Overview – DRPI Portugal and the ODDH

The implementation of DRPI Portugal began in October 2010, through a Pilot Study, promoted by the School of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ISCSP-ULisboa), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the National Institut for Rehabilitation (INR) that developed the first disability rights monitoring project in Portugal. For that purpose, all the DRPI materials were translated into portuguese and individual data was collected, through 45 individual interviews with people with disabilities nationwide, as well as a number of focus groups with representatives of disability organisations.

In the wake of this first monitoring experience, the local research coordinator decided to reinforce the scope and sustainability of this work by creating a more permanent structure, responsible for the implementation of DRPI monitoring procedures in Portugal, and other initiatives designed to raise awareness on the rights of persons with disabilities. Thus, the Observatory for Disability and Human Rights (ODDH) was born. Providing an innovative plataform of dialogue between the academia and the disability movement, the ODDH is hosted at the School of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ISCSP-ULisboa). The Observatory has a webpage (http://oddh.iscsp.utl.pt/index.php/en/) through which it disseminates its publications and main activities. To ensure an effective partnership with the disability community, all actions of the ODDH are developed with the support of an advisory board, comprised by 18 national disability organisations, 3 other universities and 3 research centres.

Mission

The aim of the Observatory on Disability and Human Rights (ODDH) is to foster participative, sustained monitoring and promote the human rights of people with disabilities, while helping to identify good practices and make proposals for the implementation of the CRPD in Portugal and abroad, in partnership with the international DRPI network.

Structure

The ODDH works to strenghten the linkages between science, citizenship and innovation through the participation of researchers, disability organisations, public bodies and experts on disability and human rights.

The active participation of persons with disabilities in the ODDH is a cornerstone of this initiative, which applies emancipatory research methods.  This involvement entails the presence of persons with disabilities in the work team and their representative organisations on the Advisory Board.

The Advisory Board of the ODDH is currently comprised of 18 national disability organisations, 4 universities and 3 research centres:

Disability organisations:

• Associação de Beneficência Popular de Gouveia (ABPG)
• Federação das Associações Portuguesas de Paralisia Cerebral (FAPPC)
• Associação de Cegos e Amblíopes de Portugal (ACAPO)
• Federação Nacional de Cooperativas de Solidariedade Social (FENACERCI)
• Associação dos Deficientes das Forças Armadas (ADFA)
• Federação Portuguesa das Associações de Surdos (FPAS)
• Associação Nacional dos Deficientes Sinistrados no Trabalho (ANDST)
• Federação Portuguesa de Autismo (FPDA)
• Associação NOVAMENTE
• Fundação LIGA
• Associação Portuguesa de Deficientes (APD)
• Fundação Irene Rolo
• Associação Portuguesa de Hemofilia e de Outras Coagulopatias Congénitas (APH)
• HUMANITAS
• Associação de Saúde Mental do Algarve (ASMAL)
• PAIS-EM-REDE
• Cooperativa Nacional de Apoio a Deficientes (CNAD)
• Federação Portuguesa de Centros de Formação Profissional e Emprego de Pessoas com Deficiência (FORMEM)
  

Universities:

Universidade de Lisboa (ISCSP – Institut for Social and Political Science)
Universidade do Algarve (ESEC – School of Education and Communication)
Universidade do Minho (Sociology Department)

Research Centres:

CAPP – Centre for Administration and Public Policies
CIEG – Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies
FIRAH – Fondation Internationale de la Recherche Appliquée sur le Handicap

Partnerships :

DRPI – Disability Rights Promotion International
ANED – Academic Network of European Disability Experts

Projects

DRPI-Portugal (2010-2012)

This project marked the first experience of systemic monitoring of the human rights of persons with disabilities in Portugal, using the DRPI approach. It involved 45 in-depth interviews with adults with different types of disability in three areas of the country (Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve).

Duration: November 2011-February 2012

ANED (Since 2011)

The Academic Network of European Disability Experts (ANED) was set up by the European Commission in December 2007 to establish articulation between academics in the area of disability in Europe to support the development of European policies, in collaboration with the Commission’s Disability Unit. Paula Campos Pinto is the national expert for Portugal in the ANED network and the work conducted for ANED is often due with the collaboration of the ODDH team.

Assessing the Impact of European Governments’ Austerity Plans on the Rights of People with Disabilities: Portugal Country Report (2012)

This study was commissioned by the European Consortium of Foundations on Human Rights and Disability in order to obtain information and data on how the crisis and the austerity measures affected persons with disability and their rights – regarding employment, independent living, education, primary health care and assistance.

Capacity-building on disability and human rights (2012)

The project ”Capacity-building on disability and human rights” was the follow-up of the Pilot DRPI-Portugal study. Three workshops were held in Lisbon and the north and south of the country to increase knowledge and awarenness of the Convention monitoring procedures and to discuss the results of the first monitoring studies, in order to identify priority areas for intervention programmes, policies and revision of legislation.

Social Indicators for Monitoring Disability Human Rights (2013-2014)

Funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Sience and Technology (FCT), this study applied the DRPI methods and tools monitoring disability rights in Portugal across at the individual, systemic and media levels, with the aim of designing innovative quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure State compliance with the CRPD and progress in the realization of human rights for persons with disabilities in future monitoring studies.

Contacts

Paula Campos Pinto
Assistant Professor ISCSP-ULisboa
Coordinator of DRPI Portugal | ODDH

Email: oddh@iscsp.ulisboa.pt
Website: http://oddh.iscsp.utl.pt/index.php/en