In 2012, the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (now Realize) – with funding from the Levi Strauss Foundation and MAC AIDS – began work to develop and promote tools and strategies for people living with HIV and other disabilities and those who work with and care for them, to decrease stigma and discrimination in their daily lives through the use of the newly ratified Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). We developed resources to increase opportunities for the protection of human rights of people with HIV and other disabilities both in Canada and internationally. The information resources include information, strategies, and opportunities to use the CRPD to recognize and reduce HIV and disability related discrimination, other barriers and human rights violations relayed to employment, education, housing, health care etc. experienced by both people living with HIV as well as other disabilities.

Resources

• Information Sheets:
  • Implementing the CRPD in Canada: Actions for Civil Society
  • HIV, Disability and the CRPD: A Focus on Canada
• Presentations:
  • Making Services Accessible for People with Disabilities(presentation to CWGHR Annual Forum/Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network Symposium)
  • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Overview and Next Steps for an Accessible and Inclusive Society(presentation to CWGHR Annual Forum/Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network Symposium)
  • The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act – June 2012(presentation to CWGHR Annual Forum/Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network Symposium)
  • HIV, Disability and Mental Health: What are the Links?(presentation to International Policy Dialogue on HIV and Mental Health

Rationale

The intersectionality of HIV and disability is gaining recognition in both the HIV and disability worlds. Yet, HIV programs do not necessarily include people with other disabilities, and other disability groups do not necessarily include people living with HIV (PHAs) and both groups describe the double stigma, social exclusion and human rights violations related to both HIV and disability. As both the disability and HIV communities experience many similar challenges, there is a need and opportunity for these communities to work together to prevent and/or address these violations.

Scope of Work

In 2010 Canada ratified the CRPD. This provided an important opportunity as a catalyst for linking HIV, disability, and the promotion and protection of human rights of people living with HIV and other related disabilities in the Canadian and international context. This project worked with the HIV and disability communities in Canada and internationally to build awareness and capacity about HIV in the context of the CRPD.

For more information on this work please contact Melissa Egan, National Lead, Episodic Disabilities, Realize. melissae@realizecanada.org.