Last week, Mary Kay Kennedy
and Liz Koltes of St. Paul-based Advocating Change Together (ACT),
along with North Dakota activists Carla Tice and Helen Bechold, joined
national and international leaders at the United Nations in New York.
The purpose of the trip was to help launch a new human rights manual
and participate in United Nations ceremonies celebrating the newly
adopted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
It’s been quite a journey for the disability rights group that
started in Minneapolis 28 years ago. “When ACT was founded in
1979, the idea of equal rights for people with disabilities was still
a radical idea,” said ACT co-director Kennedy. “As of last
spring, its become a global standard.” In March a landmark
treaty was adopted by the United Nations that aims to improve the
lives of people with disabilities throughout the world.
Last January, ACT was
asked to partner with the Harvard Project on Disability, Minnesota
Human Rights Center, Disabled Peoples’ International
and Blue Law Project to develop a manual that is intended to serve
as a major resource in human rights and disability education throughout
the world. The manual draws on the full body of international human
rights law and policy with a strong focus on the newly adopted UN Convention. “The
curriculum is fantastic,” said Kennedy. “It includes straightforward
information about the Convention with lots of interactive activities.
It will prove to be a great tool for bringing the content and spirit
of the Convention to the minds and hearts of people all over the world.” She
went on to say that people need to know about this landmark legislation
in order to demand their rights and hold their governments accountable.
Kennedy was invited to
be the first to pilot the new curriculum in conjunction with the
December 3rd United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons. “It’s
important that we roll this out at the United Nations,” said
Janet Lord, lead partner in creating the manual. “And International
Day of Disabled Persons is the perfect time to launch it.” The
manual, hot-off-the-press in time for its UN debut, is now available
for purchase in the United States. (Plans are underway for language
translation to make it accessible to people worldwide.) Next year,
ACT will pilot the entire training curriculum, called Human Rights.
Yes! in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. “This has
been a fantastic opportunity for ACT, said co-director Rick Cardenas. “Making
connections between disability rights and human rights is what
ACT is all about. I’m not going to New York, but I’m
already making plans to take this on the road in the Midwest.”
Workshop participant Harvey
Patch of New York State Self-Advocacy Association was enthusiastic
about the pilot. “This UN treaty is new and people don’t
know about it yet. I think there is a huge power in the idea that
we Americans are using the same resource to understand the UN Convention
as people will be using in Mexico, Qatar and France. Just the idea
of people all over the world talking about disability as a human
rights issue is very exciting to me.”
Thirty five disability rights
activists participated in the Human Rights. Yes! day-long pilot on
December 2nd and joined Kennedy and others for a full day of United
Nations events on December 3rd.
To start the day, the group
watched a ceremony where Spain’s vice-president María
Teresa Fernández deposited Spain’s ratification instrument
in the UN treaty room. Afterward, as Koltes shook Fernández’s
hand, she wiped tears from her face, saying, “These are tears
of joy and happiness. Being here to witness Spain sign the treaty
and hear Spain’s vice president talk about protecting people’s
rights is very emotional to me. This really means a lot to people
with people with disabilities.”
After lunch in the UN staff
cafeteria, the group sat in on a program in observance of the 2007
International Day of Disabled Persons. The program took place in
the same room in which the treaty was negotiated. Bechold was impressed
with language translation methods at the UN. “You turn a little
dial, the language you speak, and everything the speaker says is
translated.”
Later, sixty people attended
a reception hosted by Qatar-based Shafalla Center in celebration
of the new manual and its potential to educate and inform people
about the treaty. U.S. mission staffer Peggy Kerry (sister of Senator
John Kerry) spoke on the U.S. position on the treaty. The reception
gave people the opportunity to network, share stories and celebrate
the 2007 historic treaty. “Some people were surprised that
we still have a lot of people in the United States living in institutions” said
Bechold. I told my story and I learned about what is happening in
other countries.”
Bechold’s life story
includes being institutionalized at age three in North Dakota, and
a clear threat of reinstitutionalization during the Red River Flood
of 1996. She knows how important it is to have the power of the law
behind you when advocating for rights. “There’s a lot
of discrimination that goes on everywhere. I like it that people
are finally putting their heads together to figure out how to stop
it.” She is optimistic that the new treaty will make a difference
for people with disabilities but noted that “we are all going
to have to work hard to make sure it happens.”
At the reception, Kennedy
remarked on the values base from which human rights action must stem. “For
thousands for years, disability has been viewed by societies as a
problem with the individual person. This UN treaty has the potential
to radically shift perception of disability from ‘something
is wrong with the person’ to ‘something is wrong with
society’ if all people are not allowed to fully enjoy the right
to live, work, and participate in their communities.” She commented
on the treaty’s mandate for governments to work to teach all
people about issues facing people with disabilities, about harmful
attitudes, and about what people with disabilities can do. This public
education mandate in the treaty “will help set the foundation
from which real social change can happen.”
The trip made quite an impact
on the travelers. “Hobnobbing with all of these high level
global leaders is a bit intimidating,” said Carla Tice, “but
when I see how passionate people are about disability rights, it
really gives me energy to continue the work on a local level. Being
part of the UN happenings is very cool, but the reality is that the
real difference we make is in our own backyards.” Said Koltes, “It’s
a great to feel part of a world-wide movement. One thing I learned
is that our country has not even signed the treaty. I’m going
to go back and urge people to call the president. The U.S should
be a leader in this treaty and I’m sad that they we are not. ”
ACT’s participation
at the UN level is yet another of a long list of accomplishments
by this small, grassroots organization. “It’s pretty
impressive,” said Kris Jacobs, Executive Director of Jobs Now
Coalition. “We’ve always known that ACT was a strong
local leader, and it’s fun to see them be players on the national
and international scenes.” ACT was recently awarded the Working
Class Hero’s award by the Jobs Now Coalition, and Jacobs said
she is one of their biggest fans. “We are especially proud
of ACT for their tenacity in promoting disability as a human rights
issue. They have helped me and countless others change our views
about what disability means. When I heard that ACT was going to the
UN, I thought ‘that’s just were they are supposed to
be.’” ![]()
To order a copy of Human
Rights. Yes!, the new UN training manual on disability rights, contact
the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Center: call 888-HREDUC8
or e-mail humanrts@umn.edu
