We look very forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting for the U.S. International Council on Disabilities on July 25th! We will share updates and the latest plan of action for U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, share the most recent advancements in worldwide disability rights, including through USICD's Global Disability Rights Library project, and have dynamic speakers sharing their perspective from around the globe.  We will also celebrate our first graduating class of the Youth in Development internship.  Please join us for this exciting event!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

3:30PM-5:30PM

U.S. Access Board

1331 F St. NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20004

 CLICK HERE TO RSVP! 

The State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released annually, represent the culmination of the U.S. State Department's review of the human rights records and situation in 194 countries around the world. The reports are a supplied to Congress in accordance with law to assist in matters of foreign affairs. USICD has consolidated the disability references from the 194 Country Reports into a comprehensive document, which you can find  here.

Padam Pariyar was a Community Solutions Program Fellow thru IREX at USICD from August to Decemeber 2012.

After completion of my 4 months long fellowship in US International Council on Disabilities (USICDI) in 2012, I joined International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Nepal in the capacity of Disability Project Coordinator this March. IFES Nepal with grant support from USICD is implementing the project "Developing Leadership and Increasing Electoral Participation of the Persons with Disabilities in Nepal" in partnership with National Federation of the Disabled Nepal. The 2 years long project aims to develop leadership and advocacy skills of DPOs, create awareness in community and increase participation of persons with disabilities and their associations in electoral process. The project has already prepared the list of project guiding documents through support mission from IFES, DC for the effective and timely start up of the project. Besides this, I have been supporting the project partners to prepare their project implementation plan, selection of project staffs and working site and Training of Trainers for the project staffs. My working experience and guidance received from entire USICD colleagues particularly from David to design and finalize my Follow on Project was very helpful to take up my role in this project. I thank USICD for giving me such wonderful learning opportunities for my professional development. I believe the project actions will be successful to promote the political rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities and DPOs in electoral process in the upcoming Constituent Assembly election and in the future.

• Well done, Floyd Morris:  The Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) is proud to celebrate with Senator Floyd Emerson Morris, a person with a disability, on his recent election as president of the Jamaican Senate. Morris was a key advocate for having Jamaica become the first ratification of the CRPD. READ MORE 
• Swiss Closer to Ratifying Disabilities Convention: The National Council has voted in favor of Switzerland adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It was approved by 119 votes to 68 at the close of the current parliamentary session. The matter has now passed to the Council of States for debate.READ MORE 
• U.S. signs World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty: Negotiators at a United Nations-backed forum in Marrakesh adopted a landmark copyright treaty to enhance access to books for millions of people who are blind or visually impaired. The treaty, approved after more than a week of intense debate among negotiators meeting under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is the culmination of years of work on improving access for the blind, visually impaired, and print-disabled persons to published works in formats such as Braille, large print text and audio books. READ MORE 
• Belarus PWDs Struggle for Rights: In May, Belarusian disability rights activists held a "Week of Accessibility." According to the organizers, without the creation of an accessible infrastructure for disabled people no one can talk about equality in Belarusian society. Belarus remains the only country in Europe that has not acceded to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. People with disabilities remain marginalized in Belarus, with only 14% of working-age people with disabilities employed. READ MORE

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Member News and Opportunities

FEMA THINK TANK SAVE THE DATE 
Thursday, July 18, 2013 - Thursday, July 18, 2013

AAPD'S ANNUAL ADA CELEBRATION
Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Annual Justice for All Awards and ADA Celebration
Tuesday, July 23, 2013 - Tuesday, July 23, 2013

2013 Annual Conference on Independent Living
Wednesday, July 24, 2013 - Saturday, July 27, 2013  

Accountant for CBMI (part-time position (10-15h/week)
Posted: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 opportunity

Requests for Contract Proposals (RFP's) in Arts, Education and Disability Programs