Hear Us: Young VoicesBRINGING THE UN CONVENTION TO LIFE, 2006–2008

Leonard Cheshire Disability works with projectpartners in over 50 countries to support people with disabilities in their efforts to secure education,livelihoods, health care and a voice in their society.We also campaign to change attitudes and improve services.

Our 60 years of experience in international disability and development work is backed up byour research team at University College London. This,combined with the expertise and reach of our officesin five continents, puts us in a prime position to sharegood practice and campaign for the human rights of people with disabilities. We promote inclusivedevelopment in which people with disabilities arecentral to every stage of our projects.

Our programme areas include:■ Education■ Livelihoods■ Health and rehabilitation■ Support for everyday living■ Research■ Campaigning

Working with over 50 national disabilityorganisations, we are active participants in the new Cheshire Global Alliance, a network to shareinnovation in campaigning and service provision.

We have regional offices in Asia, Africa and TheAmericas. For further details please see the insideback cover.

The Young Voices projectwould not exist without thegenerous support of:■ The United Nations

Department of Economicand Social Affairs

■ Southern Africa Trust■ The Foreign and

Commonwealth Office – Zimbabwe

AuthorNick Kochan

EditorNolan QuigleyNolan.Quigley@LCDisability.org

Cover photoJenny Matthews/Leonard Cheshire Disability

Designwww.design-mill.co.uk

3Contents

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 4Read on! 4Young Voices: a call to action 4

Young Voices: the story so far 6Young Voices: in action all around the world 6■ Swaziland: a theatrical hit 6■ The Philippines: an award winner 7■ Sri Lanka: taking to the streets 8■ Namibia: a word from the PM 8

Young Voices in conflict zones: Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia 8■ Sudan 8■ Sierra Leone 9■ Liberia 10

Young Voices: the story continues! 10Objectives and outcomes of the next phase 10Lights, cameras, action: Young Voices telling their stories through film 11

Conclusion and a call to action 12Ten point programme – what you can do 12After Young Voices: Young Voices alumni look back on their experience 12■ Anjum Taj – an inspiration for people with disabilities 13■ Isaac Mwaura – Kenya’s tireless campaigner 14■ Mary Grace C. Cabrera – committed youth campaigner 14

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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities4

The United Nations Convention on the Rightsof Persons with Disabilities was a landmarkevent in the history of human rights fordisabled people.

The final text is the result of many years of hard work and campaigning by people withdisabilities, their organisations, their allies in civil society and governments.

The Convention has the legal force to call on governments to reach out to the disabledmembers of their populations. None can now ignore people with disabilities. All need to pursue a human rights agenda for people with disabilities, fund it, support it, embrace it.

Countries have taken up the Convention ingrowing numbers. An initial 82 signed it at itslaunch on 30 March 2007. But by 4 April 2008, noless than 126 had signed up to it. By mid-2008 overtwenty countries had ratified it. This means thatthose countries must implement the Convention.

The Convention reaffirms that all people withdisabilities have fundamental rights and theseneed to be realised. Its opening claim is to“promote, protect and ensure the full and equalenjoyment of all human rights and fundamentalfreedoms by persons with disabilities, and topromote respect for their inherent dignity”.

The Convention provides an extraordinaryopportunity for people with disabilities to buildawareness of their rights in the wider communityand to prompt and encourage governments to act on their good intentions. However,experience has shown from earlier Conventionsthat the ratification of human rights treaties doesnot, in itself, guarantee that governments willimplement or resource their commitments.Implemented properly, the Convention can bring about a real change for the better in thedaily experiences of the millions of people with disabilities around the globe. Now that theConvention is ‘alive’ we must be vigilant. All of usmust monitor governments’ progress in meetingtheir promises.

Read on!This report gives an update on Leonard CheshireDisability’s Young Voices project and the UNConvention that inspired it. It focuses on activitiesduring 2007–8, looks forward to its future and,finally, hears from some former Young Voiceswho are on their way to becoming inspirationalleaders of the future.

Young Voices: a call to actionPeople with disabilities will secure their rights bypublicly and loudly reminding politicians of theirduties and promises. Young Voices, a project of Leonard Cheshire Disability, provides thisopportunity. Young people with disabilities havethe chance to share their experiences, to speak

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out against discrimination and, most importantly,to influence important government decisions thatimpact on their lives. It is a unique opportunity forpeople who often find themselves ignored andthe object of discrimination to shout out andmake their voices heard.

People with disabilities, through Young Voices,are forming a global network and learning howto organise themselves. In so doing, this projectshapes future leaders both for the disabilitymovement and for wider society.

Young people with disabilities have joined theYoung Voices groups in growing numbers andfrom an increasing number of countries. Theyhave taken the Young Voices message ofadvocacy and lobbying to their politicians andtheir media. Their efforts help to inform peoplewho may be unfamiliar with the human rights ofpeople with disabilities, particularly by drawingtheir attention to the UN Convention that has thepotential to change people’s lives and status.

The Young Voices project has increased thecapacity for active citizenship by working with disabled young people to develop theirunderstanding of human rights and advocacy.It will also help ensure that potential leaders inthe disability field are equipped with usefulcampaigning, advocacy and media skills. With the knowledge and experience they have gained, they will be able to hold their

governments to account for the implementationof this new human rights instrument.

The challenge now is to support the groups tobecome capable of taking on an advocacy and campaigning role that sees the Conventionratified, implemented and monitored in each oftheir countries.

Meeting the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

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Young Voices: the story so far6

Starting with a pilot project in 2005, Leonard Cheshire Disability worked throughlocal partners to support groups of young people with disabilities in twelve countries.This covered the last two years of thedevelopment of the Convention. As theseyoung people became knowledgeable aboutthe Convention, they began to understandhow to use their voices to influence policy.

A highlight for participants in the early years of the project was the opportunity to attend the ad-hoc committee of the UN in New York, wherethey organised a side event. Their passion andenthusiasm reminded everybody deep innegotiations that the rights of millions of peoplearound the world were at stake. Three years on,groups of young people with disabilities havebeen formed or are being developed in thefollowing 18 countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone,Sudan, Namibia, Swaziland, Botswana, Kenya,Uganda, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China,Guyana, South Africa, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and the Philippines. A network ofeffective advocates working closely withdisabled people’s organisations and others in civil society has come to life.

Young Voices: in action all around the worldThe Young Voices project is a place for action.Young people with disabilities have met to share their experiences, planned and executed

campaigns, pushed for ratification of theConvention with senior politicians and organisedstreet demonstrations. They have used radio, TV,theatre and music to get their message out to thegeneral public and share their experiences ofdiscrimination, barriers to access and negativeattitudes. Developing their leadership,campaigning and advocacy skills has been the groups’ focus.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the excitingactivities that have taken place during 2007 and 2008. Young Voices has given a forum foryoung people with disabilities to shout louderand promote harder their own needs and rights.

Swaziland: a theatrical hitThe Young Voices group in Swazilandapproached the Ministry of Youth and RegionalDevelopment Affairs, and used media, poemsand drama to promote the Convention andfacilitate training workshops for people withdisabilities.

In July 2007 the group in Swaziland introducedmany people with disabilities to the use oftheatre as a forum for advocacy. It was a great hit. The theatre for development trainingworkshop for people with disabilities was heldwith the support of the Swaziland Theatre forChildren and Young people and the LeonardCheshire Disability Southern Africa Office.

Nine young men and women with differentdisabilities came to learn more about telling theirstories of discrimination through the medium ofdrama. Regarding the theatre as a place wherethey could educate people, they wanted todeliver powerful messages to the government ina more entertaining way. They addressed somecomplex and important topics, including publichealth issues that affect people with HIV and AIDS,the rights of women and children with disabilitiesand the abilities of people with disabilities. Alsoenjoyable was surprising the audience with theirtalent and having fun together.

The storyline concerned a deaf woman insouthern Africa who struggled to gain aneducation and work, facing abuse anddiscrimination along the way. It was an accurateand difficult account of the life of a disabledperson in a poor country where disability is so little understood.

Developing the play prompted discussion and original thought. The participants used it todiscover talents and abilities that they may nothave known they had for developing ideas,writing and performing.

The Philippines: an award winnerThe Young Voices project has been very active in the Philippines as part of a wider campaign to develop advocacy skills around the UNConvention.

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Article 30 of the UN Convention on disabilityrequires countries to recognize the right ofpersons with disabilities to take part on anequal basis with others in cultural life, and shalltake all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy access tocultural materials in accessible formats, enjoyaccess to television programmes, films, theatre and other cultural activities, inaccessible formats, enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries andtourism services.

Young Voices campaign for access, Sierra Leone

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Through a partnership with the PhilippineCommission on Human Rights, the Young Voicesproject trained 34 dynamic young people withdisabilities in human rights. They will go on totrain other young people and will togetherbecome future leaders of the disabilitymovement and advocates on human rightsaround the UN Convention.

In October 2007, the Inclusive Youth Centre inQuezon, Philippines, of which Young Voices ispart, won a ‘Smart TAYO Innovation Award’. Thisannual award for the ten accomplished youthorganisations (TAYO) is given by the Philippinegovernment’s National Youth Commission.

Sri Lanka: taking to the streetsHundreds of people, many from the YoungVoices project, marched through the streets ofColombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, on 7 December2007. This ‘walk to freedom’ culminated withthem meeting the Prime Minister, Mr RathnasiriWickremanayake, and presenting him with amemorandum calling on Sri Lanka to ratify theConvention as soon as possible. The YoungVoices project in Sri Lanka organised this majorevent through the Leonard Cheshire DisabilityResource centre in Colombo.

Namibia: a word from the PMAn inspiring speech by the Prime Minister ofNamibia was the high point of a workshopattended by fifteen Young Voices participants

from four regions of the country. The speech wasthe centre piece of a parliamentary debate onthe ratification of the UN Convention.

The Speaker of the parliament also paid tributeto the advocacy of the Leonard CheshireDisability Southern Africa Office. He thankedstaff for assisting with the empowering ofyoung people with disabilities in Namibia andsaid that the government will benefit from theirskills in the future as Namibia ratifies andimplements the Convention.

Young Voices in conflict zones: Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia Conflict both impacts on and causes disabilityand undermines society’s ability to respond to disabled people’s needs. In the three post-conflict countries selected to be part of theYoung Voices project, civil war made theseproblems even more acute. This led to youngpeople with disabilities who already took partin Leonard Cheshire Disability projects there to call for help to combat these problems.Activities in the countries were supported by a grant from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Sudan People with disabilities, other disabilityorganisations, government representatives and members of the media came together at a successful stakeholders’ workshop in Juba,

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Southern Sudan. The aim was to understand andexplore the new Convention and its implications.The group also discussed monitoring anddelivery of the Convention.

The workshop notched up some importantsuccesses. Disability was the subject of a series of programmes on UN radio in Sudan, putting the topic in front of local policy makers andmembers of the government. This was followedup with a national workshop in Khartoum in thenorth of Sudan in November 2007

Lack of understanding of the UN Conventionamong the members of Sudan’s NationalAssembly and the South Sudan LegislativeAssembly concerned the participants. Because of this, the disabled people’s organisations thatattended the Khartoum workshop called on thepresident to do all he can to ratify the Conventionand develop a national action plan. Achievingthis depends heavily on the continuation of thefragile peace between North and South.

Sierra Leone 25 young disabled people called on thegovernment of Sierra Leone to ratify theConvention at a Young Voices workshop. Held in the capital, Freetown, in November 2007, theworkshop was covered in the local media, andchallenged the government to change the laws in Sierra Leone as soon as possible.

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Article 29 – Participation in political andpublic life. The UN Convention requirescountries to take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities canexercise the right to freedom of expressionand opinion including the freedom to seek,receive and impart information and ideas onan equal basis with others and through allforms of communication of their choice.

The UN Convention guarantees to persons withdisabilities political rights and the opportunityto enjoy them on an equal basis with others.

The countries also need to ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fullyparticipate in political and public life on anequal basis with others, directly or throughfreely chosen representatives, including theright and opportunity for persons withdisabilities to vote and be elected.

Article 11 – Situations of risk andhumanitarian emergencies. The UNConvention requires countries to take allnecessary measures to ensure the protectionand safety of persons with disabilities insituations of risk, including situations of armedconflict, humanitarian emergencies and theoccurrence of natural disasters.

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At the meeting, the NGOs, school heads andother leaders joined the young people in calling for allocating resources for people with disabilities in the annual budget. They also affirmed the need for the UN to set up anorganisation to deal with disability issues. Accessto facilities for people with disabilities in SierraLeone was a particularly pressing topicdemanding action, they said.

LiberiaWar has left particularly painful wounds inLiberia. The number of people with disabilities inthe country is also unusually high; according tothe Centre For The Rehabilitation of the Injuredand the Disabled, it amounts to no less than 16% of the entire population.

This brought the ratification of the UN conventionto the top of the agenda for 21 people with

disabilities who attended a workshop inMonrovia, Liberia’s capital, in January 2008.Participants demanded that the NationalLegislature ratify the People with Disabilities Act pending before the House. They alsoappealed to the Liberian Government to conduct a nationwide census of the country’sdisabled population.

Young Voices: the story continues!Advocacy groups such as Young Voices have a great opportunity to mobilise themselves andtheir campaigns for meaningful implementationof this Convention.

As the confidence of the young people withdisabilities grows through their campaigningwork, the campaigns themselves will becomemore effective. Increasing use of media and newtechnology will also create more opportunitiesfor the Young Voices groups to come togetherand make their voices heard.

Objectives and outcomes of the next phase■ National campaigning and advocacy

groups of young people with disabilities in all the participating countries, with a positiveunderstanding of human rights and activecitizenship

Sharing news in Sierra Leone

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■ Visible engagement of young people withdisabilities with their governments to press forthe ratification and implementation of theConvention in each country

■ Practical experience of producing mediamaterials and engagement with the mediawithin each of the national groups

■ Establishment of a network among the groupsnationally, regionally and globally

■ A medium-term action plan for an advocacycampaign that will achieve national compliancewith the UN Convention according to prioritiesidentified by young people’s groups

Lights, cameras, action: Young Voicestelling their stories through filmA two-day workshop of young people withdisabilities from around the world took place on the eve of the bi-annual Leonard CheshireDisability / UN Economic Commission for AfricaGlobal Conference on 18–19 May 2008 in AddisAbaba. 18 participants – one from each of thecountries where the Leonard Cheshire DisabilityYoung Voices project operates or is starting thisyear – discussed advocacy and campaigningand received training in film making. They alsoattended the conference which took place from 20–22 May.

The training was conducted by award-winningfilmmakers Ron McCullagh and Sorious Samuraof Storyhouse Films. They dealt with mediaawareness in advocacy, practicalities offilmmaking and specific tips on making videodiaries. Each participant received one-to-onetraining and advice.

Back at home, the participants will film their daily experiences and the work of their YoungVoices group. The material will be edited intoprofessionally produced three-minute films to beshown on the Young Voices microsite and in othersettings. A total of 26 short films will be producedduring the course of the year, with each YoungVoices country contributing at least one.

The films will be in video diary style withindividual commentary from the young voices participants themselves. There will be commentary and input from other groupmembers as well as footage of young voicesgroups meeting, debating and taking action.

They will be theirfilms, their style, their voices.

Conclusion and a call to action12

The UN Convention opens the way for young people with disabilities to press theircase in the corridors of power and importantinstitutions.

Young Voices helps young people take the firststeps towards bringing the UN Convention to life.The project has the potential to introduce peoplewith disabilities both to the arguments that will helpbring about implementation of the provisions of theUN Convention and to new advocacy tools. The useof filming, theatre, new media and technology offeropportunities for breakthroughs in advocacy. Theend result is an unparalleled opportunity for youngpeople with disabilities to make their voices heardand shape their own future.

Over the coming years, Young Voices projects will continue bringing the UN Convention to life. If Young Voices has inspired you, please join us by taking the following actions.

After Young Voices: Young Voicesalumni look back on their experienceYouth with disabilities have learned the art ofadvocacy and taken the opportunity to expresstheir beliefs and arguments in many different andimportant forums. They have been key influenceson decision processes and taken forward thecause for people with disabilities around theworld. Here we meet three such people, Anjumfrom India, Mwaura from Kenya and Grace fromthe Philippines.

Study and discuss the Convention.

Campaign for implementation of theConvention.

Lobby Governments and officials.

Push disability issues in the media andwrite articles and blogs.

Support each other againstdiscrimination.

Protest when people with disabilities are abused.

Link with Disabled People’sOrganisations.

Celebrate when barriers are lifted anddiscrimination is overcome.

Think of new ways to tell your stories.

Demand the right to be heard.

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There is no time for delay. The time to act on the Convention is now!

Ten point programme– what you can do

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Anjum Taj – an inspiration for people with disabilitiesAnjum, from India, was one ofthe most active participants inthe pilot Young Voices initiative.This has given her the

experience and the confidence to take forwardthe message of disability, to motivate and inspirepeople with disabilities and to inform the worldabout experiences of people with disabilities.Today, she is a disability rights activist and a rolemodel for people with disabilities.

Anjum, who is 30, discusses what Young Voiceshas meant to her, and how it was an inspiration.“It was one of the most enriching experiences of my life… it gave me an opportunity tounderstand and highlight issues of people withdisabilities, across cultures, with different typesand degrees of disability.”

In spite of her commitments as a new mother,Anjum took at the opportunity to address aninternational audience at the United Nations inNew York on the subject of discrimination againstand concerns of young people with disabilities.

In addition to enriching her knowledge and skills,active participation in the Young Voices processhas also given her considerable visibility. She says,“People now consider me an activist. I use everyopportunity to increase awareness amongpeople about the potential and capacities of

people with disabilities and their inherent right toparticipate and excel in every aspect of daily life.”

Anjum has proved this in her personal life too.She is a human resources executive at Satyam(one of the largest IT companies in India). After just five months in the company, she received anaward for the best ‘Contributor of Initiatives in theHR Department’.

She regularly interacts with the DiversityDepartment at Satyam to ensure that disabilityissues are given due importance and suitableactions are taken. She has been involved incampaigning inside the company to ensure that Braille indicators are correctly marked in the elevators of her office. Never missing anopportunity to try to change attitudes, she likes to discuss the rights and potential of people withdisability with fellow bus passengers.

Anjum has emerged as a disability activist and is regularly invited to speak by radio andtelevision channels. Anjum’s appearances on these programmes motivate people, raiseawareness and promote the rights of peoplewith disabilities.

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Isaac Mwaura – Kenya’stireless campaignerIsaac has become Kenya’sleading youth activist for peoplewith disabilities, speaking inmany global forums with great

eloquence and passion.

He gained early experience as the youthrepresentative for Africa’s eastern and northernregions at the negotiations during the eighth ad-hoc meeting at the United Nations in New York in August 2006. He says the sessions were“captivating and empowering” – a formativeexperience for a young man.

Isaac, who is now 26 years old, was interviewedfor UN Radio and TV and says he came out of theexperience, “very energised and determined tomake a difference since the UN Convention,when ratified, would have greater impact on us as young persons with disabilities.”

He later attended the global youth employmentsummit held in Kenya and did all he could to ensuremaximum attendance by young people withdisabilities. Holding a press conference, he calledon his government to implement the Persons withDisabilities Act and then set about forming anetwork for young people with disabilities.

This became The Kenya Youth with DisabilitiesRehabilitation Network, which has collaborated

with the government in formulating an African Youth Charter. It also pushed for the establishment of a Special Needs Unit,championed Millennium Development Goals and represented youth on national agencies.

Isaac has been a tireless campaigner at thehighest political level to improve conditions forpeople with disabilities in Kenya. He is a modeladvocate for young disabled people, andYoung Voices served as his inspiration andtraining ground.

Mary Grace C. Cabrera – committed youthcampaigner“I realised that other people withdisabilities had similar stories totell’’ says Grace after meeting the

young voices participants in the Philippines.

Grace was the Young Voices participant from the Philippines at the UN in August 2006. Herexperience at the UN inspired her to help set up the Inclusive Youth Centre, which won agovernment award. Encouraging young peoplefrom throughout the country to support theadvocacy campaigns on the UN Convention isGrace’s priority. At the moment, she works withthe Philippine Council of Cheshire Homes as atechnical staff member based at the InclusiveYouth Centre. She also contributes to the council’sresource mobilisation programme.

East and North Africa Regional Office, Kenya Telephone: +254 20 3872 197 Email: info@lcd-enar.org

Southern Africa Regional Office, South Africa Telephone: +27 11 3123041 Email: info@lcdisabilitysouthernafrica.co.za

West Africa Regional Office, Sierra Leone Telephone: +232 76 504116 Email:leonardcheshirewaro@yahoo.com

The Americas Regional Office, Barbados Telephone: +1 246 436 0656 Email: Sophia_lcdamericas@caribsurf.com

East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Thailand Telephone: +662 617 1795 Email: smileylci@gmail.com

South Asia Regional Office, India Telephone: +91 80 2658 1902 Email: info@lcdsouthasia.org

Leonard Cheshire Disability Regional Offices:

The Convention, together with itsOptional Protocol... is a historic

moment of our quest for realisation of the universal

human rights for all persons.Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General

Leonard Cheshire DisabilityInternational Department66 South Lambeth RoadLondon, SW8 1RLUnited Kingdom

Phone: +44 (0)20 7802 8200

Email: international@LCDisability.orgWeb: www.LCDisability.org/international

Please contact us if you would like a copy of this report in an alternative format.

Leonard Cheshire Disability is a registered charity No.218186 (England & Wales) and No.SCO05117 (Scotland)

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