Women with Disabilities, challenges and triumphs

On today’s show we will discuss the issues effecting women with disabilities. We will talk about a wonderful project called Women Enabled led by my amazing colleague Stephanie Ortoleva. Women Enabled is an education and advocacy project developed by Stephanie to bring attention to the urgent need to advocate for the human rights of all women and girls and to include women and girls with disabilities in international resolutions, policies and programs addressing women’s human rights and development. I know we will not be able to fit Stephanie’s remarkable accomplishments to this introduction but here is a really short version of it:

Stephanie is an attorney with expertise in international human rights law and U.S. civil rights law. Currently, she is the Senior Human Rights Legal Advisor with the leading international human rights law firm BlueLaw International, LLP. She is the founding Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s International Disability Rights Interest Group.  Previously, Ms. Ortoleva served as an Attorney and Human Rights Officer at the U.S. Department of State, where she participated in the negotiations of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, serving on the United States governmental delegation, as well as undertaking extensive work at the United Nations and Organization of American States on international disability rights and on international women’s issues, including women’s role in peace building and post-conflict resolution and gender-based violence.  She was given the prestigious U.S. Department of State Franklin Award in 2009.

 She is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events and has numerous publications on women’s rights, disability rights, and multilateral diplomacy. Check out updates on her website at:  www.WomenEnabled.org.