Last March, St. Paul-based
Advocating Change Together (ACT) was approached by the Hungarian
Eotvos Larand University asking for translation rights to make
ACT’s Disability History
Exhibit accessible to Hungarians. The answer was a quick YES!
The partnership between
ACT and Hungary has resulted in an exhibit that will reach thousands
of Hungarians as it tours the country’s
major cites throughout 2008.
A press release by the
Budapest History Museum states that “The
Disability History Exhibit, a truly outstanding international undertaking
in the field of disability studies, showcases collaboration on par
with the Encyclopedia of Disability and similar projects.”
ACT Co-Director Rick
Cardenas is pleased with the partnership and hopes that ACT will
continue to make connections to spread the word about disability
as a human right issue. “With the recent adoption
of the UN Convention on the Right of People with Disabilities, folks
in many places are just starting to think for the first time about
these disability stories and issues,” says Cardenas, “The
great thing about the ACT history exhibit is that it helps people see
how far we’ve come, and how far we still need to go.”
By coincidence, BlueLaw
International‘s Janet Lord, who has
been collaborating with ACT in its work at the United Nations, happened
to see the exhibit on a recent trip. “I was in Budapest attending
a conference of the Hungarian Association for the Deaf. A couple
of the organizers told me about a powerful exhibit they had just
seen at the local history museum. I went to see it for myself and,
surprise, it was from ACT. Oh my gosh, I thought, what a small world.
I was really struck by how all of our separate empowerment efforts
are really starting to build strong connections across the globe.”
The exhibit consists
of twenty-seven panels of photos showing the milestones of the
history of disability. Twenty-one of the panels were created by
ACT. The remaining six—two focusing on Hungary, two
on Europe as a whole, and two on the UN—were created by the
Hungarian organizers.
The press release from
the museum calls the exhibit “an effective
tool of subverting set social attitudes and thinking regarding disability.” ![]()
