Human Rights and Disability Advocacy

List of Contributors

CONTRIBUTORS Andrew Byrnes is Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales, and Chair of the Australian Human Rights Centre, having previously been on the Faculties of Law of the Australian National University, University of Hong Kong and University of Sydney. He is also a Member of the Management Committee of the UNSW Disability Studies and Research Centre. From 2003 to 2006, he was involved in the development of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, participating in the UNESCAP meetings , which adopted the Bangkok Draft convention, and as an adviser to the delegation of the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions. Heidi Forrest is an Australian woman with disability (that she acquired in high school) and the mother of a child with a developmental disability. She has been actively involved in disability rights for most of her life and participated in Ad Hoc Committee sessions in her capacity as president of People with Disability Australia Inc. Among the institutions in which she involved with are Women with Disability Australia, Pacific Disability Forum and Disability and Research Institute, Australian Disability and Development Rights Consortium, and Disability Discrimination Legal Centre. She is currently a law student at Newcastle University. Phillip French is a lawyer who specializes in the law and disability. He has been responsible for establishing a number of Australian disability rights and advocacy organizations. As Executive Director of People with Disability Australia, a national disability rights and advocacy organization, he was involved in the CRPD negotiations; he is now a Life Member of the organization . His work focuses on CRPD implementation in Australia. Lex Grandia was born premature, leading to deaf-blindness. He obtained a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Amsterdam. Active in many 290 Contributors organizations in the Netherlands, he became chair of European Deafblind Network (EDbN) in 1994 and secretary in 1995. He was also a board member of the European Disability Forum. He supported the founding of the European Deafblind Union in 2003 and the African Federation of the DeafBlind in 2009, serving as Secretary General and President of the World Federation of the DeafBlind and subsequently Chair of the International Disability Alliance (IDA) in 2007–8. He wrote two books on using Bibliodrama . Lex passed away in April 2012. Huhana Hickey is a scholar of disability with a PhD in Law and Tikanga Maori from the University of Waikato. Both a disability activist and Human Rights Lawyer Huhana has undertaken professional roles in the government and nongovernment sectors of New Zealand, including involvement in developing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities . Dr Hickey is of Ngati Tahinga descent, identifies as whanau haua, is in a wheelchair and the parent of an adult child with disabilities. Dr. Hickey works at the Auckland Disability Law, the first Community Law Centre in New Zealand dedicated to free services for persons with disabilities. Markku Jokinen, As executive director of the Finnish Association of the Deaf and president of the World Federation of the Deaf (2003–2011), Dr. Jokinen was closely involved in the CRPD negotiations in 2004–2006. He continues to be one of the key figures in the Finnish disability movement with special focus on the language policy work elevating the status of Finnish Sign Language. He continues his cooperation with the WFD as a human rights and education expert and he is part of the working group preparing Finland’s ratification of the CRPD. Liisa Kauppinen, former WFD President and Secretary General, was the World Federation of the Deaf’ main representative at the CRPD Ad Hoc meetings for the duration of the negotiations leading to the adoption of the CRPD in August 2006. She continues to be a prominent figure in both the Finnish and international disability movement and has received numerous awards for her work in human rights of deaf people and persons with disabilities . She continues to work with the WFD as a special advisor on human rights and is particularly interested in deaf women’s rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities in developing countries. Contributors 291 Mi Yeon Kim is a South Korean civil society expert who worked closely with her country’s delegation. In addition to her vast national, regional and international experience she brought significant UN knowledge to the table: she was already a participant in the Beijing World Conference on Women in 1998. As a regular advisor to South Korean Ministries, she was one of the participants...