Advocating for Disability Rights

BlueLaw International secures regional disability rights program, partners with BBI Syracuse

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new cooperative project, “Enabling Legal Advocacy: Strengthening Civil Society to Advance International Disabilities Rights Organizations.” BLI will work with the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University to enhance the capacity of citizens and advocacy groups to organize and promote the interests of those with disabilities and to hold governing bodies accountable for their responsibility under law to these members of society.

To this end, the project includes the establishment and cultivation of a disability rights website – navigable for users with disabilities – that will offer a publicly accessible repository of information, resources, tools, and networking platforms to advocacy groups and interested individuals.

BBI will also work with NGOs to develop educational tools and advocacy training programs for parents and others who care for those with disabilities. The goal is to build a robust and thriving network to engage parents, educators, health care providers and other stakeholders in the work of supporting each other’s efforts towards inclusion and equality. The partnerships with local NGOs will also address the special needs of women with disabilities, particularly concerning access to health care facilities, providers, and services. The project will pilot an advocacy training group to enable a core group of women with disabilities and health care providers to gain knowledge about disability rights, dealing with barriers to accessibility, asserting the right to health care, and to help providers make women’s health care more accessible for patients with physical or intellectual disabilities. Ultimately, it is the mission of BLI, BBI, and partner NGOs to create a strong culture of advocacy that can be transmitted among members of the disability rights community, thereby providing an enduring network of support and greater access to crucial services, freedoms, and opportunities.