Thread by @Inclusion_Wpg

A rant.... 1 of many...

Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It is a day to bring attention to the rights of people with disabilities, and a day to celebrate the advancements made by disability rights advocates.

#InternationalDisabilityDay2021

Progress has been made. Governments of all levels agreed to put an end to discrimination against people with disabilities through signing international agreements and laws like the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Vulnerable Persons’ Act and the Accessibility Act.

International agreements such as The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities commit Canada to promoting, protecting and ensuring the full participation of people with disabilities as equal citizens.

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However, setting these rights into law or signing an agreement doesn’t make them so because we know discrimination still happens every day against people with disabilities.

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Right underneath our noses, people with disabilities are not given the same opportunities as everyone else. Whether it’s at school, in the healthcare system, at work or in choosing who you love, some people simply do not have the options that we all take for granted.

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ATTITUDIONAL CHANGE NEEDED - PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES ARE NOT "OBJECTS". This is why the Convention on People w/ Disabilities was signed. To signal a shift in attitudes that people are not "objects" but rather "subjects".

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Instead of viewing persons with disabilities as “objects” of charity, medical treatment and social protection the conventions shifts viewing persons with disabilities as “subjects” with rights.

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People with disabilities are capable of making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society. This is often called the "legal capacity" to make decisions (sorry for the sector language).

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HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENT: The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension.

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The convention adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

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It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights...

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... and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection of rights must be reinforced.

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ARTICLE 19: The convention has 50 articles. Today we focus on Article 19 from the United Nations Convention on the rights of people with disabilities signed in 1992.

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Living independently and being included in the community (to access specific convention article please click on the below link).

un.org/development/de…

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AND IN CONCLUSION, Some people simply do not have the options that we all take for granted. It is a constant struggle. SPEAK UP. SPREAD THE WORD. WE HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO NOT BE QUIET.

And just be kind. It is the easiest thing to do.

~ RANT DONE ~