Available for Interviews
PDF version [664K]The following activists from the disability community are available for interviews on the Convention:
- LUIS FERNANDO ASTORGA GATJENS (Costa Rica)
Director Ejecutivo del Instituto Interamericano sobre Discapacidad (IID)
Idioma: español
Periodista, consultor en discapacidad y derechos humanos, activista político y social, y Director Ejecutivo del Instituto Interamericano sobre Discapacidad (IID), Washington, DC. Ha sido participante activo en todo el proceso, y representante de las ONG de los países de las Américas en el Grupo de Trabajo del Comité Especial de Naciones Unidas para redactar el borrador de la Convención.)
luferag@racsa.co.cr
- REGINA ATALLA (Brazil)
Director, National Council of Independent Life Centers (CVI), Brazil
Languages: Portuguese, Spanish
Journalist and Director of the National Council of the Independent Life Centers (CVI-Brazil), and President of the Independent Life Center of Bahia (CVI-Bahia). Has been working with civil society in defense of the human rights of persons with disabilities for more than 25 years.
Jornalista e diretora do Conselho Nacional dos Centros de Vida Independente (CVI-Brasil) e presidente do Centro de Vida Independente da Bahia (CVI-Bahia). Trabalha com a sociedade civil na defesa dos direitos humanos das pessoas com deficiência há mais de 25 anos.
regina_atalla@terra.com.br
- MARIA SOLEDAD CISTERNAS REYES (Chile)
Directora del programa sobre discapacidad, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago
Idioma: español
Abogada, consultora y cientista política ciega, especialista en derecho de las personas con discapacidad. Directora del programa sobre discapacidad en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile.
(56 2) 236 30 18
soledad.cisternas@gmail.com
- THERESIA DEGENER (Germany)
Law Professor
Languages: German, English
Professor of law, administration and organization at the University of Applied Sciences in Bochum, Germany. Co-editor of “Human Rights and Disabled Persons” (1995) and “Human rights and disability” (2002). Legal advisor for the German government, the European Commission, the United Nations and the European Disability Forum. Member of the German delegation at the Ad Hoc Committee since June 2003. She was born without arms in 1961.
(49 0234) 36901 172 (work), (49 02336) 830973 (private)
degener@efh-bochum.de
- LEX GRANDIA (The Netherlands)
President, World Federation of the DeafBlind
Languages: English, Danish and Dutch
President of the World Federation of the DeafBlind since 2005. Born deafblind, he has been very much involved in the drafting of the Convention as a member of the International Disability Caucus and the International Disability Alliance (IDA).
Snehvidevej 13, DK 9400 Noerresundby, Denmark
(45) 98 19 20 99
(45) 23 26 91 52, (45) 98 19 20 57 (cellular)
lex.grandia@mail.dk, wfdb@wfdb.org
Website: www.wfdb.org
- ROBERT MARTIN (New Zealand)
Council member, Inclusion International
Language: English
Robert Martin is a New Zealander who, because of difficulties at his birth, has an intellectual disability. He is a member of the Council of Inclusion International and a disability leader and advocate.
c/o Desmond Corrigan,desmond.corrigan@ihc.org.nz
- SILVIA QUAN (Guatemala)
Disability Ombudsperson
Languages: Spanish, English
Silvia Judith Quan-Chan, 37, has been since 2003 the Disability Ombudsperson within Guatemala’s Procuraduría de los Derechos Humanos, the national human rights institution headed by the Ombudsman. She has been working in the field of disability rights since 1996 and is a founding member of Colectivo Vida Independiente de Guatemala, an NGO which promotes disability research and provides advice in disability rights policy-making.
(502) 24241783, 24241717, ext.: 1117
squan@pdh.org.gt
- MARIA VERONICA REINA (Argentina)
President, Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR)
Languages: Spanish, English
Specialist in learning disabilities and international disability rights advocate. President of the Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR). Her advocacy work has included raising awareness on the Convention, organizing Inter-American campaigns, moderating the International Disability Caucus and translating and distributing Convention documents throughout Latin America.
mreina@cirnetwork.org
Website: www.cirnetwork.org
- THOMAS SCHINDLMAYR (Australia)
United Nations disability expert
Languages: English, German
Expert with the United Nations Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and disability advocate.
(1 212) 963 3203
schindlmayr@un.org
Website: www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable