Got up just before 4 AM and put water in the kettle for tea, as the coffee is not good at the hotel. Plugged in the kettle, put the tea bag in the cup and started to check e mail. When there was no hot water 15 minutes later realized you actually have to turn on the kettle after plugging it in Am now drinking tea.
Monday was spent in a series of presentations, with people from fifteen countries in the Asia Pacific region of Inclusion International both as presenters and as audience members. The audience was about 1/3 self advocates, some professionals and the balance being parents and representatives of parent groups.
Klaus Lachwirz the President of Inclusion International gave a good overview of Inclusion International, and the hope of the CRPD. He explained that when they asked families what they wanted, it boiled down to understanding the implications of the convention, building capacity of countries to support people, networking with other families, raising awareness of the needs and contributions of people with intellectual disabilities and their families and strategies to increase pressure on governments to implement the CRPD. The quote I took away was "the process of inclusion should be inclusive." Great phrase.
Nagase Osame, a Council Member, regional representative from the Asia Pacific Region of Inclusion is from Japan and he presented and MC'd the morning. He talked briefly about forced sterilization, a practice still prevalent in the region. He talked about how living in the community is a human right, a sentiment echoed by the self-advocacy panel that followed. They were members of Inclusion International's Self-Advocacy task force and included David Corner from New Zealand, Mia Farah from Lebanon, Haydee Beckles form Panama, Ciara Evans from the UK and Quincy Mwya from Zambia. They each gave their thoughts on how to support people being more independent and full participants in society. Ciara in particular could be hired out to give political stump speeches. A great speaker.
Connie Lauren-Bowie, Inclusion International's executive director presented the organizations strategy and priority setting process, an open, democratic and inclusive effort. Well done. She presented on three articles of the CRPD, Article XII on Legal Capacity, Article XIX on Living and Being Included in the Community and Article XXIV on Inclusive Education. All three of these will be the subject of Tuesday's meetings.
Mia's mother then spoke about some parents, from four countries, who overcame seemingly impossible odds to better the lives of people with intellectual disability in their countries. Great stories.
The diversity of how people with disabilities are supported, or not supported, is a wide range in the region from New Zealand, an institution free zone, to speakers from countries where no one had anything positive to say about being the parent of people with disabilities. That was depressing.
Tim Gadd, the volunteer Inclusion International Treasurer from the UK did a great job of moderating the remainder of the sessions. He is a born showman. Some of the presentations were nothing short of outstanding. United Voice, the self-advocacy group in Malaysia stunned the crowd with its presentation, and the accomplishments they have made. They were started in the mid 1990's under the wing of the parents association. They have long since become their own entity with 20 self advocacy groups in Malaysia and 175 active members. They run a jobs program, and have a grant from the government to explain the self advocacy movement to NGO service providers doing community based rehabilitation!
heard from Chosen Power, the self-advocacy group in Hong Kong. Another outstanding effort. Their motto: Advocacy, Liberty, Diversity. They focus on choice and respect and have many NGOs and companies, if I understand it correctly as partners. They use performance art-drama, to get across their issues to the public at large, and have performed widely including once in Brazil. It was great to see, with both Hong Kong and Malaysia, the strength of advisors-helping but not controlling.
VALID, the self-advocacy group from Australia also made a compelling case. Their motto - Stand Behind, Stand Beside, Stand Before was explained and the support staff with them was our first leadership institute participant from Australia. It was also nice to see the pairing of a person with intellectual disability and a person with autism who together presented a compelling case for VALID's efforts.
Finally, PARIVARR, the parents association in India presented on a project they are doing on supported decision making. An important issue in the US and in most of the world as I have seen during my travels.
The evening was a reception and I got to speak with people from a half dozen countries, some I had met before and others who were new to me. Always interesting.
A good start and a lifetime's worth of work to do here, as everywhere.
Until Tomorrow.
Monday was spent in a series of presentations, with people from fifteen countries in the Asia Pacific region of Inclusion International both as presenters and as audience members. The audience was about 1/3 self advocates, some professionals and the balance being parents and representatives of parent groups.
Klaus Lachwirz the President of Inclusion International gave a good overview of Inclusion International, and the hope of the CRPD. He explained that when they asked families what they wanted, it boiled down to understanding the implications of the convention, building capacity of countries to support people, networking with other families, raising awareness of the needs and contributions of people with intellectual disabilities and their families and strategies to increase pressure on governments to implement the CRPD. The quote I took away was "the process of inclusion should be inclusive." Great phrase.
Nagase Osame, a Council Member, regional representative from the Asia Pacific Region of Inclusion is from Japan and he presented and MC'd the morning. He talked briefly about forced sterilization, a practice still prevalent in the region. He talked about how living in the community is a human right, a sentiment echoed by the self-advocacy panel that followed. They were members of Inclusion International's Self-Advocacy task force and included David Corner from New Zealand, Mia Farah from Lebanon, Haydee Beckles form Panama, Ciara Evans from the UK and Quincy Mwya from Zambia. They each gave their thoughts on how to support people being more independent and full participants in society. Ciara in particular could be hired out to give political stump speeches. A great speaker.
Connie Lauren-Bowie, Inclusion International's executive director presented the organizations strategy and priority setting process, an open, democratic and inclusive effort. Well done. She presented on three articles of the CRPD, Article XII on Legal Capacity, Article XIX on Living and Being Included in the Community and Article XXIV on Inclusive Education. All three of these will be the subject of Tuesday's meetings.
Mia's mother then spoke about some parents, from four countries, who overcame seemingly impossible odds to better the lives of people with intellectual disability in their countries. Great stories.
The diversity of how people with disabilities are supported, or not supported, is a wide range in the region from New Zealand, an institution free zone, to speakers from countries where no one had anything positive to say about being the parent of people with disabilities. That was depressing.
Tim Gadd, the volunteer Inclusion International Treasurer from the UK did a great job of moderating the remainder of the sessions. He is a born showman. Some of the presentations were nothing short of outstanding. United Voice, the self-advocacy group in Malaysia stunned the crowd with its presentation, and the accomplishments they have made. They were started in the mid 1990's under the wing of the parents association. They have long since become their own entity with 20 self advocacy groups in Malaysia and 175 active members. They run a jobs program, and have a grant from the government to explain the self advocacy movement to NGO service providers doing community based rehabilitation!
heard from Chosen Power, the self-advocacy group in Hong Kong. Another outstanding effort. Their motto: Advocacy, Liberty, Diversity. They focus on choice and respect and have many NGOs and companies, if I understand it correctly as partners. They use performance art-drama, to get across their issues to the public at large, and have performed widely including once in Brazil. It was great to see, with both Hong Kong and Malaysia, the strength of advisors-helping but not controlling.
VALID, the self-advocacy group from Australia also made a compelling case. Their motto - Stand Behind, Stand Beside, Stand Before was explained and the support staff with them was our first leadership institute participant from Australia. It was also nice to see the pairing of a person with intellectual disability and a person with autism who together presented a compelling case for VALID's efforts.
Finally, PARIVARR, the parents association in India presented on a project they are doing on supported decision making. An important issue in the US and in most of the world as I have seen during my travels.
The evening was a reception and I got to speak with people from a half dozen countries, some I had met before and others who were new to me. Always interesting.
A good start and a lifetime's worth of work to do here, as everywhere.
Until Tomorrow.
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