‘Voice and Choice’ Focus of Fifth International Disability Law Summer School

Jun 11 2013 Posted: 10:09 IST

The fifth International Disability Law Summer School, hosted by NUI Galway’s Centre for Disability Law and Policy, will take place from 17-22 June. It is the largest such Summer School in the world with a focus on the UN disability treaty. Over 100 delegates from 38 countries are expected to attend this year’s event including people with disabilities, representatives from civil society groups as well as advocates for disability law reform, lawyers, policy-makers and policy analysts.

The thematic focus of the International Disability Summer School will be on securing ‘Voice’ and advancing ‘Choice’ for persons with disabilities through the disability treaty. This connects reform on new legal capacity laws around the world with reform on the right to community living. The aim of the event is to equip participants with the insights and skills necessary to translate the generalities of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into tangible reform agendas for persons with disabilities.

Keynote speaker for the Summer School will be Professor Rannveig Traustadottir from the University of Iceland, Reykjavik who is a leading activist for community living in the Nordic countries.  The School will be officially opened by Minister Kathleen Lynch, TD. Most presentations will be either given by, or responded to, by disabled activists from around the world. Joanne O’Riordan, a teenage activist from Co. Cork, will respond to the keynote address. A notable feature of the annual event is a Moot Court exercise based on the UN disability treaty. 

Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, School of Law, NUI Galway, Professor Gerard Quinn said: “Above all the School belongs to the people affected and is structured in such a way as to enable people explore for themselves the relevance of the Convention in their own lives and in the process of change. It sees people with disabilities as agents of change whether in Ireland, Zambia or Japan. It sees people with disabilities as providers and advocates for solutions – instead of as problems.”

The School attracts an international teaching faculty including high profile senior academics, practitioners and policy makers who have been directly engaged in drafting and implementing the  UN Convention.

The Summer School is part supported by the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Soros-Open Society Institute, the Department of Foreign Affairs (Irish Aid), the DREAM project of the European Union and the University.

Registration for the Summer School is currently open and will cost €330 (concessions available). Further information, including the programme and speaker profiles is available at http://www.nuigalway.ie/cdlp/Summer_School_2013/summer_school_2013_info.html.

-ENDS-

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