New Global Email Network of Women with Disabilities Launches

[Guest guest]

New Global Email Network of Women with Disabilities Launches

http://wecando.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/inwwd/

As you may know, a group of over 50 participants from 20 countries

and various sectors (civil society, governments, academia,

international organizations and private sector) met in Quebec, Canada

on August 26-27 for a Global Summit on the Rights of Women with

Disabilities. All Interational Disability Alliance organizations were

invited to send a representative, and were actively engaged in the

discussions.

The Summit was a great opportunity to talk about the key challenges

facing women with disabilities worldwide, network, exchange ideas and

take actions for us to " claim our rights " . Together, the Summit

participants decided to form a new global network of women with

disabilities and allies, charged with raising awareness and carrying

out advocacy. Attached and below is the Call for Action presented at

the close of the Summit. (at link)

As the Call to Action say, this network aims to be inclusive of women

of all ages from all parts of the world with ALL types of

disabilities.

In order to move forward, an email list for the " International

Network of Women With Disabilities " (INWWD) has been set up, and

interested individuals are invited to join the email list by sending

a message to: inwwd-subscribe In this email, please

include your name, affiliation and whether you agree to following

principles:

Provisional guidelines for membership in the INWWD email list:

- Members accept the principle that this is a network OF women with

all types of disabilities from all over the world, led by women with

disabilities.

- Members of this email list are committed to the philosophy of women

with disabilities advocating for themselves and identifying the

issues of women with disabilities.

- Members support the principles in the UN Convention on the Rights

of Persons with Disabilities.

- Members of this email list support the goals of this network, which

include sharing our knowledge and experiences, speaking up for our

rights, bringing about change and inclusion in our communities, and

empowering women with disabilities to be leaders of today and

tomorrow.

- Members agree that the work of the network should be equally

relevant to all women with disabilities irrespective of the type of

disability or geographical location.

- Members agree to be respectful and constructive.

If you'd like to join an allied group of men with disabilities,

please email mszporluk@...

The Summit participants also created a Working Group to develop the

terms of reference for our network – to be finalized by the network

over email by the end of the year. We are now reaching out to other

networks, interested women and allies, and look forward to this

partnership to promote the rights of women with disabilities around

the world!