Nothing About Us Without Us: Participatory Training Workshop on Disability Rights, Wuhan, China
Date: 21-22 May 2016
The two-day Disability Equality Training (DET) Workshop was co-organized by UNDP China and the Wuhan University Public Interest and Development Law Institute (PIDLI). Attended by 15 participants from local law firms, the legal aid center, the local Association of the Deaf, organizations of persons with disabilities, and media, the Workshop aimed to introduce the “social model of disability” (advocated by the CRPD) to key stakeholders and enhance their legal technical capacity to improve access to justice for persons with disabilities.
The Workshop focused on two topics: (1) changing attitudes and mindsets of participants regarding their concepts of disability, integration and inclusion, and reasonable accommodation; and (2) seeking practical solutions to address legal challenges faced by persons with disabilities (such as the barriers in accessing legal aid). “Nothing about us without us” is the principle advocated by the persons with disabilities community. It propounds that no decision should be made without the full and direct participation of members of the groups that will be affected. The persons with disabilities community participated in the overall design, rule-setting, facilitation, discussion, and evaluation of this Workshop (which proved crucial to the delivery of the full impact of the Workshop).