Past Summer Schools
Previous Summer Schools
2006
This two-week Summer School was the first of its type in Europe to focus on anti-discrimination legal issues on the ground of disability. It focused on the potential of the EU Framework Directive on Employment Discrimination in the context of disability. The Framework Directive is the single most important legal instrument at the European level combating discrimination on the ground of disability.
2011
This Programme introduced participants to the nature of the convention, to treaty interpretation in general, to the general concept of equality in the convention (and some of the relevant innovations in the CRPD). It drew out the differences between obligations of immediate effect (non-discrimination) and obligations of conduct (to ’progressively achieve’) social and economic rights and how to identify which provisions in the convention create which kinds of obligations. It focused on certain core rights such as the right to legal capacity, the right to independent living, and the right to inclusive education. It will also focus on important provisions in the convention protecting people with disabilities against violence, exploitation and abuse. It looked at the practical institutional changes needed to give effect to the convention at national level (the obligation to create a ’focal point’, etc). And it explored the implications of the CRPD for development aid programmes throughout the world.
2012
The 4th International Disability Summer School aimed to equip participants with the insights and skills necessary to translate the generalities of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into tangible reform for persons with disabilities. The Faculty included senior academics, practitioners and policy makers from around the world most of whom have been directly and actively engaged in drafting and implementing the Convention.
2013
The 5th International Disability Summer School welcomed Minister Kathleen Lynch to officially launch the summer school. The theme this year was " the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - VOICE & CHOICE". The Summer School looked at linking legally capacity (decision making) and independent living.
2014
The core focus was on Access to Justice and Political Participation.
2015
The purpose of this five-day International Disability Summer School is to equip participants with the insights and skills necessary to translate the generalities of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into tangible reform for persons with disabilities. The core focus of this year was on Human Rights and Disability-Inclusive Development.
2016
Summer School 2016
The core focus of this year was Civil Society and its role in changing laws and policies around people with disabilities. This year is also the 25th annversity of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a landmark pieice of legislation in the history of disability rights.
2017
The theme for the 2017 Summer School was psychosocial disability. It focused on facilitating access to justice, recognition of legal capacity, the right to liberty and community living.
2018
The core focus this year was on Intersectionality in the areas of women, older persons and children with disabilities.
2019
The core focus this year was on Persons with Disabilities and the Right to Family Life in the areas of women, older persons and children with disabilities.
2021
The core focus this year is Disability and Culture in the areas of Access to Culture, Recreation, Leisure and Sport for People with Disabilities.
2022
Summer School 2022
The theme this year was Disability in an Age of Conflict, Crisis and Climate Change which are areas underpinned by Article 11 of the UNCRPD.
2023
Summer School 2023
The theme this year was The Rights of Disabled Children and Young People which brings together monitoring under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
