This panel will discuss issues raised in linking human rights discourse with matters of disability. For example, in 2006 the United Nations adopted the "Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities," later ratified in 2008. The objective of the Convention is to promote, protect, and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and freedoms by all people with disabilities, including children. Canada has ratified the convention and is currently preparing its initial report to the UN Committee, due in April 2012. But what is a "right" and "freedom" vis-à-vis disability? How is "equality" between all persons—disabled and non-disabled—to be understood and lived out in a Canadian context?
