Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Israel: Advancements and Hurdles
Gilat Juli Bachar
Haas Center Graduate Public Service Fellow

Abstract: In recent years the stream of legislation and case law in Israel which respond to initiatives by persons with disabilities, give legal validation to their rights, and create mechanisms to advance their integration into society, had been gradually increasing. One of the highlights of this process had been Israel's Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law (of 1998), which constitutes a crucial milestone in the formal, legal acknowledgment of the rights of persons with disabilities by Israel's legal system. This Law is part of at least three decades long struggle to stimulate public awareness of persons with disabilities' rights to accessibility and equality. Yet, despite this and additional positive steps, other rights of persons with disabilities, such as the rights to health and housing, do not gain the same level of recognition by the legal system.

In my presentation, I will briefly describe the process of formation, conceptualization, and acknowledgment of the rights of persons with disabilities in Israel. I will then show how despite these advancements, the legal status of persons with disabilities in Israel is still quite unsound, most notably with regard to their social rights (as opposed to civil rights). Finally, I will try to suggest some potential explanations to this gap based on public perception of disability.

Biosketch: Gilat Bachar, from Israel, is a JSD candidate at Stanford Law School, specializing in international conflict resolution. She holds an LLB, summa cum laude, and an MBA in Business Administration, summa cum laude, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which she earned as part of an Interdisciplinary Honors Program. Gilat earned her JSM in international legal studies from Stanford in 2013. Her research focuses on the role of civil litigation initiated by Palestinians against the State of Israel in national courts within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During her studies, Gilat worked as a research and teaching assistant in constitutional law and international conflict resolution and as a pre-intern at the State Attorney Office, and was a member of the editorial board of Mishpatim, Hebrew University’s law review. Upon graduation, she became a law clerk with Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch of the Israeli Supreme Court. Later, she joined a firm in Israel, where she specialized in dispute resolution. She combined her practical legal work with a teaching assistant position at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center. Gilat is also a fellow at the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation.

Links:

Graduate Public Service (GPS) Fellowship

Bookshare International: Making Reading Accessible to All
Kristina Pappas, BA, MBA
Benetech - Global Literacy Program Manager

Abstract: Benetech’s mission is to harness the power of technology to address unmet social needs. Within its Global Literacy Program, this mission translates into developing affordable technology to help the multitudes of people who remain underserved by the commercial technology field around literacy. Bookshare, the Global Literacy Program’s flagship initiative, is the world’s largest online library of digital books that are accessible to people with print disabilities. Bookshare currently serves over a quarter million students in the US and offers over 220,000 titles (with thousands more added every month). There are significant structural and legal challenges to serving international users, but there are also exciting changes underway, including more widespread availability of technology and the 2013 passage of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

Biosketch: Kristina Pappas is the Global Literacy Program Manager at Benetech and has an extensive background in book publishing and international business. Ms. Pappas brings her strong passion for harnessing the power of business to solve social problems to the day-to-day management and operation of Bookshare International. She believes strongly that technology can allow people to participate fully in work and life, regardless of disability, economic status, or location. Ms. Pappas holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and an MBA in Sustainability from Presidio Graduate School.

Under her direction, Bookshare International has grown to encompass members in nearly fifty different countries, books in nine different languages, and partnerships with international organizations serving people with print disabilities. Through these partnerships, Bookshare has implemented programs to increase international membership by addressing the unique technology and infrastructure challenges that exist in many countries.

Links:

Benetech

Bookshare International: Accessibility for All, Regardless of Where You Live

Benetech's Global Literacy Pogram (video 1:34)

Assistive Technology: When East Meets West
Proadpran P. Punyabukkana, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract: Economic situation, technological availability, and basic needs differ from one country to another. To build the right Assistive Technology solutions, it is important to listen to people with disabilities in the local community. In this talk, I will share various computer-centric projects by students and professionals in Thailand during the past three years. They range from non-visual games to haptic devices. Emphasis will be given to the on-going major project to produce e-books semi-automatically. Finally, I will compare and contrast my experience between courses and projects in Thailand and those at MIT, where I am currently a visiting scholar.

Biosketch: Proadpran Punyabukkana is an Assistant Professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. She joined the University in 1993 prior to being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue her PhD at Claremont Graduate University in 2003. Her doctoral thesis was in the area of programming, specifically Object-Oriented language design and implementation. When she returned to Thailand, she shifted her interest to the field of Speech Technology, focusing on speech synthesis and speech recognition in Thai. She and a colleague formed the Spoken Language System Research Group in 2004. Their applications have been put to use for people with disabilities. While exploring the situation in Thailand, they started the Assistive Technology Research Group in 2006. To date, the two groups have graduated more than 70 undergraduate and graduate students.

Proadpran served as Assistant Dean of Engineering at Chulalongkorn University from 2004 to 2008 and Associate Dean from 2008 to 2013. She is currently on sabbatical leave under a Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant as a visiting professor first at MIT and now at Stanford.

Links:

Chula Engineering

Proadpran Punyabukkana