Animation on Disability Convention launched
The Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Human Rights Commission have today launched a short animated film to raise awareness of the UN Disability Convention in Scotland.
The UN Disability Convention is an international agreement about the rights of disabled people. It was drafted by and for disabled people around the world after decades of campaigning. The film features a day in the life of a disabled person, as they experience these rights - the rights to education, independent living and freedom of expression.
Lynn Welsh, Head of Legal at the EHRC Scotland said: “The animation illustrates the issues that disabled people have shared with us as important to them - things that non-disabled people often take for granted.
Much work still needs to be done to make sure disabled people’s basic human rights are recognised and protected in Scotland. We hope this film will resonate with disabled people, their friends and families.”
Jemma Neville, Outreach Coordinator at the Scottish Human Rights Commission said: “The animation is part of the joint activity of both Commissions in promoting awareness of the Convention amongst disabled people and Disabled People’s Organisations over the last two years.
“Animation offers a visually engaging and user-friendly medium for engaging with harder to reach rights-holders, and for communicating a simple message - that human rights belong to everyone.”
The Commissions are both accredited A-status national human rights institutions and have been designated as the independent mechanisms to promote, protect and monitor the implementation of the Convention in Scotland. This role involves identifying and providing evidence of the gaps in human rights protection that the Government needs to address.
The UN Disability Convention makes it clear that disabled people are holders of rights not recipients of welfare and that disability can include physical disabilities, mental health, learning disabilities and sensory impairments. The UK Government, including Scotland, has been a party to the Convention since 2009. The Convention can be used to interpret both the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act.
The film has British Sign Language and captioning. It was illustrated by Ko Lik Films and produced by Glasgow Media Access Centre. The film is free to download and distribute.
The captioned transcript is available in word format.
More about the Convention is available here.