In the years following the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), international disability rights advocacy was mostly focused on getting on the human rights agenda. It was about getting into the room, becoming visible in places where persons with disabilities had been invisible, and participating in policy development. … Read more…
Everyone, including persons with disabilities, has multiple identities, and we all experience multiple forms of discrimination or privilege depending on these identities. Persons with disabilities are women; they are ethnic minorities; they are LGBTQI persons; they are indigenous; and they are impacted by intersecting forms of discrimination. The Disability Rights Advocacy Fund’s (DRAF) grantmaking respects … Read more…
The genesis of the Disability Rights Fund can be traced back to 1999 and a brief exchange that its founding director, Diana Samarasan, had in Macedonia after visiting institutions where people with disabilities had been placed. Working as a mental health consultant for the American Refugee Committee at the time, she recalls her shock at … Read more…
An Indonesian activist named Risnawati (Risna) Utami, founded OHANA in 2009 with some colleagues who, like her were alumnae of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship. Until she was 10 years old, Utami had gotten around using crutches for short distances and a wheelchair for long distances. The organization she helped found is dedicated to strengthening … Read more…
Despite this welcome moment, women with disabilities want more than visibility in global convenings. They want other advocates and donors to see their identities as women and support their activism. Not surprisingly, a recent survey by Women Enabled International found that women with disabilities prioritize the same urgent concerns as non-disabled women: gender-based violence, sexual … Read more…