The Initiative
The CHRLP is pleased to present the 2021-2022 Disability and Human Rights Initiative. Building on the disability seminar series launched in 2012, the Initiative’s events this year will continue to explore compelling issues in disability with a focus on law and policy, particularly regarding the right to health, in keeping with the Faculty of Law’s tradition of analysis, scholarship and promotion of human rights and social justice.
Reconciling Reality with Resilience: Human Rights, the Right to Health, and People with Disabilities as Experts in Adaptation and Creativity
Background
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was the first UN treaty of the 21st century and the fastest ever negotiated. Yet, people with disabilities continue to face barriers and to be neglected in sociopolitical contexts, particularly for minority, impoverished, and refugee communities.
In light of the recent and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted persons with disabilities (PWD) around the world, this overarching focus for this year’s series is on the right to health, enshrined in Article 25 of the UNCRPD. “People with disabilities have been differentially affected by COVID-19 because of three factors: the increased risk of poor outcomes from the disease itself, reduced access to routine health care and rehabilitation, and the adverse social impacts of efforts to mitigate the pandemic.”[2]
Seminar objectives
In a collaborative effort from the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP), the Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Research Program (DICARP) and in conjunction with the Institute for Health and Social Policy’s (IHSP) Disability Working Group, the 2021-2022 Disability Initiative seeks to understand the difficult realities which PWD face in a COVID-19 world which undermine their “right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability.”
This year’s theme of “Reconciling Reality with Resilience: Human Rights, the Right to Health, and People with Disabilities as Experts in Adaptation and Creativity” aims to bring a better understanding of barriers which hinder PWD in the realization of right to health, while also celebrating their resilience in overcoming these barriers. The 2021-2022 Series continues to build on our efforts from the last decade and will foster conversations on core themes of agency, autonomy, and empowerment with a focus on the right to health. The Series is expected to bring together perspectives from people with disabilities, academics, policy makers and civil society organizations with a primarily Canadian/North American perspective. We will continue to use multimedia resources along with more conventional formats to shed light on the strength, resilience, leadership, and adaptability of people with disabilities during the pandemic.
Events
- Fall event for students
- What: Crip Camp movie viewing event
- When: November 4, 2021, at 16:00
- International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- What: International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD) is a day which promotes equality for people with disabilities in all areas of society. This day was first announced by the UN in 1992 with the aim of advancing disability rights and protecting the wellbeing of people with disabilities.[1]
- When: December 3, 2021, at 13:00-14:30 EST
- Winter Workshop
- What: Prof. Jonas Beaudry will present his research on medical assistance in dying, a complex issue which many people with disabilities and their loved ones must face.
- When: February 2022 (more details to come)
- Winter Conference
- What: Individuals working in the areas of disability and the right to health will be invited to present their work. An invited speaker will make a keynote address.
- When: March 2022 (more details to come)
[1] “3 December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities,” United Nations.
[2]Tom Shakespeare, “Triple jeopardy: disabled people and the COVID-19 pandemic,” (16 March 2021), online: 397: 10282 The Lancet 1331
