Day Six

Masters of Education Summer Conference

“International Perspectives on Inclusive Societies”

July 12, 2016

The keynote speaker for the graduate summer conference was Dr. Janet Duncan, who is an alumnus of Acadia but currently, is a full professor at the University of New York. Her research includes the topic of today’s address, “International Human Rights for People with Disabilities”

She spoke about the different countries she visited as a result of her research and how they have dealt with, and are dealing with people who have disabilities. The countries she referred to as “transitional democracies” as most are the countries of the former USSR.

Dr. Duncan mentioned how far we in North America have progressed; Stating the UN has defined persons with disabilities: in the US there are 13 categories and all other countries have 3 or 4. In 2006 Mexico took the initiative to approach the UN asking for help to deal with people who have disabilities. This lead to  "The Rights of Persons with disabilities" convention, and from this Article 24: Right to Education was created. Both Mexico and the UN are working towards an inclusive society, and that the basic human rights are available to everyone.

Dr. Duncan spoke about how different countries deal differently when it comes to people disabilities:
For example, in the Congo some people believe those suffering from autism need to be exorcised to get rid of the negative energy. She said, “children are burned and some even die during this exorcism.”

I  enjoyed listening to Dr. Janet Duncan present a few findings from her research…