The Initiative
The CHRLP is pleased to present the 2018-2019 Disability and Human Rights Initiative. Building on the disability seminar series launched in 2012, this year’s events year will continue to explore compelling issues in disability with a focus on law and policy, in keeping with the Faculty of Law’s tradition of analysis, scholarship and promotion of human rights and social justice.
Objectives
In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, which engrained the dignity and equal rights of all humans. Today, we reflect on the past 70 years of the UDHR, engage with current human rights issues, and think of what the future of international human rights will entail. In marking its anniversary, the 2018-2019 series will explore the UDHR through the lens of disability rights. Disability is both the present and future: it is one of the most pertinent human rights issues confronting all of us.
As the Initiative looks to how human rights have transformed throughout the decades, it will first interrogate the ways that both policy and societal attitudes, with regards to access and inclusion for disabled people, have also changed: where does this change come from, who benefits from it, and is it enough?
The series will then explore the relationship between the university and society in the context of disability rights. Does academic discourse influence university initiatives around accommodations? Do university initiatives influence societal attitudes on disability? Does institutional inclusion lead to access and inclusion in society at large?
Program
- 26 October 2018: Roundtable on Disability and Human Rights
- 3 December 2018: International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- March 2019: Conference: Disability and the University
Accessibility
Please note that while Chancellor Day Hall is wheelchair-accessible, construction work around the Faculty and the closure of McIntyre garage have made reaching our building more complicated. See this explainer on how to best reach the Faculty, which includes information for people with reduced mobility.
Fall 2018
Roundtable on Disability and Human Rights
When: Friday, 26 October 2018, 12:00 - 14:00
Where: New Chancellor Day Hall, room 316
In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), this event will explore the extent to which the universal rights framework has succeeded or failed to include the rights of people with disabilities.
Discussants: Sébastien Jodoin, Jonas-Sébastien Beaudry, Stephanie Chipeur, Eunice Leyva García, Véronique Leduc, Dianah Msipa. Moderated by Professor Nandini Ramanujam.
This discussion will bring together academics, researchers, and students working on issues of disability and law to discuss current and future issues facing people with disabilities, within the context of the 70th anniversary of the UDHR. Participants will consider the following: Did the UDHR follow through with its promises of dignity for all humans? What lies ahead for disability rights in Canada and around the world?
The results of this discussion will shape and contribute to the Winter conference, which will explore the relationship between the university and society at large, and the potential of the university to shift social attitudes and norms around disability.
To attend, RSVP to chrlp.law [at] mcgill.ca by Friday, 19 October.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
When: Monday, 3 December 2018, time TBC
Where: TBC
The Disability and Human Rights Initiative will be marking International Day of Persons with Disabilities by building on this year’s theme of disability, the university and social change. More information to come.
Winter 2019
Conference: Disability and the University
When: March 2019
Where: TBC
This cumulative conference will bring together academics, students, and community organizers working in the fields of disability, law, and human rights. The conference will explore the relationship between the university and society at large, and the potential of the university to shift social norms around disability.
Speakers and participants will explore the following questions:
- Are universities striving to change societal norms and attitudes around disability, or focusing on accommodations?
- Is there a disconnect between academic and institutional discourse and realization?
- Are the needs of people with disabilities being met? How are universities contributing?
