Guest Lecture
On November 17th, DARE ESR10 Jorge Manhique gave a guest lecture to Master students from Leiden University in the Netherland. Jorge presented his latest paper “’The devil is in the details’ ensuring participation and ownership of development programs for persons with disabilities in Mozambique” forthcoming: African Disability Rights Yearbook 2021.
Presentation to North Ireland Human Rights Commission
DARE ESR 14, Colin Caughey provided a presentation on his research into the relationship between national human rights institutions and disabled people’s organisations to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Staff and Commissioners on 16th November 2021.
Þjóðarspegillinn (Social Science Research) Conference
DARE ESR 2 Eliona Gjecaj and ESR 4 Megan Smith presented their research projects and discussed merging findings in an interdisciplinary symposium, which focused on disability rights and access to justice in relation to disability. The symposium was part of the Þjóðarspegillinn (Social Science Research) Conference which took place on Friday 29th of October from 14:00-15:45 Irish and UK time. Eliona’s presentation focused on one Icelandic court case and discussed the emerging findings on access to justice for disabled women, including a focus on the meaning of ‘justice’ and what ‘justice’ entails for the disabled woman and for others involved with her case.
Megan’s presentation discussed how the recent cultural shifts in reproductive rights and advancement of reproductive technology have created deep divides between the feminist and reproductive rights movements in Iceland and Ireland. Drawing on data collected from parents, the medical community and activists, she discussed the need to redefine choice and autonomy during pregnancy, and the complexities that arise when we are able to not only choose whether to have children, but what kind of children. The symposium was chaired by Professor Emerita Rannveig Traustadóttir.
Round Table to commemorate the International day of Mental Health
On 11 October 2021, ESR 10 Jorge Manhique took part in the Round Table to commemorate the international day of mental health celebrated each year on October 10th. The roundtable was co-organized by the Mozambican Mental Health User Association (AMUSAM) and the Ministry of Health. Jorge spoke about mental health from a Human Rights perspective touching issues such as legal capacity, support and participation in the community. The round table was preceded by streaming of a documentary entitled “Mental Health at Price of Dignity” which documents cases of rights violation toward persons with psychosocial disabilities by family members, service providers and community in general.
Digital Equality for all Ages UN International Day of Older Persons
The EU funded project 814249, Disability Advocacy Research in Europe (DARE) and the Centre for Disability Law and Policy (CDLP), NUI Galway were delighted to celebrate the UN International Day of Older Persons. A webinar was held on Friday 1st October at 12 -1pm (Irish time).
The theme for 2021 was “Digital Equality for All Ages”. This interactive webinar focused on the inclusive need for access and meaningful participation in the digital world of older persons with disabilities, particularly in light of the exponential growth of digital platforms. In doing so, this will explore how we live, work and related to one another in a digital age.
Speakers included: Professor Kieran Walsh, Professor of Ageing and Public Policy (Economics) and Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, NUI Galway; Helen Rochford Brennan, Advocate for Persons Living with Demetia and Dr Nena Georgantzi, AGE platform Europe. The session was chaired by Ainsley McLean Early stage Researcher (ESR), NUI Galway. Here is the link to the event.
Day of General Discussion on Children’s Rights in Alternative Care (29th September)
DARE ESR 1, Radoš Keravica has been supporting a disability coalition in their advocacy for disabled children’s #right2familylife. He spoke at the Day of General Discussion on Children’s Rights in Alternative Care held in September and emphasised that no child should be given a choice to live in any form of residential care including group homes as they are harmful and that such choice is a false one as it stems from the lack of funding for family-based alternatives.
Watch the full video of the session to which Rados contributed as a panellist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uleOFbBmpI. The recordings of the rest of the sessions held as part of the Day of General Discussion on Children can be found here: https://ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/Discussion2020.aspx#CRC#right2family#DGD2021#DareResearch
Workshop on the rights of persons with disabilities (15th – 17th September)
Early-Stage Researcher Jorge Manhique co-facilitated, between September 15th and 17th, a workshop on the rights of persons with disabilities for Mozambican Government officials involved in the drafting of the Disability Law. The aim of the workshop was to improve the level of understanding among government officials about the domestication process of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. During the workshop Mr. Manhique presented emerging findings from his ongoing research on inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in development cooperation programs. The Workshop was co-organized by Forum of Mozambican Organizations of Disabled people (#FAMOD) and the Ministry Gender Children and Social Action (MGCAS).
Improving Inclusion in Health & Care Research event (14th September)
Our Early-Stage Researcher Radoš Keravica spoke about research co-production with disabled young people as part of the “Improving Inclusion in Health & Care Research” event organised by the Health Services Research UK on 14th September. See the full agenda on the registration page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/improving-inclusion-in…
Webinar ‘The Inclusiveness of Democracy & Participatory Innovations‘ (7th September)
DARE Early-Stage Researcher, Adriana Caballero took part as a speaker in the Webinar ‘The Inclusiveness of Democracy & Participatory Innovations’ on the 7th of September 2021, 18.00-19.30 CEST. This public webinar was organized by the project Ukrainian Vibes – European Public Sphere. Adriana addressed barriers to participation in political life encountered by persons with disabilities.
DARE presentations at the European Sociological Conference 2021
María Gómez-Carrillo, DARE ESR 6, presented her PhD project advancements at the ESA Conference 2021 (31 August – 3 September). She was part of a panel on co-designed research with other researchers from Spain and Portugal. Together with the other panelists, she discussed common barriers to participatory research: lack of funding, difficulty reaching out to marginalised populations and challenges in delegating tasks and power sharing. Ethics concerns were also discussed. The public was very interested in her way of recruiting co-researchers, as she offered her services as researchers to people with disabilities and DPOs.
On the same date, María’s co-researchers from Madrid presented their initial findings on the impact of covid on the lives of people with disabilities. Their findings fitted well with another more general study presented on the same panel, which covered the effects of the pandemic on society. The team highlighted the fear of people with disabilities of covid as well as the disruption covid and the safety measures on their social relations and daily routines. Many of the people interviewed stated that it had been over a year and a half since they had seen friends or partners.
17th Development Dialogue (DD 17th) conference
On July 6th, DARE ESR10 Jorge Manhique presented a paper entitled “The devil is in the details’ – ensuring participation and ownership of development programs for persons with disabilities in Mozambique” during the 17th Development Dialogue (DD 17th) conference. The paper presents emerging findings from his ongoing research project under DARE. The paper discusses the extent to which international development cooperation programs contribute to support dialogue between civil society organizations in general (and OPDs in particular) with State institutions in Mozambique. During the conference presenters got feedback from the audience made by fellow PhD researchers and professors. This year the conference was held online by International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, under the theme of “Engaged Scholarship for Development – Building Solidarity, Peace and Social Justice”. The recorded video of the conference is available on DD 17th conference website https://www.iss.nl/…/developm…/17th-development-dialogue.
Summer 2021 International Study Programme of Bochum’s Protestant University of Applied Science
On 16 June, 3 DARE Researchers Adriana Caballero, Hanxu Liu and Jorge Manhique joined a virtual session at the Summer 2021 International Study Programme of Bochum’s Protestant University of Applied Science. The course, DARE – Disability Advocacy Research in Europe – was organised and run by colleagues Theresia Degener (Bochum Centre for Disability Studies [BODYS]), Maria Gomez-Carillo de castro and Claudia Coveney. Researchers shared their thoughts and observations involving discussions on the participation of persons with disabilities and disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) in different aspects under the CPRD, through examples of their ongoing PhD studies and past working experience.
During the discussion, Adriana presented her PhD study on the political participation of persons with disabilities in voting in Spain and the UK; Han introduced her PhD study dealing with interactions between DPOs in European countries with main UN human rights bodies for CRPD international monitoring; and Jorge explained how he conducts his PhD study focusing on the participation of persons with disabilities in EU development programmes in Mozambique. Participants also shared their thoughts on DPOs’ participation in different contexts and activities, such as shadow reporting. The three researchers emphasised using the CRPD and its Committee’s General Comment no.7 to guide their assessment on the participation levels of persons with disabilities in their studies.
Caughey, C. (2021) Government human rights focal points: Lessons learned from focal points under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1177/09240519211015557
PUBLICATIONS
Masendeke, E. (2020) Disability, Cyclone Idai and the COVID-19 pandemic: preparedness of African countries for disability-inclusive responses in emergency situations. 8 African Disability Rights Yearbook 243-252
https://www.adry.up.ac.za/index.php/regional-developments-2020/edmore-masendeke