A generation ago, many people with disabilities were locked away in institutions, thought to be “unfit for citizenship” or burdens on society. Children with disabilities could not attend regular schools, not only because schools were inaccessible, but because there was an assumption that children with disabilities should be segregated.
In response, and based on similar strategies of the civil and women’s rights movements, the disability rights movement formed in the 1970s to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities under the rallying call “Nothing about us without us!”
In 1990, the disability rights movement secured a major victory -- the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This landmark legislation required all sectors of society to remove barriers that prevent disabled people from full participation in American life. In 1999, the movement took Georgia's Olmstead case to the Supreme Court, which ruled that disabled people must be able to live in the “most integrated setting” possible in their communities.
While many people with disabilities are succeeding in all aspects of American life, negative attitudes persist. Disabled people still experience bullying and stereotyping. The long-term care system forces people with disabilities to live in nursing homes and other institutions instead of their own homes. Efforts to promote the dignity, potential, and equality of all people continue.
Around the world, people with disabilities have modeled their own domestic legislation on the ADA, joining with advocates in the United States to create an international movement, including an international treaty -- the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -- which sets a single standard for the rights of disabled people globally.
A United Nations human rights body has criticized the United Kingdom government for “involuntary, compulsory treatment and detention” of people with disabilities inside and outside hospitals and urged UK authorities to guarantee access to community-based services.
All 10 of Canada's provinces have now committed to ending their immigration detention agreements and arrangements with the Canada Border Services Agency, a major victory for migrant and refugee rights, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Canada said today.
Last week, the Australian state of Queensland released a report on the deaths of two boys who had spent extensive time in solitary confinement in youth detention. Both were First Nations children with disabilities.
Olga, a 45-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, seldom leaves her home to participate in gatherings with friends or other social activities. Besides going to the same school she’s attended since childhood, the only other outing she makes is to a summer camp. To take control over her life, Olga needs a support system that would enable her to study for a career, develop professionally, fully exercise her political rights, live independently, and be included in the community. These are fundamental rights everyone should have, including women with disabilities.
On Wednesday in Geneva, United Nations experts concluded their dialogue with Indonesian government officials to review the country’s record on delivering economic, social, and cultural rights.
Authorities in the Delhi government should act on recommendations of the governing board of a shelter for people with disabilities to end the lifelong institutionalization of its nearly 1,000 residents, Human Rights Watch said today. Most people languishing in the government-run shelter, Asha Kiran, which literally means “ray of hope,” have been abandoned by their families with no choice but to remain institutionalized. “They are here for a lifetime,” one staff member said. “There is no exit policy.”
The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has joined eight other provinces to block the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) from using provincial jails to incarcerate migrants and asylum seekers on administrative grounds.
The Brazilian federal government unveiled its new human rights plan for the estimate 18 million people with disabilities in Brazil. But the plan, New “Living without Limits”, leaves out the thousands of people with disabilities who are living in institutions.
The administration led by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made important progress in the protection of the Amazon, women’s rights, and other rights during 2023, but has failed to tackle the chronic problem of police abuse or to defend human rights consistently abroad, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2024.
Human Rights Watch’s Executive Director Tirana Hassan discusses how the organization – which has been defending human rights since 1978 – operates in times of armed conflict and how teams of people specializing in research, communications, and advocacy work together to compel world leaders to protect civilians and push for justice.
Women and girls with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan experience abuse including rape, beatings, neglect, and humiliation, often by those closest to them.
Over a century ago, in 1910, British colonial authorities in Kenya redesigned a then-smallpox isolation center into what became the Nairobi Lunatic Asylum, a dire institution in which African patients–95 percent of the asylum’s population–were kept in the worst conditions and European patients in the best. Until independence in 1963, only Europeans worked there as psychiatrists, senior doctors, and nurses.
As Russia’s war against Ukraine takes an enormous toll on civilians, the European Commission has identified the rights of people with disabilities as one of the priorities for the country over the next 12 months as part of the European Union accession process.
The Ghanaian government should provide rights-based mental health services and adequate support for housing, independent living, and job training for people with mental health conditions. A new short film features people who were locked up because they have a mental health condition and who talk about what freedom and independence meant for their recovery.
Mariana Lozano, a young activist from Colombia, is the 2023 recipient of the Human Rights Watch Marca Bristo Fellowship for Leadership in Disability Rights, Human Rights Watch announced today on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, celebrated on December 3.