Independent Living Institute

Seminar on Human Rights for Persons with Disabilities
from a North and South Perspective
Stockholm, Sweden 23 August, 1998

Shanaaz Majiet, Lawyer, South Africa

I come from South Africa and am based in Pretoria where I live and work. I am please to be here to share some thoughts with you and talk about some very fundamental challenges we face as a global movement.

In September 1997, leaders from Maine State government, business, education, and the non-profit community gathered for the Conference, Maximizing Economic Potential.  They set out to explore how Maine can develop the information technologies the state needs to be globally competitive. Sponsored by the Maine CITE Coordinating Center and the Maine Department of Education, the Conference looked at how government and education can lead the way in ensuring that information technologies accommodate differing needs and provide access for everyone. This report is the outcome of that effort.

by K.J. Mahoney, Ph.D. L. Simon-Rusinowitz, Ph.D. S.M. Desmond,
Ph.D. D.M. Shoop, Ph.D. M.R. Squillace, M.A. R.A. Fay, B.S.

Drs. Mahoney and Simon-Rusinowitz are Project Director and Deputy Project Director, respectively, Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation. Dr. Shoop and Ms. Squillace are Faculty Research Associates and Mr. Fay is a former graduate assistant. All are at the University of Maryland Center on Aging. Dr. Desmond is Associate Professor, Department of Health Education, University of Maryland.

Read also:

• Disability Community Leaders Denounce Jack Kevorkian, by Paul Longmore
• "A serial killer of disabled people, out on the streets" - by Diane Coleman
• Protest letters against legalizing physician-assisted suicide

Colleagues:

Yesterday Jack Kevorkian assisted the suicide of a disabled woman. At least half of the people whose suicides he has abetted have been disabled. As leaders in the disability community, we are outraged that Michigan authorities allow his killing spree to go on. We are incensed that his repeated declarations of contempt for the lives of our people have been ignored.

The movement of disabled Americans has entered its second phase. The first phase has been a quest for disability rights, for equal access and equal opportunity, for inclusion. The second phase is a quest for collective identity. Even as the unfinished work of the first phase continues, the task in the second phase is to explore or to create a disability culture.

This historic juncture offers a moment for reflection and assessment. It is an opportunity to consider the aims and achievements of the disability movement over the past generation and in the last few years.

In August 1985, The Disability Rag reported an incident that captured the essence of the disability movement's first phase:

Dr. Lilvak is Senior Research and Policy Analyst with the World Institute on Disability, Oakland, CA.

The following is an article from American Rehabilitation Volume 24, Number 4 Winter 1998 Personal Assistance Services Part 2 of 2. American Rehabilitation is the official publication of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) 330 C Street S.W. Washington D.C. 20202-2531

The Problem

Labor Day weekend radio event
to benefit Literacy Volunteers of America (Sept. 5, 1999)

"Konferensen om Lagstiftning för Mänskliga Rättigheter"
Stockholm, Sweden, 24 augusti 1998

Bengt Lindqvist, FN:s speciella rapportör om standardreglerna

On the 12 of March 2000, the World NGO Summit on Disability, in Beijing, People's Republic of China, adopted a resolution regarding an international convention on the rights of all disabled people.

The full text of the Resolution follows:

We, the leaders of Disabled Peoples' International, Inclusion International, Rehabilitation International, the World Blind Union, and the World Federation of the Deaf, as well as national non-governmental organizations (NGO's) of and for people with disabilities from all continents, have convened in Beijing from 10 - 12 March 2000 to develop a new-century strategy for the full participation and equality of people with disabilities.