May Banting is an advocate and member of the L’Arche community in Halifax, Canada. In 2024, May traveled to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City as a member of the L’Arche International delegation to COSP17. In the first half of this article, May discusses some of her experiences as a community member in Halifax, how she advocates, and her experience at the COSP.
I have been living in L’Arche Halifax for 10 years. I have my own room where I can go to have some alone time and play on my iPad. I also like making connections with the members and assistants in my community. I get to do fun things with L’Arche.
I have a great life here in the community but I think there is still some work to do in Canada before it is completely disability-friendly. For example, there are a lot of buildings here that are still inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs like me. The city where I live also needs better public transport for people with disabilities. Public transport should be on time, more easily reachable and easier to book. I feel upset when I am excluded and unable to participate fully in society.
Last year I was invited to be part of L’Arche’s delegation to the United Nations. I was honoured to deliver L’Arche International’s formal statement at COSP17. I was very proud of myself for speaking up. I started the statement by saying “I believe in myself. I believe I am strong. I believe that me and my friends around the world need to be listened to, valued, and belong.”
I also had a really great time at the conference. I had a lot of fun exploring the city with my new friends from L’Arche. It was so cool to meet so many great people from the other L’Arche communities.
I hope that others can see my abilities and that I have a voice – even if it is different. It is important for our voices to be heard. Most people without disabilities can’t understand the struggle of not being able to do things for yourself. I want to help people to have patience and understand this.
I advocate for myself every day. I get support from the assistants in my community to help me live out my day, so I have to speak up for myself and ask for what I want. I think people without disabilities should listen to people with disabilities. It is important for others to understand that I am smart and able to do things. I may just need some different support.
Mantas Karpavičius also traveled to the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2024 to represent L’Arche International at COSP17. Mantas is from Lithuania. Here he speaks about his life in his community, his travel to New York City, and about advocating for people with disabilities through friendship and conversations.
I joined my L’Arche community in Kaunas in 2016, and it has helped me to become a different person. I was lonely before I joined the community, but now I have changed my outlook, and I am happy. I really like living here – I feel comfortable and supported. My favourite part about living in the community is the people. My friends in my community can always lift my spirits when I am having a hard time.
I am an open and social person. I like meeting new people and making new friends. Meeting people and making new friends gives me new opportunities to spread awareness of people with disabilities. I think that having conversations, forming relationships and raising awareness about issues for people with disabilities is the best way that we can make change happen.
In 2024, I was invited to represent L’Arche International at an important conference at the United Nations in New York City called COSP17.
The United Nations wanted to hear what representatives had to say about the inclusion of people with disabilities. This is a very important way that the voices, opinions and experiences of people with disabilities can be heard. I was invited to be part of the delegation because of my openness and ability to build new relationships. I also have an interest in the rights of people with disabilities, so this was the perfect opportunity for me.
My experience of New York was great. I noticed many differences to life in Lithuania. I had a great time at the conference and I loved the city. I saw yellow taxis and lots of skyscrapers. I especially liked seeing the Brooklyn Bridge.
I met lots of great advocates from around the world, and we had good conversations about people with disabilities. I learned a lot from the other self-advocates. I believe people with disabilities and people without disabilities should support each other to learn, so people with disabilities can be respected and treated equally.
Nothing about us without us.
In these stories, May and Mantas talk about the United Nations – the UN – and a big meeting called the COSP. COSP is short for The Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – the CRPD. At the COSP, people, groups, and governments talk and learn about how to make sure people with disabilities have the same rights and chances as everyone else. Countries also make plans to improve.
The CRPD is a human rights agreement that almost every country has agreed to follow. It says all people should be treated equally. Good progress has been made, but more work is still needed.
