The last few days of the conference were my favorite. It was fascinating to hear about internationality and Criminal Justice when it came to people with disabilities and the CRPD. One lecture I found specifically interesting was “Diversion from the Criminal Justice System” given by Charles O’Mahony. Continue reading →

My favorite presentation from this week conference was the presentation regarding being a transgender. When the topic was introduced, you could feel everyone in attendance sit up and become really engaged to Matilda. The topic was brand new to me and I would argue it was a new approach that not many others have considered ever before. Continue reading →

When we first got to Galway I noticed that there were a lot of life ring stations along the water. I found this interesting because I am not used to seeing them (at least not as many as I saw in Galway) along water areas close to me. I noticed on the side of the boxes that held the life rings, there was a sticker that had the Samaritans number along with statement that read something like “talk to us”. Continue reading →

Family Group Conferencing is a concept I had heard of before. Jolijn’s mentality of changing the argument was inspiring. Instead of writing law about when to use forced treatment, she thought we should be focusing on alternatives to forced psychiatry. Continue reading →

I find myself continuously going back to the second day of the Disability Law Summer School. In my opinion, I enjoyed the presentations (and the presenters themselves) the most on this day! Continue reading →

Now that this life-changing 2-week trip has come to an end, I’ve spent some time thinking about what I’ve learned (other than how exhausting jet lag is, as I sit here at 10:30pm knowing it’s 3am in Ireland). One of the strongest messages I’ve come to take away, both from the site visits and from the Disability Law Summer School, has been that there is a gap between ideas and implementation into practice, but that this gap should no longer exist. Continue reading →

Listening today to the first panel I was confused and slightly offended that they were discussing “Mad” Studies. I was not sure if it was just terminology that I did not understand or if their terminology of Mad did not have the same connotation that it does in America. Continue reading →

Now that the trip has ended and I am sitting in the airport waiting to board my plane home, I am reflecting on how much I learned on this trip and the amazing experience that this has been. I am so fortunate to have been able to take part in this program, meet so many new people and make so many new friends. Continue reading →

I am so so sad to think that our time is up in this beautiful country. This trip has been such an eye opening experience for me overall, but the conference was the most powerful. As I relfected about in my last post, I was so intriguied by the conversations panelists had representing different countries on the same topics and how each country differed. Continue reading →

During day 4 of the conference the topic of inclusion was covered. One speaker, Shivaun Quinlivan, was an extreme advocate for full inclusion.  She was very one-sided in her opinion, which is fine, but it almost seemed like she was avoiding the important and difficult tasks that come with full inclusion.   Continue reading →