Exercise: Myths and stereotypes

One of the greatest sources of discrimination against persons with disabilities can be attitudes, and in particular the assumptions that people make about us. These assumptions may take the form of myths (for example, “You must not touch or talk to a person with a disability, or you might catch their disability!”) and stereotypes (for example, “Persons with disabilities are all lazy.”). Some of these myths and stereotypes may be the same across different cultures, and others may be specific to a particular culture or society. Many people are raised from an early age to believe that these myths and stereotypes are true. When conducting advocacy, it is therefore a good idea to think about the myths and stereotypes that people in your community may have about persons with disabilities. In order to be effective in your advocacy, you may have to find ways to show people that the assumptions they have been raised to make about persons with disabilities are not true. First though, you need to think what those myths and stereotypes are, and consider how they can negatively impact the enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities.

• Think about the disability myths and stereotypes that people in your community may have – write them down to make a list and be as specific as you can.
• Now make a list of what you would prefer people to think when they meet or think about persons with disabilities.

Exercise: Getting to know the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Look at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – you can click here to go to a copy of the document. Read through the UDHR and you will see that it talks about all the different kinds of human rights that all people have – including civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights.
• Take your list of myths and stereotypes that you made earlier and link it to the UDHR. Specifically, consider how people’s belief in the different myths and stereotypes can negatively impact the enjoyment by persons with disabilities of the human rights expressed in the UDHR. For example, Article 23 of the UDHR talks about everyone’s right to work. The stereotype that “all persons with disabilities are lazy” might make a potential employer not want to hire persons with disabilities, and this could negatively impact the enjoyment by persons with disabilities of the human right to work. How might the myths and stereotypes you identified in your list negatively affect the enjoyment by persons with disabilities of the human rights expressed in the UDHR?
• Now look at the list you made of things you would prefer people to think when they meet or think about persons with disabilities. How could these ideas about disability and persons with disabilities positively impact enjoyment of the human rights set forth in the UDHR?

Exercise: Looking into the future – where do YOU want to go?

At the end of this section we looked at events we think will take place soon after the adoption of the new disability Convention. We also looked at additional events and societal changes that we would like to see in medium term. But what about far into the future? In 20 years time where do you think persons with disabilities can be if we continue along this path of the full realization of our human rights?

• Make a list of what you would like to see happen in your country, and when you think those things might realistically happen. For example, when do you think it might be possible for your country to become a State Party to the new disability Convention? Are there events that you think need to happen before that is possible? If so, write down those events too and include the dates of when you think those things might realistically happen.
• What additional events and societal changes would you like to see take place in your country as a result of the positive influence of the new disability Convention? These might be things that you would like to see, but for which it is difficult to predict a date at this time.