Award for the Defence of Disabled People’s Rights

Youth with Physical Disability Development Forum, Uganda

“Disability is not inability”

The Youth with Physical Disability Development Forum is a pioneering voice for disabled people in Uganda, and a positive role model both for other disabled young people, and for wider society.

Co-ordinated and led by young, disabled people, the Development Forum lives out the motto of the worldwide disability movement “nothing about us without us.” They seek to end discrimination against disabled people, and build a society in which disabled people can play a full and active part.

Working with everyone from disabled people to public authorities such as the police, the Development Forum carries out education training about the rights of disabled people to promote better understanding and awareness across society.

Promoting disabled people’s right to education is a central area of their work. Many parents do not take their disabled child to school, and many schools do not make the changes necessary in order to give young disabled people the opportunity to learn. As a result of the Forum’s work with parents and schools, 15 disabled children have been able to access education.

The Development Forum was also successful in lobbying the government to provide 64 university scholarships for disabled young people. So far, ten young people have graduated with degrees in Law.

Crucially, the Youth with Physical Disability Development Forum supports disabled people and their families to understand the legal language of human rights in an accessible way so that they are able to seek justice in cases when they have experienced discrimination or abuse.

This significant progress has put Uganda on a journey that moves towards ending discrimination against people with disabilities.