This week, the lecturers were Dr. Gerard Quinn, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities and Dr. Patsie Frawley, Associate Professor in Disability and Inclusion Studies at the University of Waikato New Zealand.
A human rights based model of disability
Dr. Quinn introduced the human rights model of disability based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and talked about his mandate as UN Special Rapporteur on disability.
He stressed that identity is complex and that the traditional approach to discrimination is lacking an important step. By adopting a more intersectional approach to discrimination he argues that we can look beyond labels and stereotypes, and instead look for the real reasons why some people are being discriminated.
A peer based approach to disability and SOGI
Dr. Frawley shared her experiences with using peer based education (LGBTIQA+ people with disability) of health services in Australia. She explained that although health services aim to be inclusive they often overlook multiple identities and that this results in the sexuality of people with disabilities being ignored. People with disabilities are therefore often treated as asexual or they are narrowly defined as heterosexual.
Dr. Frawley shared examples of how her project had successfully used a peer based approach in the education of health workers and how people with intellectual disabilities had shared testimonies and stories about their own sexual orientation and gender identity as part of the education. This approach has been so useful that the model is already being tested in several other countries.
More information about the training workshop series
More information about equality and non-discrimination at the NCHR