Biographies

Michael Bach

Michael Bach is Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Community Living, a national federation of over 40,000 members, 400 local and 13 Provincial/Territorial Associations for Community Living. Michael Bach is Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Community Living, a national federation of over 40,000 members, 400 local and 13 Provincial/Territorial Associations for Community Living.  He is also Managing Director of The Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society – IRIS.
For over twenty years, he has undertaken research and development on law, policies and programs in Canada and internationally on ways to advance the full inclusion and human rights of persons with intellectual disabilities. Michael Bach is Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Community Living, a national federation of over 40,000 members, 400 local and 13 Provincial/Territorial Associations for Community Living.  He is also Managing Director of The Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society – IRIS. For over twenty years, he has undertaken research and development on law, policies and programs in Canada and internationally on ways to advance the full inclusion and human rights of persons with intellectual disabilities.  His research covers a range of policy areas including education, employment, and funding and delivery of community-based services, and he has published numerous monographs, articles, and chapters in books.  His particular area of expertise is in legal capacity of people with intellectual disabilities, and he recently completed a study for the Law Commission of Ontario with Lana Kerzner titled A New Legal Paradigm for Protecting Autonomy and the Right to Legal Capacity.  He also recently co-authored Journey to Inclusive Education in the Indian Sub-Continent with Mithu Alur, published by Routledge Press. He holds a PhD in Sociology and Equity Studies from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.  His dissertation focused on developing a more inclusive theory of personhood on which to challenge the usual equation between intellectual disability and legal incapacity.

Gauthier de Beco

Gauthier de Beco holds a J.D. from the K.U.Leuven, an LL.M. from the University of Nottingham and a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Louvain.

He is head of the CRPD Unit at the Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism which was designated independent mechanism to promote, protect and monitor the implementation of the Convention. He is also regular consultant on Article 33 CRPD to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and several NGOs. He is Associate Researcher at the Centre for Philosophy of Law of the University of Louvain (where he taught from 2005 to 2009) and Fellow at the Institute for Human Rights of University College London (where he taught from 2011 to 2012).

Gauthier de Beco is the author of many publications in the field of human rights including a monograph on Non-Judicial Mechanisms for the Implementation of Human Rights in European States (Bruylant, 2010) and an edited volume on Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms of the Council of Europe (Routledge, 2011). He is currently editing a volume on Article 33 CRPD: Structural Foundations for the Implementation and Monitoring of the Convention (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, forthcoming 2012).

He is member of the Working Group on the Role of the EU in UN Human Rights Reform (COST Action IS0702) and of the editorial board of the Revue trimestrielle des droits de l’homme (the reference journal for international human rights law in the French-speaking world).

Jerome Bickenbach
 Disability Policy Unit Head, Swiss Paraplegic Research
Steering Committee member, ICF Research Branch of WHO Collaborating Centre for the Family of International Classifications in German Department of Health Sciences & Health Policy at the University of Lucerne.
Dr. Jerome Bickenbach is a full professor and holds the Research Chair in the Department of Philosophy and Faculties of Law and Medicine at Queen’s University. He is the author of Physical Disability and Social Policy (1993) and the co-editor of Introduction to Disability (1998), Disability and Culture: Universalism and Diversity (2000), A Seat at the Table: Persons with Disabilities and Policy Making (2001), Quality of Life and Human Difference (2003) and numerous articles and chapters in disability studies, focusing on the nature of disability and disability law and policy. He was a content editor of Sage Publications’ five 5 volume Encyclopaedia of Disability. His most recent book is Ethics, Law and Policy in the Sage Disability Resource Library. Since 1995 he has been a consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO) working on drafting, testing and implementation of the ICF, and continues to consult with WHO on international disability social policy. His research is in disability studies, using qualitative and quantitative research techniques within the paradigm of participatory action research. Most recently his research includes disability quality of life and the disability critique, disability epidemiology, universal design and inclusion, modelling disability statistics for population health surveys, the relationship between disability and wellbeing, disability and ageing issues and the application of ICF to monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As a lawyer, Prof. Bickenbach was a human rights litigator, specializing in anti-discrimination for persons with intellectual impairments and mental illness. Since 2007, he has headed the Disability Policy Unit at Swiss Paraplegic Research in Nottwil, Switzerland and is Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Lucerne.

Andrea Coomber
Andrea Coomber is an Australian qualified lawyer, with a BA and LLB (Hons) from the University of Western Australia and an LLM (Dist.) from the London School of Economics.  After practicing as a discrimination lawyer in Australia, Andrea spent five years living and working in human rights in New Delhi, Geneva and Cairo.  Andrea joined INTERIGHTS in 2002, where she initiated the development of the organisation’s work on disability.  As the Senior Lawyer on the Equality Programme she advised and co-represented applicants before the European Court of Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the UN treaty bodies, and submitting briefs of amicus curiae, including in landmark European Court cases such as DH and Others v the Czech Republic, Nachova v Bulgaria andOpuz v Turkey.  Now the Legal Director, Andrea manages INTERIGHTS' legal team and is responsible for the development of strategy across the organisation.  Andrea sits on the litigation advisory bodies of a number of international human rights organizations and regularly lectures on international human rights law and equality in Europe and North America. Andrea has a particular interest in the human rights of persons with disabilities and in violence against women.  Andrea signs (BSL).

Theresia Degener
Theresia Degener is professor of law and disability studies at Evangelische Fachhochschule RWL - University of Applied Sciences in Bochum, Germany and a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She studied law in Frankfurt am Main Germany and Berkeley, California, USA. She has been teaching law in Germany, Finland, Ireland, South Africa and USA. She is an affiliate to the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, USA and a board member of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
In addition she is a board member of the German Institute on Human Rights and a member of the Expert Group on Inclusion of the German Section of UNESCO. She is a founding member of the German association on disability studies.
She has been working as a legal advisor to the German Government during the negotiation process of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was adopted in 2006. During the Working Group of the Ad Hoc Committee which produced the first draft of the CRPD she acted as the representative of Germany.
Her research fields are international human rights, anti-discrimination law and gender and disability studies.

Dennis Driscoll
Dennis Driscoll is a former Dean of the Law School at NUI Galway, where he taught International Law, International Human Rights, and Corporate Social Responsibility.  He is also a former Visiting Professor at Harvard University and at Peking University Law School, where in 2004-2005, as the Raoul Wallenberg Institute Visiting Professor of Human Rights, he became the first Professor of Human Rights in the history of China
Since the late 1990s, he has pursued his interests in Corporate Social Responsibility and in Comparative Corporate Governance.
He has given workshops on CSR or Corporate Governance to more than 500 companies in Europe and in Emerging Markets, especially in China, and, more recently, in the Middle East and Africa.
He is currently Visiting Professor of Management at Strathclyde Business School and at Koç University Business School in Istanbul.  He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway.

Steven Estey
Based in Canada, Steven Estey is an independent consultant on international disability rights.  For many years he was the human rights officer at Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI), an International NGO, focussing on the Human Rights of disabled people.  
Steven has travelled widely, working with Disabled Peoples’ Organizations, Governments, and UN Agencies.  Over time he has developed wide experience in the areas of international cooperation, economic development, human rights and disability.   He has testified before Parliamentary committees in Canada and spoken on Human Rights and people with disabilities at the United Nations and in many countries around the world.  
From 2003, until the successful conclusion of the negotiations in 2006, Steven was the Adviser to Canada’s official delegation to the UN, which drafted the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD). At the same time he was the staff support person at DPI sharing information and assisting members to prepare for meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee.  After the CRPD was adopted by the UN General Assembly, in 2006 Steven led DPIs work to encourage UN members to both sign and ratify the treaty.  Steven left DPI in 2010 and has since worked globally on a variety of initiatives targeted at effective implementation and robust monitoring of the CRPD with UN Agencies, NGOs and National Human Rights Institutions.   

Eilionóir Flynn

Eilionóir is currently working as a researcher at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy on the a project titled, “ Advancing Ireland’s National Disability Strategy: Building on Comparative and International Innovation”. This project will undertake a detailed examination of the structure of Irish disability law and policy, using the upcoming review of the National Disability Strategy as a catalyst for change. Her research interests include assisted and supported decision-making, rights-enforcement mechanisms and access to justice generally. She has tutored in Constitutional Law and Legal Aspects of Professional Nursing at University College Cork (UCC). Eilionóir graduated with a BCL from UCC in 2006 and has completed her PhD thesis there entitled "Advocacy Services for People with Disabilities – A Comparative Study of Disability Rights Enforcement in Ireland and Victoria”. Her thesis explores the potential of a right to advocacy to improve access to justice for people with disabilities and examines the implementation of this right in the domestic legal framework of both comparative jurisdictions, using principles of international human rights law as a basis for reform. As part of her PhD research she attended La Trobe University, Melbourne, as an Honorary Visiting Fellow in 2007 to work with Professor Lee Ann Basser and to observe practice at the Office of the Public Advocate. Eilionóir also received a Government of Ireland Scholarship for her PhD research from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences during 2008-2009. She has presented her work at a number of national and international conferences and is currently focusing on publishing the findings of her PhD.

Nora Groce – biography tbc

Michael D. Higgins
On 11 November 2011, Michael D. Higgins was inaugurated as the ninth President of Ireland.
A passionate political voice, a poet and writer, academic and statesman, human rights advocate, promoter of inclusive citizenship and champion of creativity within Irish society, Michael D. Higgins has previously served at almost every level of public life in Ireland, including as Ireland's first Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.
[Taken from his official biography]

Janet Lord
Janet E. Lord is an international disability rights lawyer who is currently research associate at the Harvard Law School Project on Disability and senior partner at BlueLaw International, LLP, an international law and development firm where she directs the human rights and disability inclusive development practice. She participated in all of the negotiating sessions during the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, serving as legal advisor to Disabled Peoples’ International, several lead governments and as technical expert to the United Nations. She has designed, managed, and implemented projects addressing disability law and policy in more than 30 countries worldwide.  She consults regularly for a variety of international organizations, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Disability Programme, UNDP, USAID, the EU, GTZ, the World Bank, CARE, Chemonics International, Disabled Peoples’ International, Handicap International France, and the International Foundation for Election Systems. She has published widely in the area of human rights, international disability law and inclusive development. She is adjunct professor of law at American University, School of International, Service, and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), George Washington University Law School and Kenyon College.

Martin Naughton
Martin Naughton is a long-time disability advocate/campaigner.  He is one of the people who brought Centre for Independent Living to Ireland and has been a champion of the independent living movement with his role as co-executive director at the European Network of Independent Living.  He also works as Regional Support Officer with the Disability Federation of Ireland.   Recently, Martin established Áiseanna Tacaíochta (pilot funded project through Genio), which is a cost-effective user-led network, that empowers its members to move from dependency on disability service providers to managing their own personal budgets and services in a mainstream market environment.  It offers its members the opportunity to direct their own Personal Assistant Services using the philosophy of the Independent Living Movement.

Camilla Parker – biography tbc

Gerard Quinn

Gerard Quinn is the Director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the NUI Galway School of Law.  Called to the Irish Bar in 1983, he holds a masters (LL.M.) and doctorate in law (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School. His specialization is international and comparative disability law and policy.
He is a member of the Irish Human Rights Commission and helps co-ordinate the work of National Human Rights Institutions worldwide on disability issues. He led the delegation of Rehabilitation International (RI) during the UN Working Group that elaborated the basis for the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
He has worked in the European Commission (as a civil servant), and held a number of posts such as Director of Research for the Irish Government’s Law Reform Commission and Vice President of the European Committee of Social Rights (Council of Europe).  He sits on various advisory boards dealing with disability law and policy issues such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, SOROS-OSI (Washington, DC), Disability Rights Fund (Boston, MA), European Foundation Centre Consortium on Disability(Brussels), European Coalition for Community Living (London), Interights (London). In January 2012 President Michael D. Higgins appointed Professor Quinn to the Republic of Ireland’s Council of State.

Eric Rosenthal
Eric Rosenthal is founder and Executive Director of Disability Rights International. Since establishing Disability Rights International in 1993, Rosenthal has trained human rights and disability activists and provided technical assistance to governments and international development organizations worldwide.  Rosenthal has conducted investigations in more than 25 countries of Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas and published reports on the human rights of people with disabilities in nine countries. MDRI reports have brought unprecedented worldwide press coverage and attention to the concerns of people with disabilities. Rosenthal and his work have been profiled in The New York Times Magazine, ABC News 20/20, Good Morning America, and Nightline and has been the subject of main editorials in The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, and The Washington Post. Rosenthal has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the US National Council on Disability (NCD).  On behalf of NCD, he co-authored US Foreign Policy and Disability (September 2003), a report that led to legislation to make US foreign assistance accessible to people with disabilities.

Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
Tel: +353 (0)91 495888, SMS/Text Phone: +353 (0)87 6660634, Fax: +353 (0) 91 495569
Email: info.cdlpnuigalway.ie

This page was last updated Monday, March 26, 2012