[laptop-accessibility] Calling All Writers: Celebrating the International Disability Rights Treaty

[Andrea Shettle]

Please circulate this notice at will.

Further updates about the blog swarm will be posted at

http://ratifynow.org/latest-news/blog-swarm/

(For those of you who use screen readers: Yes, RatifyNow strives to 
keep its web site accessible.  So far the feedback has been positive.  
But if you do link to the site and run into any problems, please drop a 
line at RatifyNow at gmail.com)

Writers who don't have a blog of their own can send their submissions 
to RatifyNow at gmail.com and we'll try to find a home for it.

In glancing through the list of articles in the disability rights 
treaty, I think the following articles would relate to the XO laptop 
project (in case anyone here wanted to write something tying the two 
together):

Article 7 on Children with Disabilities 
(http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=267)
Article 9 on Accessibility 
(http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=269)
Article 21 on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, and Access to 
Information (http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=281)
Article 24 on Education 
(http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=284)


Join the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008!
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | March 11, 2008
GET READY TO SWARM!
  Join the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008!
Calling all bloggers, vloggers, and other writers!
	▪ 	Do you regularly blog (or vlog) about human rights? Or disability? 
Or both?
	▪ 	Are you someone who cares about the international disability rights 
treaty (called the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities, CRPD), its success, and its broad adoption?
If so, please participate in the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008, 
scheduled for March 30, 2008!
What’s a blog swarm?
  A blog swarm is when many bloggers and vloggers agree to write blog 
posts, or make blog videos, on the same theme at about the same time. 
Writers who don’t have a blog can ask someone who does to publish their 
post for them. A blog swarm can increase public awareness of an issue 
and can sometimes stimulate media interest in the topic.
Why Does the CRPD Matter?
  If you have a disability or know people who do, then you know that the 
human rights of people with disabilities around the world are violated 
every day. In many countries with no disability rights laws, 90% of 
disabled children receive no education. People with disabilities may 
encounter doctors who simply assume they’d rather be dead than 
disabled—and make medical choices accordingly. Disabled people are more 
vulnerable to abuse and violence. And some have been sterilized against 
their will, or institutionalized without their consent.
The international disability community has been working with the human 
rights community and the United Nations for more than 30 years to 
change that. Together, they have created the first comprehensive, 
international treaty to protect a broad range of human rights of people 
with disabilities: the Convention on the Rights of People with 
Disabilities (CRPD).
Celebrate the CRPD Anniversary With a Blog Swarm!
  At last, these efforts are about to bear fruit. The CRPD was first 
opened for countries to sign on March 30, 2007, last year. So far, 17 
countries have ratified it.
After the 20th country ratifies the CRPD, it will enter full legal 
force. Odds are good this will happen sometime soon after March 30, 
2008—the first anniversary of the CRPD.
In honor of that anniversary, the grassroots organization RatifyNow.org 
will be hosting a blog swarm on March 30, 2008, called the “RatifyNow 
CRPD Blog Swarm 2008″. Please help make the blog swarm a success!
As the “host” for UN CRPD Blog Swarm 2008, RatifyNow.org will collect 
all the links to all the blog posts submitted for the blog swarm and 
make them available in one location.
Great! How Can I Show Support?
  Have a blog? At any time between now and March 27, 2008, write a short 
blog post to share your thoughts about the CRPD and its first 
anniversary. Post it. Then send the link (with your screen name and the 
name of your blog) to RatifyNow at gmail.com. Links to video clips are 
also welcome (spoken or signed). If you provide video, however, please 
make an effort to include a transcript.
Even if you don’t want to write or vlog about the CRPD, you can still 
help by recruiting other bloggers and writers. Copy and paste this 
announcement into your blog or web site and encourage people to 
participate. Consider offering to host other people’s blog posts.
Read more detail about the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008 at 
RatifyNow.org. This web site is also a great one-stop shop to learn 
more about the CRPD or about disability rights before you start 
writing.
Email us and let us know you’ll be participating. Then send your 
submissions by March 27, 2008 to RatifyNow at gmail.com. Please include 
the phrase BLOG SWARM at the start of your subject line.
Then, of course, come back to RatifyNow.org to read what other 
participants say about the CRPD—and encourage your readers to do the 
same! The Swarm officially opens March 30, 2008 in New Zealand time, 
meaning it will still be March 29 in most other parts of the world.
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