: People love to brag about projects they have done well. But sometimes we can learn just as much–or more–from projects done poorly. Have you ever been involved in a project or program that FAILED to help disabled people in developing countries? What went wrong? Why? How can other people establishing similar projects in other places avoid your mistakes?
• Checklists: How can mainstream programs or projects become more inclusive of people with disabilities? Sometimes checklists can be a helpful guide of issues to think about and address.
• Fund Raising: The one thing every organization needs the most is MONEY. Are you aware of helpful funding sources that would be thrilled to work with grassroots disability advocacy organizations in developing countries? Or do you have insightful advice on how to write a funding proposal?
• Other Pragmatic Resources: My strongest interest is in any resource, guide, or advice that disabled advocates or international development professionals can put to IMMEDIATE use in the field. Do you know of a resource that already exists? Please tell me about it (ashettle @ patriot dot net) so I can link to it. Do you have advice to share, based on your own real-world experience in the field? Write up an essay sharing your advice. Topics could include, as just a few possible examples: HIV/AIDS educational outreach to the disabled community; improving the quality of education for disabled students; advocacy for the human rights of people with disabilities; fund raising; improving inclusion efforts in mainstream development programs; making water and sanitation infrastructure more accessible; including disabled people in disaster planning and mitigation efforts; delivering micro-finance services to people with disabilities; and many many more. Use your imagination–and your past professional or grassroots advocacy experience–as your guide.
• Academic Papers or Reports: These should be relevant to the concerns of disabled people in developing countries, especially those who are poor, have been deprived of common resources (such as education or health services), or who have had their human rights violated. I strongly encourage authors of new papers to FIRST submit them to reputable, peer reviewed journals, or to present them at conferences. This advice is in part to protect your own interests. Peer reviewed publications or conferences will look better on your c.v./resume than a blog publication. We Can Do is NOT a peer-reviewed publication. Many peer-reviewed publications and conferences will want to be the first to publish your paper. So you may as well publish there first, then ask me to republish it later. If the prior publisher and author both grant copyright permission, I would be happy to publish your paper at We Can Do.
• Student Projects: In some circumstances, I might consider publishing certain undergraduate or graduate student papers or projects on relevant topics even if they would normally be inappropriate for peer-reviewed publications or conferences elsewhere. These should generally bring to light information, knowledge, or analysis that does not exist elsewhere or is difficult to find.
• News Releases: Please send press releases from your organization about fast-breaking news or announcements relevant to disability advocates in developing countries or international development professionals.
• Opinion Pieces: Do you have a strong opinion on a topic related to disability issues in developing countries? Tell us about it! Opinion pieces should generally be well supported with facts and references; or else, they should at least have a clear philosophical basis. As just a few possible examples: What, in your view, are the pros and cons of delivering western-style wheelchairs to developing countries versus making them locally? Should Deaf-run organizations work closely with cross-disability organizations and vice versa? If you are a grassroots disabled advocate, then what do you wish that mainstream development organizations would do differently in order to better meet the needs of the people you represent? People with mental, cognitive, or psychiatric disabilities are often excluded from organizations that represent people with mobility or sensory disabilities: how does that make you feel, and how do you think that could be fixed? If you are an international development professional, what do you wish disabled advocates would or could do to help you learn how to meet their needs? And many, many more.
• Announcements about Up-Coming Conferences and Events: In most cases, I prefer to receive announcements a minimum of one month in advance. Your conference or event should be directly relevant to the concerns of people with disabilities in developing nations, or to the people who work with them. A conference that merely happens to be disability oriented and “international” in scope is usually not enough: the concerns and needs of disabled people IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES should be included and represented in the agenda; or else, you should be actively reaching out to participants from developing countries, for example by offering discounted conference fees.
• For more ideas read About We Can Do and Why We Can Do. Also browse through the archives (see the right hand navigation bar) to see what else I have posted here. Chances are, if I have posted something similar to what you have in mind, I might be open to receiving your submission–as long you have fresh information, content, advice, or opinions to share.
• Still not sure? Ask! The worse that could happen is that I could say, “No,” or, “I’m not sure,” or “I need to think about that.” (Or I might not reply right away. If that happens, email me again … and again. Please be both patient and persistent. I’m trying to devote as much time to this blog as I can, but I also have other commitments that often conflict. So please don’t give up on me. I’m not ignoring you. It may be that I’m busy or that I have overlooked your first one or two emails.)

If you have written something that you think would be relevant to We Can Do readers, please share via email at: ashettle at patriot.net Or, leave a note for me in the comments area below with a summary of what you have in mind and I will get in touch with you. Just be sure to put your email address in the space provided for that purpose.

Thank you for helping make We Can Do become a strong, good-quality resource for people with disabilities in developing countries and the people who are working hard to meet their needs.

I do not post my full email address because any recognizable email address posted on the web then immediately becomes the target of “spam harvesters” and starts receiving tons of unwanted, unsolicited commercial emails. But I spelled it out a few times above and spell it out again here. But this time I’m amplifying it because I realize that not all people have learned how to parse spelled out email addresses–or even to recognize them when they see them!:

My username is: ashettle

Every email address has an @ at sign @ between the user name and the domain name, thus ashettle@

My email domain is patriot.net

Put it all together and you have my email address.

Or if that is still too confusing–or if it’s just easier for you–then feel free to leave a note below (with your email address in the area provided for it) and I’ll get in touch. Thanks again for your help in making We Can Do become a better blog.




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