DISABLED PEOPLES' INTERNATIONAL

E-news for Week ending 11 June 2010

Welcome to Disabled Peoples International’s (DPI’s) E-news. Please continue to send your activities, conference information, and publications news to Dr. Cassandra Phillips at info@dpi.org.

This is a special issue to celebrate the commitment to persons with disabilities worldwide of Mary Ennis, DPI Executive Director who left DPI in May 2010 due to health issues.  

Mary began working at DPI in 2005 as the first community representative to the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). She soon took the lead in persuading the Canadian Government to support a stand-alone article on the rights of women with disabilities in the Convention.

This was just the beginning of her particular dedication to women with disabilities at an international level. Colleagues from DPI’s Regional Offices and Executive Council speak to her tireless efforts in working to bring the attention of governments, Non-government Organizations and Disabled Peoples Organizations to the continued marginalization and victimization of women and girls with disabilities. Rachel Kachaje, Deputy Chairperson for Development and Under-Represented Groups, Federation of Disability Organizations of Malawi (FEDOMA) Africa and member of DPI’s Executive, describes Mary’s passion and commitment to women and girls with disabilities as nothing but inspirational. Rachel states that Mary helped her “to carry the banner for women in Africa.”   

Frank Mulcahy, former Secretary of DPI’s Executive, also describes Mary’s passion for persons with disabilities, particularly how she could translate this into action through effective collaboration with national and international groups. Frank was aware of Mary’s ill health, yet she was nothing but “cheerful and diligent in her duties” as she travelled from one end of the globe to the other.     

Dinah Radke, German Federation of the Blind and Visually Impaired and Chair, DPI’s Women’s Committee, describes Mary as someone whose “heart belongs in the [disability] Movement” She listens to and cares about what persons with disabilities have to say at a grassroots level. Marie White, Chair Council of Canadians with Disabilities, describes Mary as a woman of integrity who “emanates a deep respect for and desire to see equality for all.”

Space does not permit me to describe the accomplishments of DPI under Mary’s directive. DPI worked with Stephen Lewis, AIDS-Free World, to create the first platform on disability and HIV/AIDS to be held during an international HIV/AIDS conference in Mexico in August 2008. DPI created tools on the implementation and monitoring of the CRPD, and DPI has developed strong relationships with international groups such as Handicap International and World Vision International.

Finally, the staff and volunteers at DPI Headquarters want to thank Mary for her friendship, dedication and respect. She truly is a team player. We join with Frank Mulcahy in wishing her good health and happiness, hoping that she will continue to contribute to DPI in some way in the future.

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