uncrpd what does it mean for you? (easytoread)
DESCRIPTION
Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2010). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities: What does it mean for you? (Easy-to-read ed.) Inspired Services Publishing Ltd. Retrieved from www.equalityhumanrights.comTRANSCRIPT
The United NationsConventionon the Rights of Peoplewith Disabilities
What does it mean for you?
Easy read
What is in this booklet page
About this booklet 1
What do we mean by rights? 3
What the government has to do 5
Checking that people get their rights 6
How the Convention will helpdisabled people 8
Using the Convention to change things 9
Getting involved in checking and reportingwhat is happening 15
What is in this booklet page
Making a complaint if you think theagreement has been broken 17
The Articles of the Convention 21
1
About this booklet
This booklet is about the UnitedNations Convention on the rights ofpeople with disabilities.
The Convention is an agreementbetween different countries.
Rights are things that should happenfor everyone.
Countries who sign the agreementmust make sure disabled people gettheir rights.
2
The United Kingdom governmentsigned the agreement in 2007.
In June 2009 it was ratified. Thismeans the government must now stickto the agreement.
x The Convention does not give you newlegal rights.
+But it can be used with the laws wealready have in each country to changethings for disabled people.
3
What do we mean by rights?
The Convention says countries will nottreat people differently or unfairlybecause of their disability.
It does not give disabled people anynew rights.
But it does say what countries shoulddo to make sure disabled people getthe same rights as everyone else.
These include the right to:
l life
l have the same chances and rightsat work as other people
xx
4
l have the best possible health
l live in the community
l say what you think
l go to school, college or university.
There is a full list of the rights onpage 21 of this booklet.
5
What the government has to do
The government must make suredisabled people get the rights listed inthe Convention.
Different parts of the government andpublic organisations must work togetherto:
l make sure disabled people can usetransport and services and get intobuildings
l produce information in ways thatdisabled people can use andunderstand
l make sure disabled people have thesame chances and rights at work asother people
6
l make sure disabled people have achoice where they live.
Checking that people get their rights
Every country must have anindependent organisation to speak upfor the rights of disabled people.
In England, Scotland and Wales this isthe Equality and Human RightsCommission.
In Scotland, the Scottish HumanRights Commission also does this job.
They will check the government sticksto the agreement.
7
The United Nations Committee onthe Rights of Persons withDisabilities will check that all thedifferent countries stick to theagreement.
The United Kingdom government musttell this committee how they aremaking things better for disabledpeople in the United Kingdom.
The Equality and Human RightsCommission and disabled people andtheir groups will also send reports tothe committee.
The Scottish Human RightsCommission will also send a report tothe committee.
8
How the Convention will help disabled people
Governments and public organisationswill have to think about the rights ofdisabled people when they plan or runservices.
It will make everyone else think aboutthe rights of disabled people.
Disabled people or organisations canuse it to help them make the laws fordisabled people stronger.
There are some times when peoplecan make a complaint to the UnitedNations Committee.
The United Nations Committee willlook at reports from the differentgovernments and suggest ways thatthey could do things better.
9
Using the Convention to change things
There are different ways disabledpeople and organisations can use theConvention to change things.
Making sure people know whatthe agreement says about theirrights
This includes:
l
telling other disabled peopleabout it
l reminding public organisations likeschools, the police or hospitalsabout it.
10
People could do this through:
l talking to people
l websites
l
l
newsletters or newspaper articles
asking people to speak about it atmeetings
l plays or films.
11
For example:
A play about a disabled woman in acare home who wants to get marriedwas performed at a big conference.
Staff at the home did not respect herrights to:
l marry
l decide where to live
l decide who to live with.
Using a real story helped staff workingin health and social care to think aboutthese rights.
12
Making life better for disabledpeople
If people know what the Conventionsays, they can use it to change the wayorganisations plan things or makedecisions.
You can do this by:
l writing letters
l speaking at public meetings
l writing reports
13
l talking to your local MP
l telling local services how the thingsthey do affect disabled people
l using the Convention with laws likethe Human Rights Act.
For example:
A disabled woman needed a specialtype of bed but was told she could onlyhave a single bed.
This meant she could not sleep next toher husband.
14
She used the Human Rights Act andher right to private and family life tochange things.
She was given a double bed.
The important thing is to:
l decide which right in the Conventionyou are talking about
l x say how the organisation is notmeeting this right
l be clear about how they couldchange things.
15
Getting involved in checking and reportingwhat is happening
The Convention says governments mustinvolve disabled people in checking theystick to the agreement.
This must be real involvement wherepeople have a real say over whathappens.
One way to do this is through shadowreports.
These are reports to the United NationsCommittee that checks howgovernments are doing.
16
There is information about how to writea shadow report on the InternationalDisability Alliance website:
www.internationaldisabilityalliance.
It is often better if disabled people jointogether to write one big report, insteadof lots of separate reports on the samething.
You could also write informal reportsto tell other people what is happening.
Again, it is really important to say:
l which rights you are talking about
lx why you think people have brokenthe agreement.
17
Making a complaint if you thinkthe agreement has been broken
The United Nations Committee canlook at what is happening for groups ofdisabled people.
It can also get involved sometimes if anindividual person has not been giventheir rights.
RulesThere are rules about how you must dothis.
You have to show that you have triedevery other way of sorting things out.
18
This includes:
l talking to the person or organisationyou think should change things
l complaining to the organisation ifyou think they are not doing whatthey should
l contacting an organisation like theCare Quality Commission thatchecks services
l talking or writing to your localcouncillor, MP or disability group
l going to court in the UnitedKingdom, if there is a law about theproblem.
19
Going to court can be expensive.
You should talk to the Equality andHuman Rights Commission first.
You can write to them at:
Freepost RRLL-GHUX-CTRXArndale HouseArndale CentreManchesterM4 3AQ
Telephone:
08456 046 610
Textphone:
08456 046 620
Fax:
08456 046 630
Email:
20
+Remember:
The Convention is not a law but it canhelp you to use other laws like theHuman Rights Act to change things.
If you have tried everything else, youcan complain to the United NationsDisability Committee.
There are lots of rules about how to dothis.
You can find out more by talking to theEquality and Human RightsCommission or:
Emailing:
Rules
Writing to:
CRPD secretariatUNOG-OHCHRCH1211Geneva 10Switzerland
Looking on their website:
www.tinyurl.com/DisabilityCommittee
21
If you want to know more
The UN Enable website is all about theConvention on the Rights of Peoplewith Disabilities:
www.un.org/disabilities
The Articles of the Convention
Here is a list of the rights in theConvention. These are known asArticles.
Article 5.Being equal.
Article 6.Disabled women being treatedequally.
Article 7.Disabled children being treatedequally.
22
Article 8.Making everyone aware that disabledpeople have the same rights aseveryone else and showing them whatdisabled people can do.
Article 9.Accessibility. Making sure disabledpeople have better access to things inall areas of life.
Article 10.Right to life.
Article 11.Emergencies. Making sure thatdisabled people are properlyprotected when there are riskysituations for everyone, for examplewhen floods happen.
Article 12.Being treated equally by the law.
23
Article 13.Getting justice.
Article 14.Disabled people should be free andsafe, the same as everyone else.Disabled people should not be lockedup just because they are disabled butonly if the law says so for otherreasons.
Article 15.Not being tortured or treated cruelly.
Article 16.Not being used or abused.
Article 17.Treating disabled people as peoplefirst. Disabled people should be treatedlike anyone else, with the same respectand rights as others.
24
Article 18.Moving around. Being able to movebetween countries and live where youwant without discrimination.
Article 19.Independent living and being part ofthe community. Disabled people havethe same right as everyone else to livewhere and with who they want.
Article 20.Getting about.
Article 21.Saying what you want and accessto information.
Article 22.Right to privacy.
25
Article 23.Respect for the home and the family.Making sure that disabled peoplehave equal rights to marriage, a familyand personal relationships.
Article 24.Right to education.
Article 25.Health. Making sure disabled peoplehave the right to the best possiblehealth and access to health servicesincluding family planning.
Article 26.Services to help you be independent.
Making sure disabled people can leadan independent and healthy a life aspossible and providing support inhealth, work, education and socialservices to help that happen.
26
Article 27.Having the same chances and rights atwork as other people.
Article 28.Standards of living. Disabled peopleshould be able to get help to improvetheir standard of living the same aseveryone else.
Article 29.Being involved in politics.
Article 30.Right to take part in sports and leisure.
27
Credits
This paper has been designed andproduced for the Equality and HumanRights Commission by the EasyReadservice at Inspired Services Publishing Ltd.Ref ISL078/10. June 2010.
To contact Inspired Services:
www.inspiredservices.org.uk
28
Find out more about us and your rights
from our websitewww.equalityhumanrights.com
Telephone 1 of our helplines.
• They are open Monday to Friday8am to 6pm.
England• • •
08456 046 610Textphone 08456 046 620Fax 08456 046 630
Wales• • •
08456 048 810Textphone 08456 048 820Fax 08456 048 830
Scotland• • •
08456 045 510Textphone 08456 045 520Fax 08456 045 530
© Equality and Human Rights CommissionPublished July 2010
ISBN 978 1 84206 280 7