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SELF-ADVOCATES
[Last updated Friday, April 11, 2008]
The first self-advocate volunteer from Japan International Cooperation Agency served in Malaysia During the month of April 2008, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sent its first volunteer, Ms. Mayumi Narazaki, who is a self-advocate, for the promotion of self-advocacy in Malaysia.
Mayumi, a self-advocate leader of a small group called “Sunflower” in Yokohama, has been active with Inclusion Japan and is now one of the editors for the production of easy-to-read version of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), undertaken by Inclusion Japan. In Malaysia,
Ms. Narazaki worked with the “United Voice”, a very active independent organization of self-advocates in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, to promote self-advocacy in different parts of Malaysia, including the island part of the country.
For a full month Mayumi was accompanied by a support person, who is a former JICA volunteer who had served in Malaysia. She served as Mayumi’s interpreter and a support person. This is another positive development that demonstrated the contribution of self-advocates beyond national borders.
Self- advocate Mia Farah talks about her experience at the Panel of Experts, which took place in Jordan on 26-29 March, 2008 "On March 28 and 29, we had the Panel of Experts meeting.
The special rapporteur (Sheikha Hussa) gave an update on her work since the last Panel Of Experts and the representative of the different regions talked about the progress of the decade in their region.
One of the major concerns facing the panel was the relation between the standard rules and the convention. After discussion, we agreed on writing a paper to study the possibility for the special rapporteur to work on the standard rules and the convention.
I gave a presentation on behalf of persons with intellectual disability in which I addressed subjects that were of concern to them" Read Mia's presentation
Mia Farah to continue Robert Martin’s work as a representative of II in the Panel of Experts
Mia Farah will represent II at the next Panel of Experts that will take place in Amman, Jordan from March 25-29, 2008.
In a farewell letter to Robert Martin the UN Rapporteur on Disability Ms Hissa Al Thani thanked Robert for his contribution
''You brought a fresh new perspective to the meetings and your interventions were always moving and to the point. Through your interventions, you managed to put things in perspective for us. You also managed to articulate not only the needs, rights and issues of persons with intellectual disabilities, but their feelings as well, the difficulties that are particular to them and which many of us tend to forget.
She also pointed out how Robert's intervention had inspired another young man with intellectual disabilities from Lebanon''Thanks to you, Ibrahim is now taking computer courses and English language lessons, and doing very well''
Inclulsion International would like to thank Robert for his commitment and his inspiring work as Inclusion International ambassador during his term with the Panel of Experts.
Self-Advocates as Experts at APCD Workshop,
Asia Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD), technical cooperation project between Thailand and Japan, organized its first Regional Workshop for Networking and Collaboration on Intellectual Disabilities, in Bangkok, Thailand, 22-25 January 2008.
There were self-advocates, family members and support persons from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. Resource persons were from Chosen Power of Hong Kong/China, Sunflower of Japan and United Voice of Malaysia as well as from Association of the Parents for Thai Persons with Autism, Special Olympics and ART, which is Thai member organization of Inclusion International.
For the first time, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan's development assistance arm, dispatched a self-advocate, Ms. Narazaki Mayumi, as an expert. This was also the first time JICA acknowledged the need of support person for a self-advocate and sent Ms. Saito as a support person.
Inclusion International collaborated with APCD and its council member, Nagase Osamu (Inclusion Japan),served as a resource person. Nagase also joined the APCD missions to Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos from mid-November to mid-December 2007 to conduct national workshops for the empowerment of self-advocates and family members.
The workshop has proved as a timely opportunity to promote self-advocacy and family-advocacy in this part of the world.
Please visit the following for more information with photos; http://www.jica.go.jp/english/resources/field/2008/jan22_02.html
http://www.jica.go.jp/english/resources/field/2008/jan23.html
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