Comments on: Higher Education: The Missing Piece in the UN Resolution for Worldwide Disability Rights

By: admin

admin — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:56:07 +0000

In reply to Med Ssengooba. Thank you for sharing your experience. Have you written anything regarding people with physical disabilities?

By: Med Ssengooba

Med Ssengooba — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:44:03 +0000

I can’t agree more with this article as I share a lot in common with Risnawati–not only as a person with a physical disability which resulted from polio I contracted at the age of 3 years, BUT most importantly as Ford Foundation IFP Alumni. After graduating with my Master of Laws degree from American University, 2011, I won a Finberg Fellowship at Human Rights Watch probably as the first person with a visible disability in the organization. My work at Human Rights Watch (where I authored a reported entitled “Like A Death Sentence: Abuses against Persons with Mental Disabilities in Psychiatric Institutions in Ghana), was ground breaking in the sense that it showed unregulated abuses against people that the state should be protecting most, but also that persons with disabilities once given the opportunity, can produce quality results in very competitive settings. I would never have had the chance to do this without a masters degree I obtained with support from the IFP. The skills I have obtained, the people I have inspired with the work I have been able to do thus far, organizations of persons with disabilities I have nurtured and supported; and the level of personal growth since the IFP fellowship only serves as an example to show that higher education is a necessity for persons with disabilities if we are to realize sustainable development generally, but also if we are to take off towards harnessing independent living and enjoyment of all other rights on the same basis with rest of society.

By: Joan Dassin

Joan Dassin — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:00:52 +0000

Excluding people with disabilities from any level of education represents a tremendous loss of talent for any society. The IFP experience shows how dedicated leaders who overcome discrimination based on physical difference not only take full advantage of their advanced educational opportunities but also go on to empower and educate others — including those at the primary and secondary school levels. Our hope is that improved access to higher education for people from marginalized communities will contribute to better access for all.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:13:50 +0000

Very interesting.

I’m struck by this point: “Women with disabilities suffer a ‘double-whammy’ in regions where historical gender roles don’t allow much room for primary school, let alone an advanced degree.”

Perhaps this is a key consideration: maybe the focus needs to be more on PRIMARY school to begin with; it seems to me that if more people were raised with the understanding of the need for equality in education, the effort to make HIGHER education more available would seem more like a given to everyone.