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Message from the Executive Director
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Welcome back to a new year at American University and IDPP! We had a very busy 2018 and are excited to share with you some of our key news from December and January. We are also looking forward to an important spring semester as we prepare to celebrate our 10th Anniversary starting this summer as we participate in the 12 Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
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On December 3rd we took a delegation to UN Headquarters in New York to participate in their commemoration of the annual International Day for Persons with Disabilities. It was wonderful to be able to see you at the chair of our Joint Advisory Board ambassador Luis Gallegos as well as many farther close friends and colleagues at the celebration. During the commemoration we were able to launch two major studies.
The first study was the UN Flagship Report on Disability and Development to which we contributed as a member of the UN DESA sponsored network, Monitoring and Evaluation of Disability and Development (MEDD). The second study was our own, long-awaited Accessible Global Governance study entitled "The (In)Visibility of Persons with Disabilities in Global Governance."
Simultaneous to the events in NY, we were able to participate in the launch of the Cities for All initiative the Global Compact on Inclusive and Accessible Cities which our International Advisory Board chair, Dr. Victor Pineda, led simultaneously in Berlin. This important initiative allows us to continue our work on implementing the New Urban Agenda to benefit the independence and access to cities for persons with disabilities.
Towards the end of December, were so pleased to support PAHO the Pan American Health Organization, which is the regional office of the Americans for the World Health Organization as they launched their methodology for assessing disability inclusion in hospitals in Latin America.
December also brought the formal approval of our efforts working with graduate and undergraduate students at American University to charter the AU collegiate chapter of Special Olympics. It was wonderful to work with Special Olympics DC on this initiative as we continued our strategic partnership with Special Olympics International.
To kick off 2019, IDPP again participated actively in the prestigious HICSS conference, with me leading a tutorial and minitrack on Text Mining and a mini-track on Virtual Teams, Organizations, and Networks (VTONs). In addition, Deputy Director Filippo Trevisan and I led a minitrack on Digital Culture, Identity and Inclusion along with Faculty Associate Nanette Levinson in absentia.
Next month we look forward to participating in the Symposium on Disability Rights at the University of Alabama Birmingham, under the theme Disability Rights are Human Rights. As well as the University of Maryland Disability Summit, and our own AU Disability Symposium on Disability and Inclusive Education. Please enjoy this new issue of IDPP Access, and we look forward to sharing 2019 with you to foster disability inclusion, access, and leadership.
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IDPP Contributes to International Day of Persons with Disabilities
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UN Publishes Flagship Report on Disability and Development
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IDPP Supports Launch of New PAHO Initiative
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On Tuesday, December 11, IDPP collaborated with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to support the launch of their latest initiative, “Disability Inclusion in Hospital Disaster Risk Management" (Spanish acronym INGRID-H).
IDPP supported PAHO to provide accessible remote participation at the launch. Thanks to IDPP’s efforts, the launch had over 265 virtual participants from four countries. Nearly 300 people in total participated.
Read more about IDPP's involvement with INGRID-H here.
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Pictured: Above (left) - IDPP Program Associate Della Leonor using “Ally,” IDPP’s telepresence robot, to participate remotely at the INGRID-H launch. Above (right) - IDPP Research Associates, Harshala Chandriah and Madelaine Reis, were two of the many IDPP representatives who participated in the INGRID-H launch event.
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Cities For All Launched on IDPD 2018
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IDPP participated in the launch of Cities For All: Global Compact on Inclusive and Accessible Cities (#Cities4All). IDPP is a founding signatory and academic partner of this historic global compact.
Cities for All emerged out of the need for the voices of the global disability community in local and international decision-making processes guiding urban planning and development.
Learn more about Cities For All here.
Watch the IDPD panel discussion on Cities For All here.
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IDPP and Special Olympics of D.C. Launch AU Chapter
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IDPP and the Special Olympics of D.C. are pleased to announce the launch of a collegiate chapter at American University.
“We’re excited to get AU involved in the wonderful work being done by the Special Olympics," said Emilie Turner, an IDPP Research Associate and founding member of AUSO.
Learn more about AUSO here.
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Technology, Data Analytics, and Inclusion: IDPP and AU Participate in HICSS-52
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IDPP's Dr. Derrick Cogburn and Dr. Filippo Trevisan actively participated in the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). Since 1968, HICSS has been known worldwide as one of the longest standing scientific communities in the information systems and technology fields.
Learn more about HICSS and IDPP's participation here.
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IDPP is a proud sponsor of the upcoming Symposium on Disability Rights at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Learn more and access the full schedule here.
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"Disability, Access, and Teaching: A One-Day Symposium" April 10, 2019
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On April 10, 2019, “Disability, Access, and Teaching: A One-Day Symposium” will bring together American University's campus and local communities to better understand and foster accessible, inclusive learning environments. The symposium is being coordinated by IDPP Faculty Associate Dr. Tanja Aho and IDPP is a partner of the symposium.
A full schedule of events and presentations will be announced soon. Learn more here.
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Pictured (above): Lydia X. Z. Brown is a disability justice advocate, organizer, and writer who will be giving the symposium's keynote address.
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University of Maryland Disability Summit: April 5, 2019
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The UMD Disability Summit was established in 2016 to bring focus to and promote discussion of key current events and research impacting disability in society.
IDPP will be participating in the 3rd Biennial Summit on Friday April 5th, 2019 at the University of Maryland, College Park campus. Learn more here.
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IDPP Student Spotlight: Kathryn Scavuzzo
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"The most rewarding part of my work is that I am contributing to supporting the disability community."
"As someone with a learning disability, I understand first-hand the struggles it takes to making sure you have the accommodations and accessibility you need."
Read more about Kathryn Scavuzzo and her work at IDPP here.
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AU Alumnus Featured in "Disability Etiquette Gone Wrong" Video
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Anjantha “AJ” Nanayakkara, an alumnus of the M.A. International Affairs program in Comparative and International Disability Policy (CIPD) at AU, discusses good and bad disability etiquette towards persons who use wheelchairs.
He is currently an ADA/Accessibility Compliance Consultant at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
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The Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) at American University is a multidisciplinary, cross-campus research center that creates and disseminates knowledge that enables all persons to participate effectively in local, national, and global governance through the use of accessible information and communication technologies.
www.idppglobal.org
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