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Panel Session

Disability Issues

Transformative equality principles for human rights-based practices with persons with disabilities

This panel describes human rights-based approaches to social work with persons with disabilities, including:
• interventions like strategic litigation, inclusive leadership, and supported decision-making,
• perspectives on personhood from global spiritualities, and
• organizational policy and culture insights from a relationship and equality-focused model of communal living homes and workplaces.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
  1. Understand conceptual foundations of a human rights approach to social work practice with persons with disabilities in a global perspective, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, global organizations advancing the human rights of persons with disabilities, and micro practices like supported decision-making.
  2. Comprehend a deep conceptualization of personhood resistant to disability “othering” categorizations. This new perspective nurtures equality, participation and voice. Examples derive from Buddhist and Hindu traditions and reflect global spiritual perspectives, with social work practice and policy implications.
  3. Apply best practices in organizational culture and relational practice from providers of residential, communal, family-like care in culturally diverse settings around the world. Key features to be learned are supported decision-making, inclusive leadership, advocacy, community integration, and educating carers of persons with ID in overcoming ableist preconceptions.