Preparation for the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons

It is not long until we will be attending the United Nations 12th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (CRPD) on 10-13 June 2019 at the UN Headquarters, New York.

The International Communication Project will be presenting a side event during the Conference. Our presentation is titled: "People with Communication Disability Speak Up for Inclusion and Participation: How the Implementation of the CRPD and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) can Support this Right". Our side event will be held on Wednesday 12th June 8:15 am - 9:30 am and live streamed throughout the world. The speakers are: Gail Mulcair (CEO, Speech Pathology AUstralia), Sharynne McLeod (Charles Sturt University), Meredith Allan, and Miles Forma, chaired by Derek Munn (RCSLT) (see concept note). The event will be sponsored by the Australian Government.

We have been working towards this event for a long time.

• In 2016 I approached Prof Kirrie Ballard, the Editor of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology about publishing a special issue of the journal to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2018. 
• In 2017 Gail Mulcair and I met with the International Communication Project in Los Angeles to discuss the possibility of presenting at the UN.
• In 2018, the special issue of IJSLP was published to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (table of contents) and events were held around Australia and the world to promote the event (Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Bathurst, Albury, Malta, USA) and special webpages were set up to focus on the event:
• SPA - https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SpeakUp
• ICP - https://internationalcommunicationproject.com/70th-anniversary-universal-declaration-human-rights/
• ASHA - https://blog.asha.org/2018/08/27/speak-up-for-communication-rights-speakup4commrights/
• In 2018, Speech Pathology Australia and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists gained NGO  accreditation status with the United Nations, allowing them to attend the Conference of States Parties and apply to present a side event in 2019.
• We are having regular meetings with the International Communication Project and Australian Government (DFAT, DSS) and the Australian Human Rights Commission to prepare for the event.