Media

Empower U Webinar: why equal access to education matters to persons with disabilities, March 25, 2020, 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST

Join us for an Empower U webinar where participants will have the opportunity to find out about the right to education, which is described in Convention on The Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) Article 24. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, March 25th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST. This webinar will be taking place in English.

Speaker:

Dr. Zephania Matanga

About the Speaker:

Dr. Zephania Matanga is a representative of the Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre. He holds a M.Ed. and a doctorate in the area of Special Education from the Department of Applied Psychology, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Education degree from the same institute and he is a certified teacher in Ontario and Manitoba. He came from Zimbabwe in 1992 with a wealth of experience and first-hand knowledge about the debilitating effects of disability on professionals in his homeland and throughout Africa. His post-graduate studies in Canada and abroad are extensive.  As a Special Education research leader, he has developed educational strategies that are most effective for children, youth and adults with disabilities, non-speaking students and those with seizure disorders, students with emotional-behavior disorders, and those with visual disabilities and other physical and perceptual disabilities. He also understands how such skills can be applied in both developing and developed countries. This is demonstrated by a series of projects he has implemented both in Canada and Zimbabwe. He also has just completed a book chapter entitled: A Comparison of Institutional Discriminatory Practices against People with Disabilities in North America and Africa: Cases in Zimbabwe and Canada. As the Executive Director of The Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre (INC) he has been very effective, working with engineers and physicians in the development of assistive devices for persons with disabilities.

About the Webinar: Why equal access to education matters to persons with disabilities?

Education can be a powerful equalizer, integrator, and transformer. It can actually transform and improve the quality of lives of the people with disabilities and those with literacy challenges. It can help integrate them fully into society and make them equal and empowered members of Society. Even though, there have been major initiatives undertaken in the education field and advanced policies enacted and implemented, access to education is still a daunting task for persons with disabilities and CRPD is an excellent welcome instrument which persons with disabilities can utilize in their struggle to access education. Therefore, in this presentation we will identify barriers to education in all forms and propose remedies.

Date and Time for the Webinar: Our tenth webinar is on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 from 1.00 pm to 2:00 pm EST. Captioning will be provided.

Register for the webinar by following this link: https://secure.neads.ca/register/en.php?id=20RE 

Join the webinar by following this link: https://zoom.us/j/119496434   Meeting ID: 119-496-434 (No password needed)

Optional teleconference: 1-647-558-0588

Meeting ID: 119-496-434 (then press #)

Participant ID: None required (just press #)

Description of the Empower U Webinars: A series of ten webinars will offer training for people with disabilities who are willing to make a commitment to share their knowledge in their communities / organizations with their peers for the purpose of increased awareness of how to remedy discrimination using more familiar (Human Rights Codes) and newer instruments (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the CRPD's Optional Protocol to train other people to do likewise.

Webinars will be held every Wednesday at 1.00 pm EST from January 22 to March 25, 2020. Recordings will be available to participants after webinars.

Learning Objectives:

•To increase the number of Canadians with disabilities, particularly youth with disabilities and people with disabilities from ethno-cultural communities, who are knowledgeable about available human rights remedies to discrimination and how to access these remedies

• To increase capacity of Canadians with disabilities to share that knowledge with their peers so that more people across Canada (particularly with disabilities and multi-ethnic communities) will have the information necessary to navigate the systems where Canadians can seek redress for discrimination

Learning Outcomes - At the end of the training participants will have:

• In-depth knowledge of how to use United Nations Convention on The Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) and the Optional Protocol, as well as Human Rights Codes and the Accessible Canada Act

• In-depth understanding of how to access and navigate the systems where Canadians with disabilities can seek redress from discrimination

About the Project:

The project Nothing About Us Without Us: Empower U, Learn to Access Your Disability Rights is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and implemented by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) in collaboration with the Canadian Multicultural Disability Centre Inc. (CMDCI), Citizens With Disabilities – Ontario (CWDO), the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities (MLPD) and the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS).