Tools – globaldisabilityrightsnow

Focus Countries

Ensuring Access of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with Disabilities to Political Life

In 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that there were 22.5 million refugees and 65.6 million forcibly displaced persons. This is the highest population of global refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) on record, and it is likely that the number will increase due to conflict and natural disasters. Women’s Refugee… Continue reading Ensuring Access of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with Disabilities to Political Life

USICD: White Paper on Stakeholders’ Understanding and Monitoring of CRPD Article 32

A recently published White Paper by the U.S. International Council on Disabilities (USICD) on Stakeholders’ Understanding and Monitoring of the Implementation of CRPD Article 32, provides important recommendations to better hold international agencies and States accountable to making international cooperation initiatives and programs both inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. Article 32 of the… Continue reading USICD: White Paper on Stakeholders’ Understanding and Monitoring of CRPD Article 32

Building Disability Rights through Inclusive Constitutions

An Inclusive Process A variety of processes can be used to draft a constitution. Drafts may be put together by an elected group or proposed by a group selected by the government. While drafting a constitution, a government or other drafting body may convene meetings with civil society. These meetings or workshops are participatory processes which include… Continue reading Building Disability Rights through Inclusive Constitutions

Homes, Not Institutions for Children with Disabilities

Institutions are no substitute for living at home and being in the community. This is true for adults with disabilities. As you might imagine, institutions are even worse for children. For people of any age, even in the best possible circumstances, institutions significantly increase the risk for abuse and neglect. UNICEF has noted that children… Continue reading Homes, Not Institutions for Children with Disabilities

Women Enabled International accountABILITY Toolkit

Women Enabled International’s accountABILITY Toolkit can guide women with disabilities and organizations working on their behalf in using available UN human rights mechanisms to protect their human rights. Bringing the voices and experiences of women and girls with disabilities to the UN human rights system is essential in holding States accountable for their human rights obligations and… Continue reading Women Enabled International accountABILITY Toolkit

Universal Design as Access to Justice

Universal Design Universal Design is the design of products, environments, and communication to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design. Ron Mace, an architect who had polio as a child and used a wheelchair, said Universal Design is “not a new science, a style, or unique in… Continue reading Universal Design as Access to Justice

Setting up a Legal Clinic for People with Disabilities

Most people with disabilities and most families with children with disabilities around the world, including in the United States, do not have access to legal advice from trained lawyers about disability-related matters. This is for several reasons: For example, people with disabilities and their families generally do not have a lot of money, and there… Continue reading Setting up a Legal Clinic for People with Disabilities

Increasing Access to Justice for People with Disabilities

Access to justice is the equal ability to fully be heard and to participate in all aspects of the justice system in your country without discrimination on the basis of disability. Discrimination includes bad treatment on the basis of prejudice and stereotypes about disability (for example, that people with mental health disabilities are prone to commit… Continue reading Increasing Access to Justice for People with Disabilities

Developing a Certification Process for Sign Language Interpreters

Interpreter legislation in the United States is determined mostly at the state level and can vary greatly among the country’s fifty states. Perhaps the one national regulation is that court interpreters must meet standards established by the United States courts. Here are a few actions you can take to ensure that people who are Deaf will have access to… Continue reading Developing a Certification Process for Sign Language Interpreters

Utilizing Quotas to Increase Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities

Political participation is an important way for people with disabilities to integrate with the community and to advocate for greater accessibility. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) upholds the right of people with disabilities to vote and to run for office, yet, in many countries, there are few people with disabilities… Continue reading Utilizing Quotas to Increase Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities