How many people with an intellectual disability get their voices heard on a world platform to actually shift forward the dial of human rights? Precious few. Certainly not enough. But at a United Nations conference in June, this is just what Nick Herd and May Banting have achieved. Through their electrifying contribution at CoSP17, these trail-blazers from L’Arche Canada have taken the UN into new territory.
It was at the 17th annual Conference of States Parties (CoSP17 for short) that history was made. CoSP is the UN meeting which monitors global progress on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and is attended by many NGOs with that focus. In all the previous 16 such conferences, the live news blog was managed internally, by the UN communications team. Not this time! In a remarkable first for an external organization, the UN team quickly embraced L’Arche’s proposal with enthusiasm: a disability conference must incorporate the voices of individuals directly affected by the debate, and they worked alongside L’Arche and Nick to make this historic moment happen. Nothing about us without us. Game on!
Fronted by Nick Herd, dedicated disability advocate, the news blog offered a series of perspectives and rapid responses to events and speeches. Nick and the UN news team struck up an immediate and effective working partnership. Especially appreciated were the many interviews Nick gave to CoSP contributors– including delegates, attendees, speakers and ambassadors alike: an opportunity to amplify their voices and reactions, while ensuring that his own point of view got heard.
One such contributor was May Banting who presented L’Arche International’s formal statement during the General Debate and Civil Society Forum calling for leadership from people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at all stages of humanitarian work. ‘I believe in myself. I believe I am strong. And I believe that me and my friends around the world need to be listened to, valued and to belong.’ Bravo, May! Such self-belief and personal strength are a direct assault on any negative images about disability. And to anyone with doubts about the irreplaceable value of hearing directly from citizens with a disability, May’s words showed not just the why but also the how: her use of assistive communication tools exactly matched one of the three CoSP17 themes, technology and disability.
