International interdisciplinary conference organized by Departments of Gender Studies and Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague.

Dates: October 8-9, 2010
Host: Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

More Information here [PDF].

8-9 November, 2010, Maastricht University

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) is a landmark treaty. It is the first human rights Convention of the new century; it is not merely a non-discrimination convention, but also provides for a wide range of classical and substantive rights; and, from a European perspective, it is the first human rights convention which the European Community (EC) negotiated and signed, and it will be the first such convention which the European Union (EU) will conclude. Moreover, the Convention, because of the wide ranging set of rights which it sets out to guarantee, will impose significant obligations on EU Member States. Lastly, the Convention is novel in the way that it opens the door for national and European level disability NGOs to play an important part in monitoring implementation at national and EU level.

The purpose of this conference, to be hosted by the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights and the European Disability Forum (EDF), is to examine some of the consequences of, and obligations imposed by, the UN CRPD from a European perspective.

Programme [PDF]

For more information about the conference visit http://law.unimaas.nl/uncrpdandeurope

Free conference co-hosted by Research Institute of Health and Social Change at Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Chester, Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Iceland.

This two day conference brings together an international group of disability studiesresearchers. Papers will address diverse issues including:

• Understanding normal and normalcy
• Making sense of and challenging ableism
• Addressing our obsession with reason and rationality
• Questioning the push to make children hyper-normal
• Exploring when normal becomes normalised
• Examining the ways in which normalcy and ableism function on the level of the everyday /mundane
• Bringing together ideas from the human and social sciences and humanities

Keynote speakers confirmed include Professors Rod Michalko and Tanya Titchkosky (both University ofToronto), Freyja Haraldsdottir (www.forrettindi.is, Iceland), Embla Agustsdottir (University of Iceland) and Larry Arnold (University of Birmingham)

Conference Programme (.doc)
Conference Abstracts (.doc)

Dates: Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th May 2010 ~ 10am-4pm each day

Venue: Geoffrey Manton (Lecture Room 5), Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester, M1 5GD. For directions click here.

From April to June 2010 Professor Waldschmidt stays as visiting researcher at the Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds (UK).