Special Advisor for International Disability Rights Judith E. Heumann
President Obama has proclaimed that international disability rights
should be at the heart of our nation’s foreign policy. The State
Department has put that declaration to work in our public diplomacy
efforts around the world in many of our exchange programs.
Just this week, I had the pleasure of meeting with 34 disability
rights advocates from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, the Philippines,
Tajikistan, and Uganda who were in the United States as part of the
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affair’s Empower program.
They had the opportunity to work side-by-side with disability rights
advocates here in the United States, in month-long fellowships ranging
from the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities in Chicago, to the
American School for the Deaf in Connecticut, to the Assistive Technology
Resource Centers in Hawaii. They were able to experience first-hand
the diversity of the United States, and the work being done to protect
and promote the rights of persons with disabilities across the country.
Disability-inclusive diplomacy efforts like the Empower program
put persons with disabilities at the core of work being done to promote
the rights of persons with disabilities around the world. These young
advocates are future world leaders. Meeting with advocates from other
countries enables them to build a broad network of people like
themselves, who are fighting for enjoyment of human rights, and to
create societies that are more just, equitable and inclusive of persons
with disabilities.
We believe persons with disabilities and their families have a role
to play in strengthening democracy around the world. Our ability to be
educated, to move into the world of work as equals, and to live
independently in lives we create for ourselves, requires the kind of
democracies that treat all citizens as equals.
In the United States, we have some of the strongest laws in the
world, ensuring our rights as disabled people. These laws are the
result of a cross-disability civil society movement that has worked with
local, state and federal government on development and effective
implementation. However, these laws are a work in progress, as they are
in many countries around the world. At the State Department, we are
committed to the inclusion of disabled people in our exchange programs,
to ensure that they have the opportunity to learn from each other, and
to learn from our experiences here in the United States. In the end we
are all stronger and more knowledgeable.
The Empower program
is one example of the work the State Department is doing to promote
disability-inclusive diplomacy. It is my hope and expectation that
those who participate leave the United States having made friends who
will continue to work with them as they return to their countries.
Together, our combined efforts are improving the lives of the more than
one billion disabled people around the world.
About the Author: Judith Heumann serves as Special Advisor on International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State.
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