Global Advisory Panel
Ola Abu Al Ghaib, nominated to the Disability Rights Fund Global Advisory Panel by the Arab Organization of Disabled People. Ola is currently the Regional Disability Rights and Advocacy Coordinator and Musawa Project Manager for the Middle East Regional Office of Handicap International. She is also the Founder and Chairperson of Stars of Hope Center, a Disabled Persons’ Organization, in the Occupied Territories, which focuses on empowerment of women with disabilities and creation of an enabling environment that guarantees their full social integration and participation as citizens. Ola has spent her life advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities. She has worked with the German Organization for the Disabled, CARE International, and the Swedish Organization of Persons with Disabilities International (SHIA). She has an M.A. in Project Management from Birzeit University. Ola was selected as an Agent of Change by the Worldwide Network on Disability and Human Rights (an entity managed by SHIA) in 2006; and elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2007.
Shamima Ali, nominated to the Disability Rights Fund Global Advisory Panel by AusAID and the Pacific Disability Forum. Shamima is one of the Pacific’s most prominent campaigners for women, gender and human rights. She has been the Coordinator of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre since 1986, is the Chairperson of the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women, and was a founding member of the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement. She was also the last lawfully-appointed Human Rights Commissioner in Fiji. Shamima has received widespread recognition throughout her career for her tireless efforts on behalf of the region’s women. Recent awards include the United States Government Department of State inaugural Woman of Courage Award (2007) and the Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand’s inaugural Human Rights Defender Award (2009). In 2011 Shamima was named Islands Business Pacific Person of the Year.
Fredrick Ouko Alucheli, nominated to the Disability Rights Fund Global Advisory Panel by the UN Youth Section, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Action Network for the Disabled (ANDY). ANDY is a national disabled people`s organization run by and for young people with disabilities. ANDY carries out capacity building and advocacy activities to ensure that young disabled people both know and demand their rights and also seeks to help improve the socio-economic status of young disabled people, many of whom are living in severe poverty. Fredrick is also a board member of Kibera Community Youth Programme which is a unique organization formed and run by young people in the Kibera slum in Nairobi. In addition, Fredrick is a board member of Little Rock Inclusive Early Childhood Education Centre, an educational institution that caters for children with disabilities. Early in January 2009, Fredrick was recognized by the Government of Kenya for his exemplary achievements in promoting a youth agenda in the realization of Kenya’s national development goals. In June 2009, Fredrick was selected as a global fellow for 2009/2010 by YouthActionNet, a program of the International Youth Foundation. He joined the Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) in 2010 as an International Advisory Board Member.
Karina Chupina, nominated to the DRF Global Advisory Panel by IFHOH, is President of the International Federation of Hard of Hearing Young People (IFHOHYP), and press-secretary and project manager of the Fund of Assistance to Disabled Children and Youth in St.Petersburg, Russia. Karina is also active in the Youth Committee of the European Disability Forum and in the European Disability Forum Expert Group on Education. Apart from her NGO commitments, Karina is a professional international freelance trainer, consultant and journalist. She has been involved in international youth work for more than 12 years and is a member of the Trainers’ Pool of the Council of Europe Directorate of Youth and Sport as an expert, trainer and consultant. Her main training areas are Human Rights Education, Social Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Discrimination, Disability Rights & Disablism, Training of Trainers, Project Management, Media and Youth Participation. Karina holds an MA in International Journalism (St.Petersburg State University), Exec. MA in International and European Relations & Management (University of Amsterdam), and an MA in Political Science and Sociology (European University at St.Petersburg). Currently Karina is a PhD student at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. Her consultancy and research interests are social inclusion, disability, youth and social policy, anti-discrimination, equal opportunities, and non-formal learning.
David Corner, nominated to the Disability Rights Fund Global Advisory Panel by Inclusion International, is employed as an Advisor for the National Self Advocacy Team of IHC New Zealand. David is also a representative of the Asia Pacific Region for the Council of Inclusion International. As well as this international role, David has been an advisor to many national government and non-government initiatives including the New Zealand Human Rights Commission; the National Health Committee; People First New Zealand; New Zealand Disabled Persons Assembly; Supported Employment New Zealand Board; New Zealand Health and Disability Commission Consumer Advisory Group and the New Model for Supporting Disabled People National Reference Group. David was the first person with an intellectual disability to graduate from Polytechnic with a Certificate in Teaching People with Disabilities. He has been involved in the area of self advocacy since the early nineties and is passionate about supporting other people with intellectual disability to have a voice. He believes everyone is entitled to have equal value in society.
Bhargavi Davar, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, is the Founder of the Bapu Trust for Research on Mind and Discourse and Director of its research arm, the Center for Advocacy in Mental Health (CAMH) in Pune, India. CAMH, started in 2000 with monies from the MacArthur Fund for Leadership Development among other sources, runs an alternative mental health program which brings together resource persons, professionals and practitioners as well as communities, families, and users, in order to share information and build capacity on the process of healing and recovery from a psychosocial disability, without the use of psychiatric drugs. Bhargavi herself identifies as a survivor of psychiatry. Her work addresses the enormous human rights gaps in the mental health system in India. She is a peer support facilitator and a member of peer support groups especially for women with psychosocial disabilities. She is also a Board Member of NAAJMI, the National Alliance on Access to Justice for Persons Living with a Mental Illness, a new coalition led by people with disabilities in India. Bhargavi has a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, is widely published, and was elected as an Ashoka fellow in 2005.
Javier Diez-Canseco, recommended to be a member of DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by Human Rights Watch, is a social scientist, journalist, committed human rights leader and well known anticorruption activist, who has been elected to the Peruvian Congress 6 times and has also served as Vice President of the Congress. Javier most recently served as a consultant for the Andean Health Organization Hipolito Unanue on promoting Andean state coordination on health policies dealing with PWDs. Affected by polio when he was one year old, Javier has been an activist in anti-discrimination and human rights for decades. From 2002-2006, he was chairman of the National Congress Special Studies Commission on Disabilities in Peru, which developed legislative initiatives, public policies, and advocacy for increased state attention to the issues of people with disabilities. The most important Peruvian law addressing disability was drafted with his aid. He has been responsible for promoting disability legislation domestically (including ratification of the CRPD) as well as at the international level, for example, in the OAS. In April 2011, Javier was elected to the Peruvian Parliament.
Jabulani Ncube, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the African Decade on Persons with Disabilities, is currently the National Programme Coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (Spanish Government sponsorship through the United Nations system in support of Government of the Republic of Namibia, Joint Programme) in Namibia. Before this appointment in May 2010, he was Deputy Chief Executive Director of International Programmes with Action on Disability and Development (ADD). ADD is a UK-based international development agency, founded in 1985, which supports disabled persons organizations in Africa and Asia to influence policy and practice to end social exclusion and poverty. Prior to working with ADD, Jabulani spent 18 years in consultancy work on disability and development, 8 years of which he spent in Zimbabwe and Namibia providing capacity building services to DPOs and country-level disability assessments to international development organizations and governments. In the 1980’s, he was the Executive Director of the National Council of Disabled Persons in Zimbabwe. In addition to being a Member of the OXFAM United Kingdom and Ireland Association, he also serves as an Associate of the Coady International Institute, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a member of the Namibian Association of People with Disabilities.
Martha Lucia Osorno Posada, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the World Federation of the Deaf, is a member of the Executive Council of the National Federation of the Deaf of Colombia FENASCOL and its past President for seven years. FENASCOL supports the capacity of its member organizations; promotes quality services for the deaf; and promotes and participates in the creation of national legislation, policies and plans of action which address the needs of the deaf in Colombia. Martha is also a member of the Colombian National Consultative Committee on Disability 2007-2009 and a part of the South American Secretariat of the World Federation of the Deaf. Martha lost her hearing at age 9 but continued her education in mainstream educational institutions until age 14, when she had her first contact with the deaf community and learned sign language.
William Rowland, nominated to DRF’s Global Advisory Panel by the World Blind Union, is the Immediate Past President of the World Blind Union, the Honorary President of the South African National Council for the Blind, and the Honorary President of Disabled People South Africa. He is the Chairperson of DEC Investment Holding Company Ltd, an enterprise generating funds for DPOs through commercial ventures (banking, construction, manufacture, and telecommunications) and Director of the Taquanta financial group of companies. Until 2007, he was CEO of the Thabo Mbeki Development Trust for Disabled People, an agency providing skills development, assistive technology, and poverty alleviation. He is the Co-founder and Past Chairperson of the Southern African Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD), a regional development agency. William is the former Chairperson of the IDA CRPD Forum, an alliance of 8 global and 2 regional organizations of persons with disabilities.
Former Advisors (2008 – 2011)
Gunta Anča served on the Panel from 2008 to 2010.
Shanti Dairiam served on the Panel from 2008 to 2010.
Silvia Quan-Chan served on the Panel from 2008 to 2011.
Raisa Kravchenko served on the Panel from 2008 to 2010.
Venus Ilagan served on the Panel from 2008 to 2010.