Yafaau's blog

Parents of children with special needs and young people care passionately about the services they receive. Parents have strong views on the services they get; whether govt. offices are working together and most of all whether the needs of their child are truly being met. All services are now expected to consult with parents and involve them in planning and development. But the concept of ‘parent participation’ means different things to different people. How do we ensure that parent participation is effective and meaningful for parents?

We(Ifham, Nelfa, Jeroen frm Handicap Intl. and I) are trying to form a support group consisting of parents of children with special needs, a young group of children with hearing impairment and a handful of relatives to address these issues and to help and support the many parents and professionals who want to work together to improve services.

Almost everyone reading this post would understand that parent participation is a successful way of providing better services. Evidence shows that parents who are involved in planning and developing services are more contented and empowered parents.

I hope that our meetings will offer an array of practical examples and suggestions to help professionals and parents become effective participators. It also offers an opportunity to welcome and reflect on a changing culture within the public services that now places such importance on the input of service users in our little but wonderful country.

Inviting parents to participate in the planning and delivery of services poses many challenges for govt. officals. Yet it is only through working with us parents that they understand how to deliver the services we need. Parents observe and experience the system at close quarters and this knowledge and expertise is unique.

I believe that good participation leads to empowered parents, empowered children and empowered services. This is undoubtedly a win-win situation for childen with special needs, their families and the professionals who work with them – what more could we want?\r\n4/28/2008 4:17:40 PM
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities needs dhivehi translation

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities or CRPD which Maldives signed October last year needs to be translated into dhivehi. Social Security seems to have given an information session 11am today so sorry for my late post(but you still can submit your proposals). The document, as what the notice says consists of 31 pages(here’s its articles). And a proposal needs to be submitted before 5^th May 2008, 11:00am.

I feel its important for NGO’’s like CARE Society or Open Society Association to play a part of the translation. I guess(im not sure) Social Security would send drafts to them. Collaboration within interested parties is something we are missing in our community. Anyways, I hope this translation procedure goes well and we would be able to see it before the end of this year! And getting the document could be another issue as there is no website of Social Security department which we could get it downloaded easily!

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with a disability consists of 50 Articles which is adopted by the General Assembly resolution 61/106 of 13 December 2006 which are;

1. Purpose
2. Definitions
3. General Principles
4. General Obligations
5. Equality and non-discrimination
6. Women with disabilities
7. Children with disabilities
8. Awareness-raising
9. Accessibility
10. Right to life
11. Situation of risk and humanitarian emergencies
12. Equal recognition before the law
13. Access to justice
14. Liberty and security of person
15. Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
16. Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
17. Protecting integrity of person
18. Liberty of movement and nationality
19. Living independently and being included in the community
20. Personal mobility
21. Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information
22. Respect for privacy
23. Respect for home and the family
24. Education
25. Health
26. Habilitation and rehabilitation
27. Work and employment
28. Adequate standard of living and social protection
29. Participation in political and public life
30. Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport
31. Statistics and data collection
32. International cooperation
33. National implementation and monitoring
34. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
35. Reports by State Parties
36. Consideration of Reports
37. Cooperation between States Parties and the Committee
38. Relationship of the Committee with other bodies
39. Report of the comminttee
40. Conferrence of the States PArties
41. Depositary
42. Signature
43. Consent to be bound
44. Regional intergration organizations
45. Entry into force
46. Reservations
47. Ammendments
48. Denunciation
49. Accessible format
50. Authentic texts

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