Promoting research, teaching and practice in disability and public policy.
Dr. Derrick L. Cogburn joins fellow TPRC Board Member to discuss the use of AI tools disability rights and civic participation.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the AU Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) is co-sponsoring the Side Event “Accelerating Community Monitoring of Global Disability Rights and Civic Engagement: AI-Enabled Data Dashboards and Mobile Apps” at the 19th Conference of States Parties (COSP-19). Held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on June 9, 2026, the Side Event will run from 10:00 am-11:15 am in Conference Room C.
On October 2, 2019, in honor of Disability Employment Awareness Month, IDPP Deputy Director, Dr. Filippo Trevisan, will be a panelist at the 2019 Key FEDTalks. This talk will take place at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 5:00-6:30PM.
The United Nations meets every year to document the progress made on the Convention of Rights with Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In the twelfth year, the Conference of State Parties sees dignitaries from around the world present their progress on their promises. IDPP’ focus rests on the Article 24 of the CRPD, Education. With opening remarks from Ecuador’ Permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Luis Gallegos, the panel will be led by IDPP’s Executive Director Dr. Derrick Cogburn.
Building on our successful collaboration in the UNISDR Global Platform 2017 in Cancun, Mexico, IDPP is again providing support for remote participation in the Global Platform 2019 (GP2019) in Geneva, Switzerland (May 13-17, 2019).
In this talk, Dr. Annabi will review the state of employment in the autism community and discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by Autism at Work initiatives. Her study identifies organizational and program level characteristics that enable the programs’ creation and sustainability.
Participate virtually at https://tinyurl.com/y2q4dhor
Please join IDPP for this upcoming capstone seminar, which explores the background, strategies and mechanisms for achieving and evaluating the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.
Seminar participants investigate a range of key issues related to the Sustainable Development Agenda, including the role of public policy, information and communication technologies and ongoing digital and knowledge divide(s), Internet governance, inclusive development strategies, smart cities, financing, partnerships, and measurement of the SDG Agenda, along with specific goals in the Agenda.
Remote participation: http://tinyurl.com/inclusivedevelopment2018
The AU Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) is co-sponsoring the Side Event "Data, Disability and Development: Innovative Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluating CRPD Implementation and Disability-Inclusive Development using Big Data Analytics and Text Mining" at the 11th Conference of States Parties (COSP-11) to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at United Nations headquarters in New York on June 13, 2018 from 1:15pm-2:30pm in Room S-2729 in the UN Secretariat Building.
American University (AU) and Special Olympics have announced a new collaboration that will include research and educational initiatives focused on persons with intellectual disabilities, and that will provide substantial outreach opportunities for students and faculty. AU will host a signing ceremony to commemorate its partnership with Special Olympics and to inaugurate the new initiative on Tuesday, March 6, 2018 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. at Palmer Kettler Lounge in the AU Sports Center. AU President Burwell, Special Olympics Chairman Shriver and Special Olympics D.C. athlete Novie Craven will commemorate the new agreement between the two institutions.
Cities all over the world are using information and communications technology (ICT) to promote innovation and inclusion. Distinguished speakers will offer insights on the challenges and opportunities to promote the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities and older persons. This side event will also feature the UN launch of the Arabic, Hindi and Marathi versions of the Smart Cities for All Toolkit. The toolkit supports a range of organizations and roles including government managers, policy makers, IT professionals, disability advocates, procurement officials, technology suppliers, and developers who design Smart City apps and solutions. Participants will learn how initiatives in the UAE and across the world are using technology to implement internationally recognized agreements and legislation.
This Side Event will showcase the comprehensive empirical and applied findings of “Accessible Global Governance: The (In)visibility of Persons with Disabilities” with recommendations to further understand and solve the factors that enhance or limit the participation of persons with disabilities in the UN system and broader global governance processes. It will also feature applied work being conducted by IDPP that has operationalized findings and helped enhance the participation of persons with disabilities in key global governance processes.
This side event aims to highlight the role of the regional human rights mechanisms for strengthened and aligned implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals. The debate will bring to light common areas of action on implementation of the CRPD by regional human rights bodies and identify and establish methods and mechanisms of exchange and cooperation between regional and international human rights mechanisms, including the CRPD Committee, for enhanced awareness, coordination, and proliferation of good practices.
Monitoring and implementing major global policy frameworks is in some ways even more challenging that getting agreement on those frameworks themselves. This side event presents an overview of several approaches to measure: (a) Inclusion of persons with disabilities in the UN SDGs and in the activities of international development organizations; and (b) Implementation of the UN CRPD by countries that have signed and ratified the Convention. We also discuss progress towards including these methods in the upcoming Flagship Report on Disability and Development for the UN General Assembly.
As many as 650 million people with disabilities live in the Asia-Pacific Region (UNESCAP, 2013). UNESCAP has led three Decades on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific, and is currently leading the “Make the Right Real” campaign. In Southeast Asia, ASEAN has also developed meaningful regional frameworks for addressing the rights of persons with disabilities and CRPD implementation, including the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action Towards an Inclusive, Barrier-Free and Rights- Based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific. The side event highlights the new book Making Disability Rights Real in Southeast Asia: Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in ASEAN (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). The book evaluates implications of CRPD implementation for human rights and socio-economic development in ASEAN, offers cross-case comparisons, and lessons learned for regional cooperation to make disability rights real across the world.
IDPP will present for the first time at the 2017 Disability Summit hosted by the Information Policy and Access Center at University of Maryland College Park. The presentation entitled "Using ICTs to Enhance the Effective Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Global Governance" will take place on Friday, April 21 from 10:10am-11:00am US Eastern Time in Colony Ballroom with an accessible virtual participation option. IDPP Deputy Director Dr. Filippo Trevisan will subsequently present his paper on disability storytelling and political protests during this conference session. In addition, IDPP will present a poster on its recently launched and now publicly available mobile app "CRPD" during the conference.
IDPP is excited to announce that our latest book project entitled Making Disability Rights Real in Southeast Asia: Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in ASEAN was published on 24 March 2017. A lecture and book launch hosted by the Institute for Human Rights at the University of Alabama-Birmingham will take place on Thursday, 30 March at Heritage Hall 104 at 6:00pm US Eastern Time with a virtual participation option.
Join us in-person and virtually for the book launch discussion and reception "Understanding the Opportunities and Challenges of Multistakeholder Global Governance" in honor of Dr. Derrick Cogburn and his new book Transnational Advocacy Networks in the Information Society: Partners or Pawns? on March 20, 2017 from 4:30pm-6:30pm in the Abramson Family Founders Room of the School of International Service at American University. This book launch is co-sponsored by American University's IDPP, Internet Governance Lab, and School of International Service.
IDPP Executive Director and American University School of International Service Associate Professor Dr. Derrick Cogburn is co-organizing the Working Group “Accelerating Change in Global Governance: Enhancing the Participation of Excluded and Marginalized Voices Through Information and Communication Technology” at the 2017 International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention on Tuesday, 21 February 2017. Dr. Tina Kempin Reuter, IDPP Faculty Associate and Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Executive Director of its Institute for Human Rights, will co-organize the Working Group.
This Side Event will celebrate the soft launch of a beta version of an iOS 10 mobile application on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the CRPD on the occasion of the 2016 International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The Side Event will offer an opportunity to showcase, engage with, and discuss the beta version of the mobile app with a multistakeholder audience of United Nations officials, government representatives, academics, disabled peoples’ organizations, disability rights advocacy organizations, and additional civil society participants.
IDPP has a new space! Since the beginning of this Fall semester, IDPP has been operating out of its new office in the Spring Valley Building. We have hosted events, meetings and guests in this new space.
We are excited to welcome you to our new space at the address below, share more of our work with you, and give you a tour of the office at the reception with light food and beverages.
When:
Tuesday, November 15; 2:30 - 4:00 PM
Where:
Institute on Disability and Public Policy
AU Spring Valley Building
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
6th Floor, Suite 610
Washington, D.C. 20016
IDPP Deputy Director and AU SOC Assistant Professor, Filippo Trevisan will introduce his new book Disability Rights Advocacy Online: Voice, Empowerment and Global Connectivity and talk about how new media has changed disability rights advocacy.
In just a few short years, Internet-based media have revolutionized disability rights advocacy. At a time of crisis, online media fostered a renewed sense of unity in the traditionally fragmented disability community, starting a process that is continuing today as advocates try to organize the disability vote in the 2016 election. New digitally native organizations have emerged, which challenged traditional ways of thinking about disability advocacy. Young disabled bloggers have become the new faces of the disability movement. In this talk, Professor Trevisan will review the changes, challenges, and opportunities that led to these transformations, discussing their significance for the disability community and any movements that seek to spark social change.
WHEN: Tuesday November 15, 11:30am-12:30pm
WHERE: Media Innovation Lab, Mckinley Building (American University)
IDPP is jointly convening the Persons with Disabilities Stakeholder Roundtable “Urbanization as a Catalyst for Disability Inclusive Development” during the UN Habitat III Conference on 19 October from 4:30pm-6:30pm at the National Library in Casa de la Cultura in Quito, Ecuador. Dr. Derrick Cogburn will moderate the roundtable, and IDPP representatives will speak at and facilitate accessible remote participation.
High level representatives, academics, students and participants at the UN Habitat III Conference will join to create a large-scale art project with hundreds of participants. Together, we will create a defining image of the Habitat III conference: an aerial image of hundreds of people with and without disabilities coming together to form an innovative image to be released to international press and shared through social media channels.
IDPP is presenting at and facilitating accessible remote participation for the “Ecuador High Level Meeting and Forum on Disability Inclusion and Accessible Urban Development” hosted by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) / Division for Social and Policy Development (DSPD), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development of Ecuador, and Habitat III on 16 October from 1:00pm-6:30pm Quito time in Room A of the UN Pavilion.
In line with the AU 2030: Global Disability Policy, Technology and Education initiative, our seminar series aims to help create an interdisciplinary, cross-campus community at American University that can facilitate collaboration around mutual research interests at the intersection of disability, development, and global governance.
The Seminar Series brings together faculty, students and staff across campus and the Washington, DC policy community, as well as researchers and practitioners around the world via in-person and remote virtual participation. The series serves as a consistent “hub” to facilitate collaborative research. Participants have the opportunity to actively engage in the discussion and put forward their ideas for collaboration, with a facilitator to guide each discussion and kick-start the conversation by sharing his/her research agenda.
The Third Preparatory Committee Conference for Habitat III (PrepCom3) will take place from 25-27 July 2016 in Surabaya, Indonesia. IDPP Program Associate Ms. Della Leonor will participate in PrepCom3 on behalf of IDPP and in support of the informal global Disability Inclusive and Accessible Urban Development Network (DIAUD).
This Side Event at the 9th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will focus on the challenges and opportunities of persons with disabilities’ participation in UN and broader global governance processes. It will highlight findings from Phase I of the global study Accessibility in Global Governance, and present the model of an accessible Disability Inclusive Development Collaboratory with the aim of enabling capacity building and effective participation in wide-ranging UN processes.
This Side Event at the 9th Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will discuss ways in which new forms of evidence - including social media, crowdsourced information, and other large-scale digital information - can contribute to implementing the 2030 Agenda for persons with disabilities. A paper, example projects, and a road map on this topic will be presented and discussed.
