Day one in Prague

Arrived in Prague around noon on Monday.  Mostly uneventful trip and a long ride from the airport to the hotel with someone from the conference organization who spoke not a word of English.  As I speak not a word of Czech, it was an interesting ride.  Lot of American rock and roll on the radio so that was interesting!

The Minister of Social Welfare began this conference, on Life in the Community, with a discussion of a goal of everyone living in the community with a decent life, at least that is what the translation sounded like.

Lots of questions in the morning, so I modified my presentation to talk about Article XIX's implications, and deinstitutionalization.  That it is not just about real estate but a way of thinking.  Simultaneous translation aside, 20 minutes of questions and I sense there will be more.

Lunch is over so back to the conference.  More later.

Now it is later and day 1 is done,except for the coctail party of course.

Quotes of the Day:
1) Minister of Labor and Social Affairs-Size makes it impossible to achieve what we want-people living in the community and choosing how to live."  We could have ended the conference right there.
2) Official from the Association of Towns and Municipalities-"We implement change".
3) Ivana Prihonska-Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs-"People without privacy in services deserve better."
4) Tereza Klouckova-Same Ministry-She invited me to this conference and was a participant in our work in Budapest at CEU this summer-and is dynamite!  "People with disabilities are our equal partners."
5)Milan Scerepa from the Czech National Center for Support of Social Services Transformation-an effort to reform all social services-"All groups need to sit around the table and cooperate."
6) Dr. Krupa, a PRofessor and the "Father" of Social Work in the Czech Republic-"We  must plan both the operation of social services and the treatment of all people as human beings...they are not the same thing."
7) Camille Latimier-The Inclusion International Association in the Czech Republic-"People with intellectual disab ility were a vital part of the negotiation for the CRPD."
8) Barbara Rittichova, an attorney from the Mental Disability Advocacy Center-There are 26,000 people in the Czech republic who have been declared Legally Incapacitated and Guardianship in Czech law is poorly defined."
9) Jifi Sobek-Adpontes NGO-"We must balance risk and safety but without risks there is no life."
10) Stepanka Krehlikova from NGO Harmonie - a provider of services-"Match services to the capacity of the person." 
11) Vendula Bradova-also from Harmonie - She spoke and told the story of a person who was institutionalized as a child-and moved to community living then to an independent apartment.  The person was on stage and not asked to speak-powerful story but would had been more powerful if the person got to speak a bit.
12) Damjan Janjusevic from the Association for Self Advocacy in Croatia.  He also participated in our work in Budapest this summer.  I first met him in 2005 in Zagreb.  A powerful advocate for people with intellectual disability and a good staff support person for self advocates-one of the best I have met - "Institutionalization is, on its face, a human rights violation."  and "Human rights are not charity.  If you view people with disabilities as objects of charity then you cannot respect their human rights."

All in all another powerful day in the move to implement Article XIX of the CRPD.

Off to the cocktail party now!