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Empower U: Learn to Access Your Disability Rights Training on Canadian Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol (OP) training aims to increase awareness of how to address discrimination using more familiar Canadian human rights laws such as Human Rights Codes and the newer international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This is training for persons with disabilities by persons with disabilities. The training is part of a project funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and implemented by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) in collaboration with Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc. (CMDCI), Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario (CWDO), Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD) and National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS). Read more.
Continuing to Develop Human Rights Capacity
During the first two weeks of December, we have the opportunity to learn a lot about human rights, with the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities falling on December 3rd and December 10th being International Human Rights Day. If the conversations that were begun on December 3rd and December 10th , sparked your interest in learning more about human rights, as viewed through a disability rights lens, you should check out the Disability Rights Online website. This website connects visitors with self-paced online training on human rights and other resources and contact information for expert speakers on human rights.
Self-Paced Training on Human Rights
Disability Rights Online includes free online self-paced training on human rights. The training course is divided into 11 modules that summarize the rights of persons with disabilities and explain how to address discrimination. The purpose of this training is to inform persons with disabilities about how and where to take action when their human rights have been violated.
The outline of the course is as follows:
• Introduction. Description of the course. Aims of the course. Organization. How to proceed. Learning objectives. Sources of material.
• Module 1. What are human rights? The universal declaration of human rights. CRPD. Human rights in Canada. Provincial accessibility legislation.
• Module 2. Equality and non-discrimination. Accessibility.
• Module 3. Freedom of expression and opinion. The right to participation in political and public life.
• Module 4. Privacy, integrity, home, and the family. Living independently and with dignity in the community.
• Module 5. The right to health. The right to habilitation and rehabilitation.
• Module 6. The right to protection in situations of risk. Freedom from torture and other forms of abuse.
• Module 7. The right to education. The right to participate in sport and culture.
• Module 8. The right to work.
• Module 9. The human rights of children with disabilities. Non-discrimination and equality for women with disabilities. The rights of other populations.
• Module 10. Access to justice.
• Module 11. Redress: How to remedy discrimination. How to access systems. How to use the system to seek redress. The optional protocol.
Collection of Human Rights Videos
At Disability Rights Online, you can access videos of webinars where members of the disability community shared their perspectives on a range of human rights issues. These webinars convey information about:
The Right to Education: The Perspectives of Post-Secondary Students with Disabilities (Morgan Sears, and Cody Joy, the Managing Team of the Memorial University Disability Information Support Centre (MUN DISC); Nadia Kanani, Advocacy and Finance Coordinator of Students for Barrier-Free Access at the University of Toronto (SBA) and Kat Kahnert-Wolchak, Coordinator of the York Federation of Students Access Centre (YFS Access Centre).
Taking Charge, Learning to Access Your Rights as a Student with a Disability in Quebec (in French) (Nicolas Labbé-Corbin, law graduate from McGill University; and Gilda Boffa, Director, Communications and Language Services, AQEIPS.)
The Right to Education (Zephania Matanga, Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre)
Ethno-cultural Perspectives on the CRPD, Intersectionality, and Disability Rights (Tammy C. Yates, Executive Director, Realize; Meenu Sikand, Founder and CEO of Accessibility for All and Executive Lead, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the Holland Blooview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital; and Dr. Zephania Matanga, The Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre)
The CRPD and Optional Protocol (Steven Estey, Interim National Coordinator, CCD and former Human Rights Officer at Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI); and
Mariana Versiani, Project Coordinator for the OP Lab at ARCH Disability Law Centre)
History and Evolution of Disability Rights in Canada (Yvonne Peters)
Using the CRPD tp Advance the Right to Health (Melanie Benard)
Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia and the CRPD (Amy Hasbrouck, Toujours Vivant – Not Dead Yet)
Advancing Human Rights: The Role of Human Rights Commissions (Tabatha Tranquilla, Acting Director, Policy, Research and International Division, Canadian Human Rights Commission; Veronica Joseph, Manitoba Human Rights Commission)
Rights of Children with Disabilities (Dr. Denise Keiko Shikako Thomas, Occupational Therapist, Assistant Professor at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Childhood Disability: Participation and Knowledge Translation.)
Connecting with Expert Speakers on Human Rights
If you are looking for a speaker on human and disability rights, Disability Rights Online connects you with experienced presenters.
Who Developed This Resource
Disability Rights Online was developed collaboratively by a number of disability rights organizations: the Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc., Citizens With Disabilities-Ontario, Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities, National Educational Association of Disabled Students, and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities.