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AUCDigest

December 20, 2006 • Volume 6, Number 68


INTERNATIONAL NEWS & RESOURCES

News

December 13: Landmark Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Adopted.  The United Nations General Assembly adopted a proposed Convention to protect the rights of the some 650 million persons with disabilities.  The Convention is the first major human rights treaty of the 21st century.  After adopted by the General Assembly, the Convention is now open to the 192 member states for ratification and implementation.  It will enter into force when ratified by 20 countries.  Human rights advocates hope that the Convention will finally ensure that countries are no longer be allowed to relegate persons with disabilities to the margins of society.  Governments that ratify it will be legally bound to treat persons with disabilities as subjects of the law with clearly defined rights. Filling a gap in international human rights law, the 50-article Convention covers civil and political rights, accessibility, participation and inclusion, the right to education, health, work and employment and social protection.

Resources

United Nations Global Audit of Web Accessibility (Report).  The United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs commissioned Nomensa to conduct this audit to determine how accessible the Internet is for persons with disabilities.  The audit, the first of its kind, investigated the accessibility of 100 leading websites from 20 countries from around the world.  The aim of the survey, which was not intended to be exhaustive, was to obtain an indication concerning the existing status of accessibility of websites that people with disabilities might access as part of their daily lives.

Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.  Sponsored by the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability (IASSID); the current issue (December 2006 - Vol. 3 Issue 4 Page 209-278) is currently viewable online.

Events

Visit AUCD's International Section of Events Page for detailed information about the following events:

  • April 14-15, 2007: Unite For Sight's Fourth Annual International Health Conference
  • New! May 21- 23, 2007: International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability (IASSID) Special Interest Research Group Conference on Physical Health
  • June 16-19, 2007: Festival of International Conferences on Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology (FICCDAT)
  • June 17-21, 2007: Third International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World; Calling for Abstracts
  • New! July 6-9, 2007: China-US Conference on Youth at Risk
  • New! August 1-4, 2007: China-US Conference on Disaster Management: Natural and Technological Disasters
  • New! August 10-13, 2007: China-US International Education Leadership Conference: Improving Teaching and Learning
  • New!  October 10-13, 2007: American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) Annual Meeting

 

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