Mobility Impariments

PAPER: Disability and Contraception in Developing Countries

Posted on 24 January 2009. Filed under: Academic Papers and Research, Cognitive Impairments, Families, Health, Mobility Impariments, Psychiatric Disabilities | Tags: contraception, Family planning, family planning professionals, intellectual disabilities, mental disabilities, people with disabilities, physical disabilities, psychosocial disabilities, reproduction, reproductive services, sex, sexuality |

Doctors, social workers, neighbors, and even family members often mistakenly assume that people with disabilities cannot possibly be interested in sex. Or if they are, others believe they cannot physically participate. Or if they can, others think that no one would want to have sex with them. Because of these myths, people with disabilities are often deliberately excluded from sex education programs and reproductive care services. These include contraception to prevent pregnancy, as well as support for people with disabilities who wish to bear and raise healthy, happy children.

The fact is, a great many people with a wide range of disabilities are capable of having children and desire the rewards that can come with parenthood. And many become excellent parents who raise well-adjusted children. But they often lack family planning services that allow them to make their own choices about how many children to have and when to have them. This may be partly because even family planners who understand the need and importance of counseling for people with disabilities may not know how.

Although people with physical disabilities frequently can and do have children, the nature of some physical disabilities may sometimes affect what kind of contraceptions they can use or how to use them. An article published in 1999 by Family Health International’s journal Network, entitled Disabled Have Many Contraceptive Needs, explains how some physical disabilities, or the medications taken for them, may affect the kinds of contraceptions they are able to use. Family planning professionals may consult this article at http://www.fhi.org/en/rh/pubs/network/v19_2/disableneeds.htm

People with mild intellectual disabilities, and also people with psychosocial disabilities, are often as interested in sexuality as the general population. They also may in some cases wish to have children. Both intellectual disabilities and psychosocial disabilities may affect how well contraceptive options or instructions are understood, or how well they may follow instructions. Another article entitled Mental Disabilities Affect Method Options” discusses various examples of how family planning professionals can account for these factors. This article, also published in 1999, can be read at http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Pubs/Network/v19_2/mentaldisab.htm

I learned about these articles through a class I’m taking on Gender, Disability and Development this semester. Thanks, Barbara Earth!

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SCHOLARSHIP: For Students Using Wheelchairs in US Colleges

Posted on 18 December 2008. Filed under: Announcements, Awards & Honors, Call for Nominations or Applications, Call for Papers, Fellowships & Scholarships, Human Rights, Mobility Impariments, Opportunities | Tags: ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, AmeriGlide, college, college scholarship, competition, electric wheelchair, manual wheelchair, mobility challenged, scholarship, student visa, university, university scholarship |

AmeriGlide is holding a competition for a $500 scholarship for students who ride a manual or electric wheelchair. The deadline for entering this competition is January 2, 2009. Students must be enrolled in two-year or four-year accredited undergraduate university programs in the United States. Students may be from countries outside the US, but must hold a valid student visa. Applicants should also have a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or better.

In order to compete for the scholarship, interested students must submit an essay with a minimum of 500 words that answers the following question: “The American with Disabilities Act was established in July of 1990. Does this law do enough to help prevent discrimination and improve the lives of those who are mobility challenged? How has the American with Disabilities Act affected you?”

Foreign students in the United States will note that the Americans with Disability Act does protect their rights while they are in the United States and interacting with US-based institutions. The ADA requires US universities to provide reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities, regardless of their country of origin. For example, if a class is initially scheduled in a classroom that is not accessible to a wheelchair rider, then the university must arrange to move the class to a more accessible location as needed.

Learn more about the scholarship program at

http://www.ameriglide.com/scholarship/

As with any competition, please read the instructions at the above website carefully before you enter. In many funding competitions, a common reason why many applicants fail is because they did not follow each of the instructions closely.

If you have missed the January 2, 2009 deadline, then please note that AmeriGlide plans to offer this scholarship again in the future, possibly twice a year. Please do continue to monitor their website.

Thank you to John Keeter at AmeriGlide for alerting me to this competition.

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Stories of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries from Around the World

Posted on 15 September 2008. Filed under: Academic Papers and Research, Announcements, Cross-Disability, Democratic Participation, Education, Human Rights, Inclusion, Latin America & Caribbean, Mobility Impariments, South Asian Region, Sub-Saharan Africa Region | Tags: Bangaldesh, Blind, colombia, Education, India, new internationalist, polio, politics, Sri Lanka, teacher, Zimbabwe |

Too often, the voices of people with disabilities are simply not heard–within their country, within their community, or sometimes even within families. The voices of disabled people in developing countries are even more suppressed.

One special issue of the New Internationalist, released in 2005, brings us the voices of people with disabilities from India … Zimbabwe … Sri Lanka … Colombia … Bangladesh … and elsewhere.

The stories and interviews published in their magazine, available for free on-line, share the experiences of people with disabilities in developing countries in their struggle for sexual expression … the harrowing experience of rape … the push to achieve recognition for their human rights … the battle against severe poverty and starvation … success at becoming a blind teacher … getting involved with politics … and overcoming discrimination in the work force.

Browse the stories at the New Internationalist website at:

http://www.newint.org/issue384/index.htm

Each story can be read on-line in html format; they do not need to be downloaded.

I learned of this magazine issue when several of its stories were recently circulated via email on the Disability Information Dissemination Network, which is managed by the Centre for Services and Information on Disability (CSID), Bangladesh, and currently sponsored by Handicap International. People may subscribe directly to the CSID mailing list by sending an email to csid@bdmail.net, csid@bdonline.com, or info@csididnet.org, with the word “join” in the subject line.

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JOB FAIR, EnAble India, for persons with disabilities for unskilled or manual positions, Oct 5, 2008, Bangalore, India

Posted on 8 September 2008. Filed under: Announcements, Blind, Cross-Disability, Deaf, Events and Conferences, Jobs & Internships, Mobility Impariments, Opportunities, South Asian Region | Tags: Bangalore, disabled workers, EnAble India, India, job fair, job post, manual labor, unskilled labor, workers with disabilities |

Subject: Job fair for persons with disabilities specially for unskilled / manual positions
EnAble India
October 5, 2008

Work Addr: #12, KHB Colony, Koramangala 8th Block,Bangalore 95
Telephone: 080 – 42823636, 2571 4842,
Mobile:        9845313919
Email:         enableindia@yahoo.co.in,
shanti@enable-india.org
Website:     www.enable-india.org

To whomever it may concern
Dear Sir / Madam,

Greetings from EnAble India!

As you may be aware, Enable India is a non-profit organization working for the economic independence of persons with disabilities across India. Our major thrust is pre-employment training, rehabilitation, supplementary education, enabling other organizations, placement
services, etc.

EnAble India in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) is organizing job fair for persons with disabilities specially for unskilled / manual positions that are available in companies such as ITC, Building Control Solutions, Integra Apparels, etc.

Please look at the details below regarding positions available and types of disabilities suitable and support us to source right disabled candidates. The candidates qualification could be 10 standard or below 10 standard.

All the jobs are feasible for hearing impaired, low vision and mild physically disabled candidates. Require around 60 hearing impaired, 60 low vision and around 60 of persons with physical disability. You could source female candidates from out station also because one or two
companies are providing hostel facilities.

Details of the companies requirements

Company Name
No of Positions
Location
Disability Types
Types of Positions
Building Control Solutions
30
Bangalore International Airport
Whitefeild
MG Road
Bannergatta Road
Hearing Impaired
Physically Disabled
Low Vision
Parking Attendent/ care takers
Trolley Pushers
Porters

Integra Garments

119
HSR Layout
Hearing Impaired
Physically Disabled
Low Vision
(80% jobs are for hearing impaired – girls preferred for machine
operator fresher positions )

Tailors – machine operators, Helpers – Layers, Relayers, Feeding
helpers, fusing, data entry , Ironing, Kaja button operators

ITC Agarbathi
10
Mysore Road, Chamraj pet
Hearing Impaired
Physically Disabled
Low Vision
Agarbathi packing
ITC Hotel
10
Palace Guttahalli
Hearing impaired / Low vision
House keeping

EnAble India staff members are willing to assist your organization to source / call / inform candidates.

The candidates can visit us on any of the convenient dates mentioned below for registration and training. (Please look at next page for the detailed schedule)
It is mandatory for candidates to register and attend training to take part in the job fair. The first preference would be given to the trained and good attitude candidates.

Kindly source candidates as per the requirements and join hands to provide economic independence for persons with disabilities.

We also request you to display this information in your organization notice board to spread the word faster.
Looking forward to hear from you at the earliest.

Thank you

Warm Regards

Job Fair Coordination Team

Cell: 9972018873

EnAble India –CII Job Fair for unskilled / manual jobs Schedule

September – October 2008

JOB FAIR ON 5TH OCT

JOB Fair on 5th October
REGISTRATION SCHEDULE

REGISTRATION SCHEDULE
TIMINGS: 10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM
First Registration
Sep 15, Sep 16
Second Registration
Sep 22, Sep 23
Third Registration
Sep 29, Sep 30

TRAINING SCHEDULE

TRAINING SCHEDULE
START DATE
END DATE
# OF DAYS
Disability
First Training
Sep 17
Sep 19
3 days (Sep 17, 18 & 19)
Hearing impaired/low vision/mild physically disabled
Second Training
Sep 24
Sep 26
3 days (Sep 24, 25 & 26)
Third Training
Oct 1
Oct 4
3 days (Oct 1, 3 & 4)

IMPORTANT NOTE
v     Candidates can choose their convenient days of registration and
training (only one day of registration and 3 days of training)
v     Preferably out station candidates can come on the last
registration and training since job fair date is closer
v     Registration for candidates is mandatory
v     Attending and completing training after registration is mandatory
v     Unregistered candidates are not encouraged for the training and
job fair

Venue: Livelihood Resource Centre, Leonard Cheshire Homes , Kodi halli,
Old Airport Road, Opposite to Manipal Hospital, Bangalore

For further details contact EnAble India on – 9972018873 / 42823636
Email: enableindia@yahoo.co.in,
shanti@enable-india.org
Website: www.enable-india.org

We Can Do received this notice from Mahesh Chandrasekah..

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Wheelchair Consensus Symposium, Sept 25-26, 2008, Asia-Pacific Region

Posted on 3 September 2008. Filed under: Announcements, Assistive Devices, East Asia Pacific Region, Events and Conferences, Mobility Impariments, Opportunities | Tags: Asia-Pacific region, Bob Hawke ministerial centre, development, disability, Motivation Australia, National committee on rehabilitation engineering, wheelchair consensus symposium, WHO, World Health Organization |

The Wheelchair Consensus Symposium is being held September 25-26, 2008, to discuss approaches to providing wheelchairs in low-resource settings within the Asian-Pacific region. The conference is being held at the University of South Australia.

For more detail on how to register for the conference, costs, visa applications, etc., please follow the link to the conference website at

http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkecentre/events/2008events/Wheelchair.asp

Questions about the event can be directed to:

Kylie Mines, Motivation Australia
Telephone: 08 8556 4423
Email: kmines@motivation.org.uk

The following detail is taken from the Wheelchair Consensus Symposium website:

For people with a mobility disability, provision of a wheelchair which meets their physical, lifestyle and environmental needs can enable vastly improved health, social and economic well being.

However, an estimated 20 million people living in low income countries require a wheelchair and do not have one.

Recognising the important role Australian organisations can play in working to address this need, Motivation Australia, the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and the National Committee on Rehabilitation Engineering are co-presenting the Wheelchair Consensus Symposium. The Symposium will draw together stakeholders in disability and development in less resourced settings in Australia and the Asia Pacific region, to:

Introduce the WHO Guidelines on the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in Less Resourced Settings
Increase awareness of the need for appropriate mobility equipment for people with physical disabilities
Share information and programme approaches to the provision of appropriate wheelchairs
Increase collaboration between stakeholders in order to increase effectiveness
Develop consensus on future approaches to wheelchair provision in the region

This event will be held over two days, with day one as plenary sessions, and day two break-out sessions for stakeholders, to discuss key issues and suggest strategies.

Themes of the Symposium will be:

wheelchair design and production
wheelchair services
training of local staff
roles of Australian stakeholders

The Wheelchair Consensus Symposium is supported by AusAID through the International Seminar Support Scheme.

_______________________________________________________
We Can Do readers who are interested in wheelchair provision in low-income countries may also wish to learn more about the organization Whirlwind Wheelchair International, which helps train local people to build, repair and sell their own wheelchairs designed to meet local conditions, with all local materials.

Thank you to Ghulam Nabi Nizamani for circulating a notice about this conference; I gathered additional information and some of the text at the conference website.

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WHO Disability and Rehabilitation Newsletter July 2008 Issue

Posted on 25 August 2008. Filed under: Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), Cross-Disability, Events and Conferences, Human Rights, Mobility Impariments, News, Opportunities | Tags: Ala Alwan, CBR Congress, Claudia Sánchez, Community based rehabilitation, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, DAR, Disability and rehabilitation, Disability and Rehabilitation Team, disability rights, Human Rights, Ian Coltart, Margaret Chan, Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation International, RI World Congress, Technical Programmes, Wheelchair guidelines, WHO, WHO Task Force on Disability, WHO/DAR, World Health Organization, World Report, WRDR Regional Consultations |

Text-only version of the WHO/DAR Newsletter
July 2008 Issue

The World Health Organization (WHO) disability and rehabilitation newsletter is produced three times a year and distributed via e-mail. Subscription/unsubscription requests should be sent to WHO’s Disability and Rehabilitation Team (DAR) at the following e-mail address: pedersenr@who.int

IN THIS ISSUE

Features
* WHO Task Force on Disability
* WRDR Regional Consultations
* RI World Congress
* Wheelchair Guidelines
* CBR Congress
* New faces at DAR

Editorial
This month sees the halfway stage of development of the World Report, a moment to celebrate and take stock of how far we have come and how much more there is to do before we launch the document in eighteen months time. Another milestone has been the first meeting of the WHO Task Force on Disability, part of the Organizations’ response to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These are exciting times for WHO’s work in disability and rehabilitation, and we have an expanded and enthusiastic team of staff working to deliver change. We are particularly grateful to all our collaborators and funders who have worked with us to help us achieve our ambitions to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Alana Officer,
Coordinator
Disability and Rehabilitation

Task Force on Disability
WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, has set up a Task Force on Disability, chaired by Assistant Director-General Dr Ala Alwan, with representation from each regional office and from each cluster within HQ. This exciting initiative comes in the wake of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and will work to raise the profile of disability at WHO. Key tasks will include: conducting audits of WHO premises and making access improvements; reviewing websites and printed information to improve their accessibility; promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities; and providing disability equality training for staff.

The Task Force will also work with the Technical Programmes of WHO to assist them to make their programs inclusive of and accessible to people with disabilities. For example, what about the needs of people with disabilities in disaster and emergencies? What about the needs of women with disabilities during pregnancy and childbirth?

Task Force focus: Information
So, what is WHO doing to ensure better access to all the information it produces? Ian Coltart of WHO Press, responsible for publishing guidelines and standards across WHO, writes…

“With a global audience and a mission to disseminate WHO’s information as widely as possible, WHO needs to ensure that it’s published information is accessible in appropriate formats for different audiences, including partially sighted and blind people, as well as people with learning difficulties.

WHO Press has developed and published a large print version of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The book is produced in A4 size with a clear page layout designed for partially sighted people. The book is available from the WHO online bookshop, at: http://bookorders.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?sesslan=1&codlan=1&codcol=15&codcch=4088. WHO Press also plans to develop a Braille version of ICF for the blind.

WHO Press is working with WHO’s Disability and Rehabilitation Team (DAR) to develop publishing guidelines for WHO staff on producing specific formats such as large print and Braille, but also to improve the general design and layout of WHO’s mainstream printed products to accommodate partially sighted audiences.

World Report on Disability and Rehabilitation Regional Consultations
In May and June 2008, regional consultations on the preliminary draft of the World Report on Disability and Rehabilitation were held in San José, Costa Rica for the Americas Region; Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania for the African and Eastern Mediterranean Regions; Rome, Italy for the European Region; and Manila, the Philippines for the South-east Asian and Western Pacific Regions. Each consultation brought together a diverse group of experts with complementary knowledge and experience, including people with disabilities. Participants included editors of the Report, chapter authors, academics, service providers, policymakers, government officials, NGO representatives, and disability advocates.

Claudia Sánchez, a Columbian architect and participant in the consultation in San José, felt that the process was vital because “it brings into the report experiences from around the world that come from the real people”, i.e. those who have direct knowledge of the issues. While it was most helpful to gather constructive criticisms of the preliminary draft, it was also encouraging to witness how many participants were excited by the potential of the Report to advance work in disability and rehabilitation. As Kudakwashe Dube, CEO of the Secretariat of the Africa Decade of Persons with Disabilities remarked at the Dar-Es-Salaam event, “the report challenges countries to take serious steps to mainstream disability and capacitate all actors in order to achieve an improvement in the quality of life of persons with disabilities”.

The participants’ feedback, cultural perspectives on the draft and the sources of regional information they identified, will help ensure that the final document is relevant in diverse global contexts. They also proposed recommendations for action and generated ideas for regional dissemination of the Report and related events. The comments and suggestions from the four consultations will be collated and reviewed by the Editorial Committee. Lead authors will then use the input to help guide development of the next draft.

Wheelchair Guidelines
The wheelchair is one of the most commonly used assistive devices for enhancing personal mobility. For many people, an appropriate, well-designed and well-fitted wheelchair can be the first step towards inclusion and participation in society.

The United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and World Health Assembly Resolution WHA58.23 all point to the importance of wheelchairs and other assistive devices for the developing world, where few of those who need wheelchairs have them, insufficient production facilities exist, and all too often wheelchairs are donated without the necessary related services.

When the need is not met, people with disabilities are isolated and do not have access to the same opportunities as others within their own communities. Providing wheelchairs with related services not only enhances mobility but begins a process of opening up a world of education, work and social life. The development of national policies and increased training opportunities in the design, production and supply of wheelchairs are essential next steps.

In the light of the realities of the developing world and the immediate need to develop functioning systems of wheelchair provision in less-resourced parts of the world, the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI), in partnership with the Centre for International Rehabilitation, the Motivation Charitable Trust and Whirlwind Wheelchair International, have developed the Guidelines on the provision of manual wheelchairs in less-resourced settings. These will assist WHO Member States to develop a local wheelchair provision system and thereby implement Articles 4, 20 and 26 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Update from the WHO Ghana Country Office
As part of measures to strengthen the capacity of the Rehabilitation Services in Ghana, a joint WHO and International Society of Prosthesis and Orthotics (ISPO) mission was carried out. Details of the mission were provided in the fourth Newsletter (http://www.who.int/disabilities/publications/newsletter/en/index.html). In response to the mission’s recommendations, the Ghana Health Service, the Ministry of Health and the WHO Ghana Country office selected two candidates for certificate level training in prosthetics and two candidates for certificate level training in orthotics. The training will be carried out in the WHO collaborating Centre: Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologies (TATCOT), Moshi, Tanzania. The certificate courses, each of one year duration, comprise theoretical, laboratory and clinical practice to prescribe and deliver the appropriate lower limb prosthesis or orthotic in consultation with the intended user. This is an important step towards developing prosthetics and orthotics service provision in Ghana. The training has been made possible through support from ISPO and full scholarships from the Leahy War Victim Fund of USAID .

RI World Congress
Rehabilitation International (RI), a partner of WHO, is a global organization bringing together expertise from all sectors in the disability field advancing the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities. RI is organizing its 21st World Congress in Quebec City from 25 -28 August 2008, attended by more than 1000 participants, including people with disabilities and their organizations, human rights activists, experts, rehabilitation professionals, government representatives, service providers and leaders of civil society. The vision statement of the Congress is “Disability Rights and Social Participation: Ensuring a Society for all” and the key areas of discussion are: Human Rights, Independent Living and Social Participation and Implementation of the UN Convention.

WHO will be launching the new Wheelchair Guidelines during the plenary session of the first day of the Congress. Additionally, WHO is hosting three sessions during the event and will be supporting the ICF conference, a dedicated two-day track, within the RI conference:

1. CBR Guidelines — 25 August (Block 63 – 2:10 pm) with Barbara Murray (ILO), Karen H. Motsch (CBM), Venus Ilagan (RI), Tomas Lagerwall (RI), Alana Officer (WHO) and Chapal Khasnabis (WHO).

2. World Report on Disability and Rehabilitation — 25 August (Bloc 62 – 4:20 pm) with Anne Hawker (RI); Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo (World Bank); Sebenzile Matsebula (RI); Kicki Nordstrom (WBU) and Alana Officer (WHO).

3. 3. Wheelchair Guidelines — 27 August
(Bloc 72 – 10:30 am) with David Constantine (Motivation); Dan Blocka (ISPO); Rob Horvath (USAID); Anna Lindstrom (Swedish Institute of Assistive Technology – SIAT); Venus Ilagan (RI) and Chapal Khasnabis (WHO).

4. International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) — August 26 and 27.
The 14th annual North American Collaborating Center (NACC) Conference on the ICF will be hosted by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in collaboration with Rehabilitation International. The theme is Evaluating Social Participation: Applications of the ICF and ICF-CY.

Conference website: www.riquebec2008.org/

1st CBR Asia-Pacific Congress
This event, taking place on 9-11 December 2008 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), Bangkok, Thailand, will be the first meeting of CBR practitioners from countries in Asia and the Pacific. The Asia-Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, promoted by ESCAP, has given an impetus for Governments and NGOs to create an inclusive, barrier free and rights-based society. A regional policy guideline, the Biwako Millennium Framework (BMF) for Action and its supplement, the BMF +5, promoted a paradigm shift from charity to a rights-based approach to disability. Meanwhile, the CRPD heralds a new era of state recognition of the human rights of people with disabilities.

The Congress will bring together key stakeholders to share resources and to be updated on CBR as an effective multi-sectoral strategy for rehabilitation, equalization of opportunity, poverty reduction and social inclusion of people with disabilities. It will promote research and evidence based practice related to CBR, and facilitate the development of an alliance and resource base for the Asia-Pacific region – comprising UN, Governments, NGOs, DPOs and others.

Satellite workshops pre- and post-conference will be held on CBR and mental health; CBR, human rights and the CPRD; CBR and Leprosy for up to 45 participants each.

The Congress is jointly organized by WHO, UNESCAP and the Government of Thailand and supported by ILO, UNESCO, JICA, CBM, HI, AIFO, NAD, ILEP and others.

Conference Website: www.cbr-asiapacific.org/
E-mail: secretariat@cbr-asiapacific.org

New faces at DAR

Three short term staff have brought their wit and wisdom to bear on WHO’s projects on disability and rehabilitation. Bliss Temple is a trainee physician from North Carolina, USA, and she has been supporting the development of the World Report. Tom Shakespeare is a disability studies academic from Newcastle, UK, and has been working for the Task Force on Disability. Veronica Umeasiegbu is a physical therapist from Nigeria, currently studying Rehabilitation Counselling at the University of Pittsburgh, USA and has been working on CBR. As well as their solid academic and professional credentials, as people with disabilities they bring personal experience of the issues.

We Can Do discovered this newsletter when it was forwarded to the AsiaPacificDisability email discussion group and the AdHoc_IDC email discussion group, both of which can be subscribed to for free.

If you wish to receive future issues of the WHO Rehabilitation Newsletter directly via email, then please inquire with pedersenr@who.int. You may also download past issues of the newsletter in PDF format at http://www.who.int/disabilities/publications/newsletter/en/index.html

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REPORT: Personal Mobility, Accessibility for Disabled People in South East Europe

Posted on 20 August 2008. Filed under: Blind, Cognitive Impairments, Cross-Disability, Deaf, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Housing, Human Rights, Inclusion, Mobility Impariments, Reports | Tags: accessibility, accessible homes, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Croatia, CRPD, Europe, home, Housing, Hungary, Inclusion, Kosovo, Macedonia, mobility, mobility aids, public buildings, public transportation, romania, Serbia and Montenegro, South East Europe, universal design |

Countries that have chosen to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are now required to protect the right of people with disabilities to personal mobility; and to an accessible environment. But disabled people in the South-Eastern countries of Europe, such as Kosovo, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Hungary, are often denied the right simply to move from one place to another on the same basis as other people in their society. They lack mobility aids such as prosthestic devices, wheelchairs, and crutches; public buildings, and even their own homes, are not accessible to them; and neither is public transportation.

People who wish to learn more about the conditions that limit the mobility of people with disabilities in South East Europe–and what can be done to improve their situation–can consult a report entitled “Free movement of people with disabilities in south east Europe: an inaccessible right?” (PDF format, 1 Mb) This report addresses the mobility and accessibility needs of people with mobility impairments; people who are blind or have vision impairments; people with intellectual disabilities; and deaf people. The 124-page report was published by Handicap International in 2006.

The first part of the report discusses the current situation, and barriers, faced by people with various disabilities in South East Europe. The second part describes good practices that have successfully made the environment more accessible for people with disabilities throughout the region. The third part discusses the importance of awareness raising; the laws and policies needed to improve the situation; the need for training in universal design; and the importance of including people with disabilities in planning all new construction. The report closes with a series of recommendations.

The full report can be downloaded for free in
http://www.disabilitymonitor-see.org/documents/dmi2_eng/dmrII_webeng.pdf

People interested in creating accessible environments, and in the principles of universal design, may also be interested in learning about a free, on-line book on Universal Design and Visitability.

We Can Do learned about this report by exploring the newest resources to be posted at the AskSource.info database on disability issues; health issues; and development.

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NEWS: Disabled People of Pakistan to Receive Wheelchairs, Hearing Aids, Personal Attendants

Posted on 20 August 2008. Filed under: Assistive Devices, Deaf, Mobility Impariments, News, Opportunities, South Asian Region | Tags: disabled people, disabled people's organizations, DPOs, hearing aids, Milestone National Network, Pakistan, people with disabilities, personal attendants, wheelchairs |

The Milestone National Network of DPOs (Disabled People’s Organizations) in Pakistan recently circulated the following email:

Dear Leaders of disabillity movement

Milestone National Network of DPOs has achieved a big target.

1- Disabled persons of Pakistan can get 1000 Rs every month directlly from the provicial government.

2- Severe disabled persons can get 2000 Rs as BENAZIR SOCIAL SECUTRITY FUND FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING, So its mean that now the severe disabled persons could use Personal attendent services.

3- All assesstive devices are by the Pakistan Bait ul Mall and the federal government. For devices you can send the application in milestone office or in Pakistan Bait ul Mall. An apllication with the copy of Nation ID card.
Disabled persons of Pakistan can get their own wheelchair due to their requirement of disabillity from government ( first 120 wheelchairs allready distributed on 14th Augest by the Zumard Khan sahab and Dr.Israr shah sahab with collaboration of Milestone.
Hearing Aid also available free of coast by the federal Government. 500
white can also distributed on 14th Augest.

4- If a familly have 2 or more the 2 disabled persons in a same familly that familly will declared a special respected familly and will supported by the government.

Dear friend we did this and implementation is also started and if you will not take responsiabillity to make it social movement it will be failed. Share this information with your collegue organizations and members with disabillities.

Lot of Love

Shafiq Ur Rehman
President
MILESTONE
479-omer block Allama Iqbal Town Lahore, Pakistan
MILESTONE H8/4 street NO 7 Next to Pakistan Bait ul Mall, Islamabad Pakistan

More detail about this program has been reported in the Pakistan publication, The News, at

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=130062

Thank you to Shafiq Ur Rehman and to Ghulam Nabi Nizamani for circulating this notice.

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RESOURCES: Making Sanitation and Water Accessible for Disabled People

Posted on 11 June 2008. Filed under: Mobility Impariments, Reports, Resources, Water and Sanitation | Tags: access, disabled people, disease, Education, Health, mobility impairments, people with disabilities, sanitation, water |

The World Bank tells us that 2.6 billion of the world’s population do not have access to basic sanitation and hygiene. In rural areas, that means people may defecate in open fields. In cities, they may defecate into plastic bags and throw them into street. The result? Disease and sometimes death. But access to sanitation isn’t only a health issue. It is also an education issue. When girls don’t have a sanitary, private place to take care of their needs during menustration they skip school.

The World Bank also tells us that a billion of the world’s population lack access to a clean source of water. This is again both a health issue and an education issue. Dirty water makes people sick. And children who must spend upwards of two hours a day simply fetching water from the nearest water source may have no time left to attend school or study.

Data on sanitation and water access for people with disabilities is hard to find. But the little literature I have seen on the topic suggests that their needs are often left out when projects strive to bring either to a new village or neighborhood. This means they are left more vulnerable to disease than their neighbors. This situation also unequally deprives disabled people of their right to dignity.

So what can be done?

No single answer will suit all cases. First of all, the facilities themselves vary widely: a toilet, for example, might be a Western-style seat in some countries but an Asian-style porcelain bowl in the ground in other countries. Second of all, a person who walks on crutches due to the after-effects of polio may have different needs than a person who walks without aid but who cannot bend easily. Both of these individuals may have different needs still from the person who uses a wheelchair due to spinal cord injury, whose needs will also differ from those of another wheelchair rider who has cerebral palsy. Creativity and resourcefulness will always need to be key components of any plan to make water and sanitation services accessible for all.

The Water, Engingeering, and Development Center at Loughborough University has gathered a list of links to articles and resources related to water and sanitation access for disabled people. Here, you can find a briefing note on why the East African water and sanitation sector needs to consider the needs of disabled people. Or scroll further down their web page to find links to reports about water and sanitation projects for people with disabilities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda, and elsewhere.

Start exploring at:

http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/projects/new_projects3.php?id=60

Author Mahesh Chandrasekar in India has also written an article based on his own experience in making sanitation more accessible for himself, entitled “Water and Sanitation for All,” available at http://www.geocities.com/mahesh_mobility/water_sanitation.htm

People interested in on-going discussion about the topics of disability, water, and sanitation may be interested in joining the Disability, Water, and Sanitation listserv. More information is available on the listserv at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/DWS.html. You will note from a quick glance at the archives that discussion on this list seems to be somewhat slow and sporadic. But many lists do revive once new members join them, so it may be worth a try.

Another We Can Do post related to water and sanitation includes one about a handbook on how to make water ans sanitation accessible to disabled people, also from the Water, Engineering, and Development Centre of Loughborough University.

I learned about the literature at the Water, Engineering, and Development Centre of Loughborough University after browsing some links from the World Bank web page on rural development and disability. I learned about Mahesh Chandrasekar’s article through email correspondence with the author. We Can Do readers might be interested in browsing some of Mahesh Candrasekar’s other articles on disability and human rights; disability and discrimination; universal access/barrier free environment; disability and development; and access to education.

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4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress Report Available Online

Posted on 14 May 2008. Filed under: Assistive Devices, Middle East and North Africa, Mobility Impariments, Reports, Resources, Sub-Saharan Africa Region | Tags: 4th All africa wheelchair congress report, abilis, African continent, all africa wheelchair congress, Angola, CBM, christoffel blindenmission, England, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, motivation africa, Namibia, Nigeria, norway, pan africa wheelchair builders association, pawba, report, resolutions, Sierra Leone, SINTEF, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, tanzanian training centre for orthopaedic technologists, tatcot, Uganda, UK, United Kingdom, USA, wheelchairs, World Health Organization, Zambia, Zimbabwe |

In low-income countries, the overwhelming majority people who need wheelchairs don’t have one. This has a profound impact on their ability to lead independent lives–or even leave their own homes. Participants in a recent conference in Africa exchanged ideas and knowledge on how to address this challenge.

The 4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress Report (PDF format, 446 Kb) can now be downloaded for free on-line. The report summarizes a series of remarks, panel discussions, and other conference sessions on how to promote appropriate wheelchair services across the African continent. The report also presents a list of resolutions made on the last day of the Congress. The 4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress was held in September 2007 in Tanzania.

The Pan Africa Wheelchair Builders Association (PAWBA) and the Tanzanian Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (TATCOT) facilitated the congress. Co-funders included the World Health Organisation, ABILIS, Motivation Africa, Christoffel Blindenmission (CBM), and SINTEF. The 116 participating members came from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, UK, Norway and USA.

The previous three All Africa Wheelchair Congresses were held in Zambia (2003); Kenya (1998); and Zimbabwe (1995). Each congress was a landmark in developing appropriate and affordable wheelchair products and services in Africa in allowing participants to exchange knowledge across the continent. PAWBA was formed at the 2003 Congress.

You can download the full, 47-page 4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress report in PDF format (446 Kb) at:

http://www.independentliving.org/docs7/pawba-tatcot200709.pdf

We Can Do learned about this report by browsing the AskSource.info database on health, disability, and development. I gathered further detail by skimming the report itself.

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NEWS: Disabled to Vote in Karnataka, India

Posted on 22 April 2008. Filed under: Blind, Democratic Participation, Human Rights, Mobility Impariments, News, South Asian Region, Uncategorized | Tags: Braille, disability rights, election, India, Karanataka, mobility impairments, ramps, vision impairments, voting, voting booths, wheelchairs |

People with disabilities in Karnataka, India, have now won the right to accessible polling locations in the upcoming May 10, 2008, assembly elections, Action Aid India has reported. All officials involved with the upcoming election have been alerted to the requirement to install ramps and Braille voting booths so that people with mobility and vision impairments will be able to vote.

Delegates, including people who use wheelchairs or have vision impairments, visited political party officies to raise demands for access to voting polls. However, the offices themselves were not accessible to the delegates because they had no ramps.

Read the full story on the successful fight to achieve voting rights for disabled people in Karnataka, India, at:

http://actionaidindia.org/People_with_disability_Karnataka%20fight_to_make_election_count.htm

Are you working to achieve voting rights for disabled people in your own country? If so, you might wish to review a letter written to Chief Electoral Officers in India (PDF format, 2.29 Mb) last fall as part of the campaign to advocate for more accessible voting locations; unfortunately, the second part of the PDF file seems to be an image, which may be inaccessible to people using screen readers:

http://actionaidindia.org/download/disabled_right_group.pdf

While you are at the Action Aid India web site, you may wish to also browse among some of the other resources linked there related to disability rights.

We Can Do first learned about this news from Ghulam Nabi Nizamani.

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Read the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008 on the International Disability Rights Treaty!

Posted on 29 March 2008. Filed under: Announcements, Cognitive Impairments, Cross-Disability, Human Rights, Mobility Impariments, Psychiatric Disabilities | Tags: blog swarm, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, disability and international development, disability blog, disability blog swarm, disability rights, Human Rights, international development, international disability rights treaty, RatifyNow, RatifyNow CRPD Blog swarm 2008 |

From Australia … from the USA … from India … from New Zealand … from Fiji … from the Philippines …

Writers and bloggers from around the world joined together to help celebrate and promote the first legally binding international human rights instrument to protect the rights of people with disabilities — the international disability rights treaty, called the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

They celebrated by writing blog posts for the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008, which can now be read at
http://ratifynow.org/2008/03/29/ratifynow-crpd-blog-swarm-2008/

What did they write about? Some of the topics include …

… The story of one advocate who watched the birth of the CRPD among grassroots advocates with disabilities and others in the 1990s …
… How the CRPD could deliver new hope for people in India with mental disabilities …
… How the CRPD represents an evolution from the charity/medical model of disability to the social or human rights-based model …
… How the CRPD could make travel go a little more smoothly for tourists with disabilities …
… Why the CRPD matters for people who use personal assistance services or who are seeking the freedom to explore their own sexual expression …
… An allegorical tale about farmers, spoons, and plows: Why the CRPD is well worth celebrating and why our work isn’t done just because the CRPD is about to take full legal force …
… And more …

All at the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008, and all available by following the link to:

http://ratifynow.org/2008/03/29/ratifynow-crpd-blog-swarm-2008/

Celebrate and learn about the CRPD through the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008.

Then invite other people to do the same. Please circulate this notice or post it at your blog or web site — with, of course, a link to the blog swarm at

http://ratifynow.org/2008/03/29/ratifynow-crpd-blog-swarm-2008/

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NEWS: New Pakistani School Teaches Artificial Limb Preparation

Posted on 24 February 2008. Filed under: Mobility Impariments, News, South Asian Region, technology | Tags: artificial limbs, Dow University Artifical Limb, Dow University Health Sciences, DUAL, DUHS, Germany, ghulam nabi nizamani, Pakistan, Peshawar, prothesis devices, prothesis limbs, Sindh, Unique Pakistan |

Pakistan now has its second training program for people who wish to learn how to produce artificial limb, the on-line publication Unique Pakistan has reported. The first center, in Peshawar, was established with the assistance of Germany 25 years ago.

Students at the new school in Sindh are to be trained for four years. Twenty-five students joined the first batch in January 2008. The Dow University Artifical Limb (DUAL) center already has provided prothesis limbs to several hundred clients.

Unfortunately, the article I consulted did not provide details on how people with amputations or birth conditions can obtain protheses in Pakistan. Nor did the article indicate how people interested in learning how to construct artificial limbs can apply to enroll in the program either in Peshawar or in Sindh. IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH EITHER PROGRAM, then your knowledge would be welcome. Please share what information you can in the comments area below.

Meanwhile, you can read the article by clicking on this link.

I tried searching for the Dow University Health Sciences (DUHS) on the web because it appears they are responsible for setting up this school. A Wikipedia page has some information about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_University_of_Health_Sciences

The Wikipedia page indicates that the DUHS web site is at

http://www.duhs.edu.pk/

When I tried it, I couldn’t accesss it. (It timed out.) I’m not sure if this is a permanent problem or a temporary problem. If you can’t access it either, please let me know. If I get enough complaints then I’ll just remove the link.

We Can Do found this article through an email circulated by Ghulam Nabi Nizamani.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do (wecando.wordpress.com).

Also at We Can Do: catch up with the news; explore resources, toolkits, or funding and fellowship opportunities that might be helpful for your organization; find research, reports, papers, or statistics; or look up conferences, events, call for papers, or education/training opportunities.

This blog post is copyrighted to We Can Do (wecando.wordpress.com). Currently, only two web sites have on-going permission to syndicate (re-post) We Can Do blog posts: BlogAfrica.com and www.RatifyNow.org. If you are reading this anywhere else, then you are most likely reading a web site that regularly plagiarizes the work of other people.

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NEWS: New Delhi, India, Aims to Improve Accessibility

Posted on 19 February 2008. Filed under: Inclusion, Mobility Impariments, News, South Asian Region | Tags: accessible tourism, delhi transport corporation, disability and international development, disabled people, India, international development and disability, New Delhi, people with disabilities, persons with disability, Rajiv Gandhi foundation, Samarthya, Samarthya National Centre for promotion of barrier free, Sanjeev Sachdeva, The Hindu, universal design |

People with mobility impairments who live in, or plan to visit, New Delhi, India, are hoping the capital city will soon be easier for them to navigate.

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Samarthya National Centre for Promotion of Barrier Free Environment for Disabled Persons are collaborating with the aim of making Delhi more accessible for everyone. They have identified 20 sites and services, including 225 Delhi Transport Corporation bus queue shelters and the New Delhi railway station, that they plan to make “barrier free.” Their target is to make all of these sites accessible within two years.

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation works in areas that were of deep concern to Rajiv Gandhi by promoting “effective, practical and sustainable programmes in areas of national development.” One of its several areas of focus includes helping people with disabilities become more self-reliant, including gaining equal opportunities for employment or self-employment. Their web site is at http://www.rgfindia.com

The mission of the Samarthya National Centre is to promote an “inclusive environment and universal design in the built environment and transportation,” including a focus on barrier-free tourism. Their web site is at http://www.samarthyam.org

A newspaper article about the New Delhi accessibility project was published in The Hindu last month; read the full story at:

http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/26/stories/2008012656540400.htm

More information about the New Delhi project can be found at the following web pages:

http://www.samarthyam.org/node/19
http://www.samarthyam.org/node/27

You can also download a PDF file about the project (232 Kb) at

http://www.samarthyam.org/files/Current%20projects%20of%20Samarthya.pdf

Please note that only the third page is in English. I was unable to read the other three pages on my screen. I am assuming that the rest of this document may be in Hindi, which I guess my computer isn’t able to handle in PDF. If someone can confirm or verify this, please post a comment in the comments area below. This would be helpful information for others to have. Thank you.

Thank you to Sanjeev Sachdeva at Samarthya for circulating the news article through which I learned of this project. We Can Do found additional information about the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Samarthya through their web sites.

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EVENT/NEWS: Asian Festival of Inclusive Arts

Posted on 5 February 2008. Filed under: Announcements, Arts, Cross-Disability, Deaf, East Asia Pacific Region, Events and Conferences, Inclusion, Mobility Impariments, News | Tags: able-bodied artists, artists with disabilities, Asia, Asian Festival of Inclusive arts, Cambodia, disability and development, disabled artists, disabled people, film, international development, music, people with disabilities, performance, spotlight, Vietnam, visual arts |

Dear Friends of Epic Arts,

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to SPOTLIGHT An Asian Festival of Inclusive Arts.

For the first time ever, disabled and able-bodied artists from across Asia come together in Cambodia to present an exciting festival of performance, film, music and visual arts with a SPOTLIGHT on the abilities of all people.

http://www.spotlight-inclusiveartsasia.org/

Check out the website for more information on how you can join in the fun. The website is constantly being updated with news and images and will be up in Khmer towards the end of next week, so keep checking! The website will also serve as an archive of SPOTLIGHT after all the excitement has ended and hopefully as a communication tool for all the artists / organisations / individuals working in Inclusive Arts in Asia.

So forward this email to all your friends and colleagues and encourage them to come and participate in this truly exciting event.

Kind regards
Hannah & The SPOTLIGHT team

Hannah Stevens
Production Manager
Epic Arts/Cambodia
(+855) 12 454 935

We Can Do received this text via the Global Partnership on Disability and Development (GPDD) mailing list.

Catch up on other news or events, learn about useful resources or toolkits for your organization, or find reports and papers on disability issues in developing countries.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do (wecando.wordpress.com).

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CASE STUDIES: Disabled Women Entrepreneurs in Ethiopia

Posted on 26 January 2008. Filed under: Blind, Case Studies, Cognitive Impairments, Cross-Disability, Deaf, Employment, Mobility Impariments, Sub-Saharan Africa Region, Women | Tags: Addis Ababa, Africa, African entrepreneurs, blind entrepreneurs, business in Africa, deaf entrepreneurs, disabled entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs with leprosy, entrepreneurs with mobility impairments, Ethiopia, ethiopian entrepreneurs, hearing impairments, leprosy, sub-saharan africa, Tigray, visual impairments, women entrepreneurs |

Women with disabilities in Ethiopia and many other countries can face enormous obstacles in becoming economically independent. But some Ethiopian disabled women do become successful entrepreneurs.

A publication from the International Labour Organization (ILO), entitled Doing Business in Addis Ababa: Case Studies of Women Entrepreneurs with Disabilities in Ethiopia, presents 20 stories that describe how women with various disabilities have established their own small businesses in Addis Ababa and the Tigray region in Ethiopia. The women have a range of disabilities including visual impairments, hearing impairments, mobility impairments; and some have had leprosy. Two stories also describe how mothers of children with learning difficulties became entrepreneurs.

All the stories depict both the challenges faced by disabled women in Ethiopia and also the range of possibilities that can be open to them when they have access to the right skills, training, and opportunities. Many of the disabled women entrepreneurs in these case studies are able to use their income to support their families and children.

Read an abstract and download the publication in PDF format at:

http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/gladnetcollect/189/

We Can Do learned about this publication by browsing through Siyanda, an on-line database for publications and research related to gender and development.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do (wecando.wordpress.com).

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RESOURCE: Handbook for Making Water and Sanitation Accessible to Disabled People

Posted on 26 January 2008. Filed under: Health, Inclusion, Mobility Impariments, Poverty, Resources, Water and Sanitation | Tags: community development workers, disability and development, disability and international development, disabled people, disabled people's organizations, DPOs, drinking water, elderly people, engineers, international development, loughborough university, people with disabilities, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, public health workers, sanitation sector, sanitation services, service organizations, toilets, vulnerable groups, Water and Sanitation, water engineering and development centre, water supply, WEDC |

A book is available that can help water specialists, disabled advocates, and family members learn how to make water supply and sanitation services more accessible for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.

According to the World Bank, more than one billion poor people lack access to clean drinking water, and more than two billion people lack access to clean sanitation facilities such as toilets. Dirty water and lack of a clean place to defecate can make poor people sick. And sick people may die more easily, or become even poorer than they were before.

People with disabilities, particularly mobility impairments, may face even more barriers in accessing clean water or sanitation. Water pumps might be poorly designed for people who have difficulty using one or both hands, or toilets may not be appropriately designed for people who have difficulty squatting. Many other individuals who are not ordinarly thought of as “disabled” may also face similar barriers, including frail elderly people; pregnant women; people carrying or taking care of babies and young children; and other individuals.

The book, Water and Sanitation for Disabled People and Other Vulnerable Groups, was written particularly for planners and service providers in the water supply and sanitation sector. Disabled people’s organizations, and service organizations targeted at disabled people and their familieis, may also find some of the information useful to their work. It provides practical information, ideas, and guidance about how to meet the needs of people in “real communities”–meaning, places where people “come with a wide range of shapes, sizes, abilities, and needs.”

This book is written so that users can skip over the chapters they don’t need and focus on the chapters they want. The first, introductory chapter may be useful for all readers. The second chapter answers the question, “Why should the water and sanitation sector consider disabled people”: it is written primarily for people who have little contact with disability issues but might also be helpful for some advocates. For example, the pictures on page 10 could be useful in educating others about the multiple types of barriers that disabled people face in society–not only in water and sanitation.

Chapter 3 helps explain the water and sanitation sector to disabled people, disability service providers, and advocates. Chapter 4 helps explain disability issues to water and sanitation professionals, engineers, public health workers, and community development workers.

Chapters 5, 6, and 7 provide practical ideas for how to make physical facilities more inclusive: these can be useful both for professionals and also for disabled people and their families.

Chapter 8 offers ideas for planning and implementing services with disabled people in mind. Section 8.2 is particularly meant for water and sanitation service providers, while section 8.3 is mainly meant for the disability sector.

Chapter 9 presents case studies that illustrate how disabled people and their families have benefitted from improved access to water and sanitation facilities. Case studies are shared from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda, and Tibet.

The appendices point readers to further resources that can help them learn more about either water and sanitation issues or disability issues.

A print version of the book can be purchased from the Water, Engingeering, and Development Centre (WEDC) of Loughborough University; or a PDF version can be downloaded for free. For more information about the book and how to obtain it, go to

http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/publications/details.php?book=1%2084380%20079%209.

People with visual impairments should note that, in order to download the PDF file, you would need to enter a visual image “captcha.” I did not see any clear instructions for alternate means for people with visual impairments to download the file. (If they exist and I missed them, please alert me in the comments area below.) You can contact WEDC by email to either share your concerns/feedback or to request assistance at: WEDC@lboro.ac.uk. I would be interested in knowing about the experiences of anyone with a visual impairment who tries to obtain this (or any other) book from WEDC.

When I downloaded my own copy, I left a comment encouraging WEDC to offer auditory captcha in addition to visual captcha and to also give people the means of contacting them to ask for assistance in downloading or receiving PDF files. I haven’t heard back from them yet. If I do, I’ll try to remember to come back here and share what they say.

We Can Do learned about this resource by browsing the Siyanda on-line database of gender and development materials. Try entering key words such as “disabilities” into the Siyanda search engine.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do (wecando.wordpress.com).

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REPORT: State of Disabled People’s Rights in Kenya (2007)

Posted on 17 January 2008. Filed under: Academic Papers and Research, Blind, Cognitive Impairments, Cross-Disability, Deaf, Human Rights, Mobility Impariments, Reports, Sub-Saharan Africa Region | Tags: African union of the blind, autonomy, Blind, centre for disability rights education and advocacy, CREAD, Deaf, dignity, disabilities, disability, disability rights, Disability rights promotion international, disabled, DRPI, equality, Human Rights, Inclusion, intellectual disabilities, international development, Kenya, kenyan union of the blind, mobility impairments, State of Disabled people's rights in kenya, Swedish association of the visually impaired, Swedish international development agency, world blind union |

[Originally published at wecando.wordpress.com (We Can Do) at http://tinyurl.com/27gxpy]

A recent publication, entitled “State of Disabled People’s Rights in Kenya (2007) Report,” analyzes national and regional Kenyan legislation on disability; government programs and policies on disability, and case law in disability. The report also presents the results of interviews with disabled people in three selected regions within Kenya about their human rights situation, in respect to dignity, autonomy, equality, and inclusion. Deaf people, blind people, and people with mobility impairments, and intellectual disabilities were interviewed. An overview of the disability rights movement in Kenya is given.

The examination of legislation and policies found that the Constitution of Kenya guarantees the human rights and liberties of all citizens. However, although the constitution outlaws discrimination on grounds such as race, tribe, or color, it does not specifically outlaw discrimination on the basis of disability. Further, anti-discrimination laws have not been enforced in cases where disability-related discrimination has occurred.

Interviews with individual disabled people in Kenya found that nearly three-quarters had been denied the right to make decisions affecting their own lives. Also, 80% report experiencing segregation, isolation, and lack of support for their needs. More than one-third reported that their own families had committed abuse or violence on them, and more than 45 percent said their families did not allow them to participate in family activities on the same basis as other family members.

The report recommends strengthening the capacity of Disabled People’s Organizations to address human rights issues; mainstreaming disability rights issues into government bodies and the national development strategy; involving disabled people and their organization in improving anti-discrimination legislation; and making the court process more accessible to disabled people so they can more effectively challenge disability-based discrimination.

The “State of Disabled People’s Rights in Kenya (2007) Report” was commissioned by the African Union of the Blind in collaboration with the Kenyan Union of the Blind, the World Blind Union, and the Centre for Disability Rights Education and Advocacy (CREAD), with support from the Swedish International Development Agency, the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired, and Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI).

The report can be read on-line at http://www.yorku.ca/drpi/Kenya07.html#startContent

The report also can be downloaded in PDF format (1.2 Mb) at http://www.yorku.ca/drpi/files/KenyaReport07.pdf

This article has been reposted at the RatifyNow.org web site with permission of author. RatifyNow is an organization working to maximize the number of countries signing, ratifying, and implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do.

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NEWS: Christian Blind Mission Now for All Disabilities

Posted on 6 January 2008. Filed under: Blind, Cross-Disability, Deaf, Education, Mobility Impariments, News, Psychiatric Disabilities, Rehabilitation | Tags: Christian Blind Mission, Deaf, disability and international development, disabled people, hearing impairment, international development, mental disabilities, mobility impairment, mobility impairments, people with disabilities, psycho-social disabilities |

The Christian Blind Mission has announced that they will now serve people with all disabilities, not only people with vision impairments. Until now, the century-old organization also known as Christoffel Blinden Mission and now officially named cbm, has focused its efforts on preventing and treating blindness and on providing education and rehabilitation services for people with vision impairment.

“The organization has decided that its purpose and work is to improve the quality of life of all persons with disability, which includes those with hearing or physical impairment and mental ill health as well as those with visual loss,” says CBM president, Prof. Allen Foster.

CBM has also issued a new motto: “Together we can do more.” The word “together” is meant to emphasize the importance of partnership, particularly with organizations in low-income countries and with mainstream development organizations. The phrase “we can” is meant to emphasize ability over disability. And “do more” is meant to challenge the fact that the majority of people with disabilities in developing nations do not receive the medical, educational, and rehabilitation services they need.

CBM works with more than 700 partners in more than 100 countries to serve more than 18 million people with disabilities.

More detail can be found at:

http://www.cbmicanada.org/news_viewer.asp?news_id=138

Thank you to Ghulam Nabi Nazimani for helping alert me to this news.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do.

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News at Your Fingertips

Posted on 30 December 2007. Filed under: autism, Blind, Children, Cognitive Impairments, Commonwealth Nations, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), Cross-Disability, Deaf, Democratic Participation, East Asia and Central Asia, East Asia Pacific Region, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Education, Employment, Families, Funding, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Inclusion, Introduction to "We Can Do", Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Mobility Impariments, Multiple Disabilities, News, Psychiatric Disabilities, Rehabilitation, Reports, Resources, South Asian Region, Sub-Saharan Africa Region, technology, Women |

I have now added a page to the top navigation bar, News, that consolidates all the news and press releases posted at We Can Do since this blog began.

I mostly cribbed this new page from the work I did recently for the We Can Do Retrospective: The First 100 Posts (and Then Some). However, if you compare the two, you will see that there are more items listed under the “News” page in the top navigation bar than there are in the Retrospective post. That’s because, when I wrote the Retrospective post, I made a rule with myself that each We Can Do post would be listed only once, even if it arguably belonged in more than one category. Some of the “news” items reported new resources that might still be helpful for readers months or years from now. So I listed those items under “Resources” in the Retrospective post instead of news. But for the “News” page in the navigation bar, I made sure to include anything that was tagged as “news” when it was first posted.

I will try to keep the “News” page up to date. You will notice that it already includes one news item that has gone up since the Retrospective post.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do.

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We Can Do Retrospective: The First 100 Posts (and Then Some)

Posted on 22 December 2007. Filed under: Academic Papers and Research, Announcements, Arts, autism, Blind, Call for Papers, Case Studies, Children, Cognitive Impairments, Commonwealth Nations, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), Cross-Disability, Deaf, Democratic Participation, Disability Studies, Disaster Planning & Mitigation, East Asia and Central Asia, East Asia Pacific Region, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Education, Education and Training Opportunities, Employment, Events and Conferences, Families, Fellowships & Scholarships, Funding, Guest Blogger, Health, HIV/AIDS, Housing, Human Rights, Immigration, Inclusion, Interpreting, Introduction to "We Can Do", Jobs & Internships, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Mobility Impariments, Multiple Disabilities, News, Opinion, Opportunities, Policy & Legislation, Poverty, Psychiatric Disabilities, Rehabilitation, Remittances, Reports, Resources, South Asian Region, Sub-Saharan Africa Region, technology, Violence, Volunteer Opportunities, Women | Tags: , Academic Papers and Research, blind children, Call for Papers, case study, child-friendly CRPD, computers for blind people, conferences, CRPD, disabilities, disability, disability and development, disability and international development, disability rights, disabled, disabled people, Disabled People International, Dolphin Pen, events, Funding, funding sources, Handicap International, Human Rights, human rights resources, Inclusion, India, information, international convention on the rights of persons with, International Day of Disabled Persons, international development, journals, mainstreaming disability, missed opportunities, News, opinion pieces, papers, parliamentarians, people with disabilities, poverty reduction strategies, practical resources, research, resource book, Resources, retrospective, screen magnifier, screen reader, Sightsaver's dolphin pen, training opportunities, UN Enable, United Nations, universal design, visitability, Voluntary Services Overseas, We Can Do, Zimbabwe |

Skip introduction, go straight to the Table of Contents

If you’re new to We Can Do, what interesting information, news, or resources might you have overlooked from the past few months? Although some older items may no longer be interesting, others may still be relevant and helpful a year or three from now. This post can help guide you through the first 100-plus posts at this blog. You can click from the table of contents below to any section of this page that interests you–and then another click on “table of contents” can take you back to the contents, or “top of this page” takes you back to this introduction.

Top of this page

Table of Contents

About We Can Do
The five most popular We Can Do posts
The five most under-rated We Can Do posts
Finding Practical Resources and Case Studies, or Helpful Organizations
Finding sources of information, research, papers, or statistics
Funding sources: leads on where to find funding support
Academic papers related to disabled people in developing countries
News related to disabled people in developing countries
Opinion pieces
Call for papers for conferences and journals
International Conference and Event Announcements
Job, internship, and volunteer opportunities
Education and training opportunities
Missed opportunities for events, jobs, etc.
What’s next for We Can Do?

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About We Can Do

To learn more about the purpose of We Can Do, see About We Can Do. For more on its guiding philosophy, go to Why We Can Do.

Thinking about submitting your own written materials, job posts, conference announcements, or resources to We Can Do? Check the Wish list for written materials and resources.

Want to receive an alert in email when a new post goes up at We Can Do? You can Subscribe to We Can Do for free.

I changed the organization and appearance of We Can Do in early October to its present format.

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The Five Most Popular We Can Do posts

The five listed here are the ones that have attracted the most “page views” since We Can Do began in late July. You may notice that not all of these are featured in the 10 “most popular posts” listed in the right-hand navigation bar. That’s because the navigation bar only lists posts that have received a lot of traffic very recently (I think within the past few days; its done automatically by wordpress so I’m not sure how it works). But here I’m listing the five that have the highest TOTAL page views.

An announcement about the International Day of Disabled Persons, held on December 3, 2007, has received more than 600 hits.
More than 500 We Can Do readers were especially anxious to learn more about some limited available funding for conference participation from developing nations.
More than 400 readers wanted to learn from a Case study on early intervention for blind children.
The international Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD) in plain language has attracted more than 400 readers. This version of the CRPD was written for people who have trouble understanding the legal language of the original, or who want a tool to help them translate the CRPD into another language.
More than 400 people have learned more About We Can Do.

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The Five Most Under-Rated We Can Do posts

Are these posts really under-rated? You’ll have to read them and decide for yourself. But in choosing these five, I used two criteria: 1. These are posts that have received fewer than 100 visitors–sometimes far fewer. 2. These are posts that I think could be helpful or interesting to readers and maybe deserve more attention than they have gotten. These are in no particular order:

See Finding development organizations and resources for a link that can help you find major international development organizations and funders. Some of these organizations already work on disability issues and may be interested in building new partnerships with new DPOs, development organizations, and other NGOs.
Equipment that enables blind people in industrialized countries to read computer screens can be expensive. But new technology can help bring screen readers and magnifiers to blind people in developing countries. The Sightsaver’s Dolphin Pen is cheaper, which means it is easier to afford in countries where the average income may be only a few hundred dollars per person per year.
Looking for statistics to back up your arguments, or to add to your literature review for your dissertation? You can consult Numbers Don’t Feed People–Or Do They?” for a few leads.
Want to help teach disabled people in your country about the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)? Handicap International has developd a teaching kit on the CRPD with suggested teaching points, power point programs, Word files and PDF files.
Teachers, parents, and other advocates for children can use the Child-friendly version of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to teach both disabled and non-disabled children about disability rights.

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Finding Practical Resources and Case Studies or Helpful Organizations

Finding organizations; Resources for inclusive development; Human rights resources; Case studies; Other helpful resources

Finding organizations
Mainstream international development agencies sometimes say that they don’t know how to find people with disabilities, or their representative organizations, in the developing countries where they work. Reviewing the July post entitled Finding Local Disability Organizations may help point you in the right direction. Also see Disability Organizations in Afghanistan, Asia, Kenya, Uganda.

Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) sometimes aren’t sure where to find mainstream development organizations and resources that might be willing to collaborate with them.

There is an international network of organizations for families of people with Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome.

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Resources for Inclusive Development
Both disability advocates and mainstream development organizations want to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind when countries and organizations fight poverty or improve public health, education, water, and other services. But it can be a challenge to figure out how to make projects and government policies more inclusive. The following resources can help:

Making Poverty Reduction Strategies Inclusive: for disability advocates and other individuals or organizations that want to help national government policies become more inclusive of disabled people when they fight poverty. This handbook can be downloaded for free.
Handbook on Mainstreaming Disability, for mainstream international development organizations written by Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO). Download for free.
An On-line book on Universal Design and Visitability can be downloaded for free.

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Resources on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
By now, you may be aware that a global movement is taking place to ratify the international disability rights treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Many relevant resources are now being produced in relation to the CRPD, some of which have been posted or featured here at We Can Do:

Read the CRPD “translated” into plain English.

UNICEF has developed a child-friendly version of the CRPD to help children understand disability rights

Disabled People International offers two toolkits on ratifying and implementing the CRPD for disability advocates who want to help ensure that all disabled people have their human rights recognized.

A handbook on disability rights targeted at parliamentarians can help parliamentarians, people who work in close contact with government agencies, and disability advocates in general, better understand the CRPD.

The United Nations’ new web site, UN Enable, is one of the best, and most official, places to find information on the CRPD.

Handicap International has produced its own Teaching Kit on the CRPD.

The International Disability Equality Agency (IDEA) has issued Equalize It! A Manifesto for Disability Equality in Development Cooperation that expresses their position on how to ensure disability equality in the international development field.

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Case Studies
Reviewing case studies of projects implemented elsewhere can be a valuable source of ideas that could help you figure out how to run or implement your own projects. I would love to post many more best-practice and failed-practice case studies than I have available right now. If you think you have something worth sharing, please check my Wish List of Written Materials and Resource and contact me at ashettle [at] patriot.net.

But for now, here are two case studies:

A Case Study about an Early intervention program for blind children in Russia
a collection of short case summaries of projects for deaf children in Burkino Faso, Zimbabwe, Somaliland, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and India

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Other Helpful Resources

A set of Recommendations on how to empower people with intellectual disabilities in the Asian and Pacific region was developed at a conference held in the region in October 2007.
A dictionary for Sri Lankan Sign Language has been published.
A new device functions as a screen reader or magnifier for blind people in developing countries: this Sightsavers’ Dolphin Pen is cheaper than the standard screen readers used in industrialized countries. That helps bring it within reach of a wider number of blind people even in countries where the average income is very low.

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Finding Useful Sources of Information and Research

Finding academic research, papers, resources, or statistics
Looking for academic research and academic papers; resources that can be used by people working in the field; or sources of statistics? Some of the following posts may be helpful:

Information on people with disabilities
Interested in learning about the living conditions of people with disabilities in specific nations, or in specific thematic areas? Some of the following may be of interest:

Report on Disabled People in Zimbabwe
World Bank Report on Disabled people in India
A report on research capacity on mental health in low- and middle-income countries was published by the Global Forum for Health Research on Mental Health Day in October 2007.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) published a report on employment and people with disabilities, which calls for more active and sustained efforts to increase the employment of people with disabilities in part to help meet the Millennium Development Goals.
An early post reviews information on deaf children with additional disabilities and resources available for them in developing countries.

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Funding Sources

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) may have some funding for DPOs, NGOs, or other entities to be used for disability inclusion.
The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) has come out with a resource that could help women’s organizations find funding.
The Worldwide Initiative for Grantmaker Support (WINGS) Global Fund for Community Foundations makes grants of up to $50,000 USD to emerging and developing community foundations or support organizations in developing countries. Note that these funds are NOT meant for individual non-government organizations (NGOs) but for small FOUNDATIONS or organizations meant to SUPPORT NGOs.
The United Nations Democracy Fund holds an annual competition for funding applications for projects to promote better democratic participation. The 2007 deadline is December 18. Missed it? Review their information carefully and consider preparing early for their next funding round.
Looking for funding to attend an international or local conference? three organizations have some limited funds available for conference participation from developing countries; two of these are focused on Latin America, but the first one listed (the Ford Foundation) covers other regions as well.
The Inter-American
Foundations Grassroots Development Fellowship Program offers research fellowships to doctorate (PhD) students who want to study grassroots movements among poor people in Latin America. The application deadline is January 22, 2008.
Funding is available for South Asian projects on HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination; the application deadline is January 31, 2008.

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Academic Papers

We Can Do has published, or re-published, academic papers, or linked to same, on a range of subjects, including:

Violence against blind and visually impaired girls in school in Malawi by Abigail Suka
Changing Face of Disability Movement: from Charity to Empowerment by Kishor Bhanushali
Impact of the South Asian Earthquake on Disabled People in the State of Jammu and Kashmir by Dr. Parvinder Singh
Equalizing Educational Opportunity for the Nigerian-Ghanaian Blind Girl Child by Florence Banku Obi.
Violence Against Women with Disabilities in South Africa by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa.

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News

September 2007; October 2007; November 2007; Early December 2007

September 2007
At one point in September, the international disability community prematurely thought we might be On the Verge of Making History by ratifying the disability rights community.

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October 2007

In October, We Can Do reported that Gabon and India ratified, and Cambodia signed, the International CRPD (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).
The World Health Organization (WHO) has initiated a project improving access to services for people with psycho-social (psychiatric) disabilities.
An activist, Mussa Chiwaula, has been lobbying the Malawi government for disability rights.
Read a report on the first known African deaf HIV/AIDS workshop.

A polio immunization drive was launched in Sudan.

Mental Disabilities Rights International (MDRI) reports severe abuse and human rights violations of people with mental disabilities in Argentina.
A Report was issued on a disability forum held in Pakistan.

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November 2007

Mugiho Takeshita at the UNDP’s Crisis Prevention and Recovery was seeking information on implementing the CRPD in relation to crisis prevention and recovery for disabilities caused by violence and natural disaster.
A Report was issued from the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters Conference that was held in Spain in July 2007.
Mental Disabilities Rights International (MDRI) reports on human rights abuses of disabled children and adults in Serbia.
The Commonwealth Disabled People’s Conference issued a Memorandum calling for Commonwealth countries to support the CRPD.
A Brazilian journalist and disability advocate received the International Service Human Rights Award for her defense of the human rights of people with disabilities.

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Early December 2007

The International Day of Disabled Persons was held on December 3, 2007.
A web site on Disability Awareness Week in India was launched.
Disability advocates have launched a global campaign to ratify the international disability rights treaty.
The United Nations Secretary General made a statement in support of employing disabled people.
People in India celebrated the International Day of Disabled Persons.
Rosangela Berman Bieler made a statement on receiving the International Services Human Rights Award.
Read a summary of a round table discussion on disability rights in Bangladesh, which held in December 2007.
Bangladesh, Spain, Namibia, and Nicaragua ratify the international disability rights treaty (CRPD).
El Salvador, Mexico ratify the CRPD.

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Opinion Pieces

So far, the opinion pieces here are all by me. But I would like for We Can Do to be host to an active exchange of ideas and differing perspectives. If you have a strong opinion about something, please consider submitting it. Yes, that includes opinions that disagree with mine! Consult the Wish list for written materials and resources for ideas of the kinds of topics I’m trying to cover at We Can Do.

Meanwhile, here are a few of my own opinion pieces:

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Call for Papers (for Conferences, Journals, Other)

You might be just now starting your academic career as an undergraduate or graduate student. Or perhaps you have been doing quantitative or qualitative research, or writing policy analysis, or case studies, or social analysis, for years. Either way, if you’re looking for opportunities to present, publish, or otherwise disseminate your papers or run a workshop, then check out these upcoming or ongoing opportunities:

A Call for proposals for an international forum on women’s rights and development is open until January 28, 2008. The conference itself will be in November 2008.
A Call for papers for the International Conference on Social Science Research Methodologies is open until February 2008. The conference itself will be in September 2008.
Authors are needed to Write book chapters for a book to be entitled, “Post-Conflict Rehabilitation: Creating a Trauma Membrane for Individuals and Communities and Restructuring Lives after Trauma”.
If you have ever written a paper about the World Bank for a class or for a dissertation during your post-secondary education, then you can share your university papers on the World Bank.

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International Conferences and Events

Looking for a conference to attend? Here are a few upcoming events:
January 2008; February 2008; March 2008; April 2008; May 2008; August 2008; September 2008; November 2008

January 2008
The South Asian Conference on Autism is being held in New Delhi, India in January 2008.

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February 2008

The Disabilities Initiatives in Development Seminar, also in Bangladesh also in February 2008.

One for all: Persons with Disabilities Initiative in Development, again in Bangladesh in February 2008.

The International Centre for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, UK is holding a conference on sign language research in the UK in February 2008.

A conference on the deaf community, sign languages, social issues, civil rights, and creativity will be held on the campus of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA.

The Techshare India 2008 Conference on accessibility will be held in New Delhi, India, in February 2008.

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March 2008
The 8th annual meeting of the Gulf Disability Society will meet in United Arab Emirates in March 2008.

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April 2008

The Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities will meet in the Hawaii islands, USA, in April 2008.
The 8th Symposium of the Arab Federation of the Organs of the Deaf “Improving Education and Rehabilitation of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing People” will be held in Saudi Arabia in April 2008.
The Unite for Sight International Health Confernece will be held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA in April 2008.

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May 2008

The Conference on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons on Disabilities will be held in Ethiopia in May 2008.
The i-CREATE International Conference on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology will be held in Thailand in May 2008.

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August 2008

The 21st World Congress of Rehabilitation International will meet in Quebec in August 2008.
The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication conference will be held in Montreal, Canada, in August 2008.

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September 2008

The International Conference on Social Science Research Methodologies will meet in South Africa in September 2008. A Call for Paper/Presentation Abstracts is open until February 2008.

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November 2008
The Association on Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)’s International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in November 2008. A call for proposals is open until January 28, 2008.

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Jobs, Internships, Volunteer Opportunities

We Can Do will probably never be a comprehensive job-board. Serious job, internship, or volunteer placement hunters will want to explore other means of finding opportunities. For example, jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities in the international field generally, or in the disability field generally, can sometimes be found at www.idealist.org. But I do occasionally happen to come across a job announcement. Here are a few that may still be open to applications:

Three job posts are available in Luanda, Angola; the deadline for these is December 31, 2007.
On-line translators for a corporate social responsibility initiative called “Disability Focus”. Contact organization to inquire regarding deadline.
The United Nations is seeking a Senior Social Affairs Officer, P-5. The application deadline is January 14, 2008.

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Education and Training Opportunities

Leadership training for women with disabilities in South Asia will be available in February 2008.
Mobility International USA is recruiting men and women with disabilities from Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru for the International Leadership Employment and Disability (I-LEAD) program for 21 days in March 2008 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Study human rights at Central European University, for grassroots activists for human rights involved with a local non-government organization (NGO), or for lawyers with an interest in human rights.

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Missed Opportunities

Missed call for papers; Missed training opportunities; Missed job, internship, and volunteer opportunities; Missed events and conferences

Some of the material I post at We Can Do is time-sensitive material. That means the conferences announced here have come and gone; job posts have been filled; and deadlines are over. So, if it’s too late for you to do anything about any of the following announcements, then why bother listing them? First, some conference organizers issue compilations of papers and presentations or other interesting materials after their event is over. If a topic interests you, it may be worth communicating with event organizers to see if any follow-up publications are available. Second, organizations that offer one conference, job opportunity, call for papers, etc., may offer something similar in the future. Many conferences, for example, meet every one, two, three, or four years. Monitoring, joining, or communicating with organizations of interest to you could help ensure that you learn about the next opportunity in time to plan for it.

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Missed Call for Papers
The German Journal for Disability and Development called for papers on art and disabilities to be submitted by the end of November 2007.

Also browse through the listing of upcoming conferences and missed conferences.

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Missed Training Opportunities

In October 2007, the International Labour Organisation had a training course for professionals from developing countries.

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Missed Jobs, Internships, and Volunteer Opportunities
Remember that it is too late to apply for these specific opportunities. These are listed here in case you want to check out the sponsoring organizations for future opportunities like these:

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Missed Event and Conference Opportunities

The Commonwealth disabled peoples conference in Uganda was held in November 2007. Participants at that conference issued a memorandum asking commonwealth countries to support the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The International Conference on Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Emergency Situations was held in Germany in November 2007.
A conference was held by the Community Based Rehabilitation African Network on Inclusive Policy in South Africa in November 2007.
An international conference on intellectual disabilities and mental retardation was held in Thailand in November 2007.
The 7th International Seminar on Housing the Poor was held in Thailand in November 2007.
An on-line forum on the sexual and reproductive health of people with disabilities was held via e-mail in November.
A national conference on the CRPD was held in India in early December 2007.
An on-line forum on successful family planning programs held in December 2007; people may also wish to full out a survey on this topic.
A photo competition on decent work and people with disabilities was held by the International Labour Organization, ending in November 2007.

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What’s Next for We Can Do?

I am not yet satisfied with We Can Do. I still see many gaps that I want to repair. I want to find, and post, more materials of a pragmatic nature. By which I mean, material that people in the field can put to immediate use in improving the lives of disabled people in developing countries. If you think you can help me locate helpful materials, please review my Wish list for written materials and resources and contact me.

I also want to reach more development professionals at mainstream development organizations and more employees and volunteers at international disability organizations. And I want to reach more small DPOs and individual advocates in more developing countries. The knowledge shared at We Can Do cannot help until it is brought to people with disabilities living in poverty in developing countries. That “final mile” can only be bridged by readers like YOU.

If you want to help, I hope you will consider telling your colleagues and contacts about We Can Do. If you run a web site or a blog, please consider linking to We Can Do at https://wecando.wordpress.com. If you have the skills, the time, and the commitment to launch a We Can Do mirror site translation into some other language, please talk to me (leave a comment or email me at ashettle [at] patriot.net). And please do feel free to print out the more helpful We Can Do posts to share with people you know in developing countries who do not have easy access to the Internet.

For those of you who like numbers: We Can Do had 285 page views in July; 851 in August; 1305 in September; 2936 in October; 4862 in November; and more than 5100 in the first three weeks of December. And who is responsible for making these numbers happen? Why—you, of course! So, thank you for visiting We Can Do.

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NEWS: Human Rights Abuses of Disabled Children, Adults in Serbia

Posted on 17 November 2007. Filed under: Blind, Children, Cognitive Impairments, Cross-Disability, Deaf, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Human Rights, Mobility Impariments, Multiple Disabilities, News, Psychiatric Disabilities | Tags: autism, autistic, disabilities, disability, disability and development, disabled, human rights abuses, human rights violations, international development, mental illness, psychosocial disabilities, psychosocial disability |

MENTAL DISABILITY RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL

Embargoed Until November 14th, 2007

Contact: Laurie Ahern – 202.361.1402
Eric Rosenthal – 202.361.9195
Email: Lahern@mdri.org
Email: Erosenthal@mdri.org

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP ACCUSES SERBIA OF TORTURE AND ABUSE AGAINST CHILDREN AND ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES

Belgrade, Serbia – November 14, 2007 – Following a four year investigation, Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) released its findings today in a report detailing the human rights abuses perpetrated against children and adults in Serbia with disabilities, forced to live out their lives in institutions. Torment not Treatment: Serbia’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities describes children and adults tied to beds or never allowed to leave their cribs – some for years at a time. In addition, filthy conditions, contagious diseases, lack of medical care, rehabilitation and judicial oversight renders placement in a Serbian institution life threatening for both children and adults. The children and adults had a range of disabilities including Downs Syndrome, deafness, visual impairment, autism, and mobility impairments.

“These are Serbia’s most vulnerable citizens. Thousands confined to institutions are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and abuse. Children and adults tied down and restrained over a lifetime is dangerous and painful treatment tantamount to torture – clear violations of the European Convention on Human Rights,” said Attorney Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director of MDRI and an expert on human rights law.

“We call on the government of Serbia to stop these abuses immediately and to respect the human rights of all people with disabilities,” concluded Rosenthal.

For more information visit www.mdri.org, where you can download a copy of the full report in PDF format, videos, and photos. The video footage does not have captions available. As a deaf person, I found that if you read the executive summary of the report and look at some of the photos before viewing the video then most of the images in the video speak for themselves. I’m guessing that there is probably no audio description for blind people; as a sighted deaf person, I’m afraid I’m not in a position to judge how much sense the video will make without it. Readers who are deaf or blind–or who support their interests–may wish to contact MDRI to encourage them to make their video materials available with both captions and audio description.

MDRI is an international human rights and advocacy organization dedicated to the full participation in society of people with mental disabilities worldwide. We Can Do published an earlier press release from MDRI reporting on similar human rights abuses in Argentina; the Argentina report, entitled Ruined Lives, can still be downloaded from the front page of the MDRI web site (scroll down the page). More reports about human rights abuses of people with disabilities in Turkey, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Kosovo, Russia, and Hungary can be downloaded in PDF format from http://www.mdri.org/publications/index.htm

Most of the text of this blog post comes from the MDRI press release, which can be retrieved at www.mdri.org.

Learn how to receive an email alert when new material is posted at We Can Do.

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Please Submit YOUR Materials to We Can Do

Posted on 7 November 2007. Filed under: Academic Papers and Research, Announcements, Arts, Blind, Call for Papers, Case Studies, Children, Cognitive Impairments, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), Cross-Disability, Deaf, Disability Studies, Disaster Planning & Mitigation, East Asia Pacific Region, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Education, Employment, Events and Conferences, Families, Funding, Guest Blogger, HIV/AIDS, Housing, Human Rights, Immigration, Interpreting, Introduction to "We Can Do", Jobs & Internships, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Mobility Impariments, Multiple Disabilities, News, Opinion, Opportunities, Policy & Legislation, Poverty, Psychiatric Disabilities, Rehabilitation, Remittances, Resources, South Asian Region, Sub-Saharan Africa Region, Uncategorized, Violence, Volunteer Opportunities, Women | Tags: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Croatia, CRPD, Cuba, disability, disability movement, disability rights, Gabon, guest blogging, Hungary, India, international development, Jamaica, Panama, publishing, We Can Do, writing |

Currently, We Can Do gathers news; announcements; academic papers; case studies; opinion pieces; information about resources; and other materials of interest to disabled advocates and international development professionals from a wide range of sources. In addition to these, from time to time, I write fresh content of my own.

I also hope to be able to depend heavily on YOU–We Can Do readers–for some of the best, most interesting, and helpful materials. Examples of materials that would interest me include, but are not limited to: “best practice” case studies; “failed practice” case studies; checklists; fundraising advice or resources; other pragmatic resources; academic papers or reports; student projects; press releases; opinion pieces; announcements; and more. For more detail, please click on “Wish List for Written Materials and Resources” at the top navigation bar.

If you can assist with my current top priority, or with any of the other items in my “wish list”, then PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. Email me at ashettle at patriot dot net or leave a short note in the comment area below 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; 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!

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.

Edited to Add: 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 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:

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.

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NEWS: Sudan nationwide polio immunization drive

Posted on 23 October 2007. Filed under: Health, Mobility Impariments, News, Sub-Saharan Africa Region | Tags: disabilities, disability, disability and development, disabled, international development, polio, polio immunization drive, Sudan, UN, United Nations |

As some We Can Do readers are well aware, polio, a potentially deadly disease that can leave its survivors with paralysis, is not yet entirely eradicated from the face of the Earth. Rich countries generally have been polio free for many decades–and even some developing countries have been polio free for many years as well. But in a few remaining countries, polio does occasionally flare up from time to time. And probably anyone with a sufficently strong network of contacts among the international disability community eventually encounters a number of commited, active young advocates in developing countries who happen to have been paralyzed due to polio.

United Nations agencies and Sudanese health officials have recently announced a massive nationwide polio immunization campaign. Sudan had previously been declared polio-free in 2005, but the potentially deadly virus was recently discovered again.

For more detail, follow the link to:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24358&Cr=polio&Cr1=

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CONFERENCE: Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Posted on 15 October 2007. Filed under: Announcements, Cognitive Impairments, Events and Conferences, Mobility Impariments, Multiple Disabilities, technology | Tags: alternative communication, auditory processing disorder, augmentative and alternative communication, augmentive communication, autism, cerebral palsy, conference, deafness, disabilities, disability, disability and development, disabled, international development, International Society for Augmentative and Alternative, ISAAC, speech impairment |

Most of the text for this announcement is taken from the web site for the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC).

Certain types of disabilities, such as deafness, speech impairment, cerebral palsy, autism, or auditory processing disorders can affect the way a person communicates. Certain technologies and strategies can enable people with these or other disabilities to communicate with each other and the wider world. These technologies and strategies are collectively referred to as “augmentative and alternative communication.”

“Leading the way” is the theme of ISAAC’s 13th biennial meeting, which will be held in Montréal, Canada in August 2008. ISAAC and its members have been leaders in AAC around the world for almost 25 years! ISAAC officially began in 1983 with a small group of individuals and has grown into an organization that is recognized internationally for the expertise, dedication, and creativity of its members.

We have much to celebrate in 2008, ISAAC’s 25th anniversary. The field of AAC has changed enormously in the last 25 years, and will continue to evolve in the future. Technological advances and new perspectives on human communication have shaped the evolution of AAC. Individuals who use AAC for their daily communication have increasingly taken on leadership roles in many different ways. Examples of leadership will be showcased as part of the 2008 conference program.Papers, presentations, and discussions of research projects, clinical and educational concerns, and issues of interest to individuals who use AAC systems will round out the program.

The conference committees are preparing an exceptional event! In addition to the exciting main conference program, there will be pre-conference workshops on current topics in AAC, and the research symposium following the main conference will be a must for AAC researchers. Montréal is the perfect site for the 2008 conference. A city with an interesting history and a bright future, Montréal is a lively place to visit, especially in the summertime. There will be opportunities to take advantage of all Montréal has to offer!

We are looking forward to welcoming ISAAC to Montréal in 2008!
See you there!

Your conference co-chairs,
Ann Sutton and Jeff Riley
isaac2008@jpdl.com

Pre-conference workshops will be held August 2 and 3, 2008. The main conference will be August 4 to 7. A research symposium will be held August 8 and 9. A reduced registration fee is available for individuals who use augmentative or alternative communication systems, students, and individuals from developing countries. However, the conference is not able to provide financial assistance.

Please note that, at this time, ISAAC chapters all seem to be located in industrialized countries. We Can Do is unable to determine the extent to which workshop presentations would be sensitized to the needs and challenges of people using augmentative or alternative communication methods in developing countries. Those who are interested in the conference should explore their web site at http://www.isaac2008.org/index.html. Remaining concerns or questions should be directed to the conference organizers at:

ISAAC 2008 Conference Secretariat – JPdL
isaac2008@jpdl.com
1555 Peel, Suite 500
Montréal (Québec) H3A 3L8, Canada

Tel: +1 (514) 287-1070
Fax: +1 (514) 287-1248

If you have been to We Can Do before then you may have noticed that this blog has a new appearance and structure. How do you like it? Do you find it easier, or harder, to navigate and find the information you’re looking for? Any other feedback on how to improve the We Can Do blog in general? Whether you’re a new-comer or repeat visitor, please share your thoughts in the comments area at the post where I describe We Can Do’s new presentation or email me at ashettle at patriot dot net.

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