The Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School
is pleased to present “Global Rights and Local Challenges,” a comparative
symposium on disability rights. A component of the Leitner Center’s
Crowley Program in International Human Rights, which this year focused on
disability rights in Rwanda, Global Rights and Local Challenges will
highlight the backdrops of rural poverty and educational underdevelopment
as barriers to inclusion and to education for persons with disabilities.

Global Rights and Local Challenges aims to connect scholars, stakeholders,
and advocates in the field of disability rights and to create fruitful
discussion about the unique obstacles that confront persons with
disabilities in Rwanda and worldwide. By connecting academic and advocacy
communities—and by attracting an audience that is new to the area of
disability rights—we hope to inspire unique solutions and engaging debate
about the next steps in addressing the social and economic barriers at
focus in this event.

Two interdisciplinary panels will serve as cornerstones of this symposium;
both will explore the disability and poverty nexus, wherein disability and
poverty lead to and accentuate each other in a pernicious cycle. Panelists
will use case studies from the United States and around the world to
describe how rural environments and the need for overall educational
development can hinder inclusive education for persons with disabilities.
In addition, a student photography exhibit will illustrate the social and
economic obstacles that define disability in Rwanda and internationally.
Finally, the award-winning documentary In The Shadow of the Sun will
further illuminate the social stigma that persons with disabilities face.
Taking the perspective of two individuals with albinism, it will
demonstrate the role of social and economic barriers in separating them
from education and their communities in Tanzania. A trailer for the film
can be screened at: http://leitnercenter.org/events/1113/.

This symposium is open to scholars, practitioners and the public.

*Participants will include, among others: *

*Shantha Rau Barriga, Disability Rights Program Director, Human Rights
Watch *

*Madame Jeanne d’Arc Byaje, Deputy Permanent Representative of the
Government of Rwanda to the United Nations*

*Vladimir Cuk, Acting Executive Director, International Disability Alliance*

*Musola Catherine Kaseketi, Disability Rights Advocate/Filmmaker, Vilole
Images Productions *

*Anne Kelsey, Fellowship Attorney, Disability Rights Advocates *

*Dr. Sophie Mitra, Disability & Development Scholar, Fordham University
Department of Economics*

*Richard Mukaga, Program Manager, Cheshire Services Uganda*

*3 CLE credits will be available free of charge to lawyers working in the
non-profit and public interest sectors. All other lawyers will be required
to pay $200 to receive CLE credit. Fordham Law School alumni may pay a
discounted rate of $100. Please contact organizers for details and to
arrange payment.*

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