Until recently, there was little reason to doubt that the 2008 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and Iraq would be honored and all US forces would be out of Iraq by December 31st, 2011. As the deadline nears, the agreement is being called into question. This is a mistake. Withdrawing US forces …
Tag: social empowerment
May 16
Facebook Revolution
It’s rare to read a news article on the Tunisian revolt without also reading about Facebook; it was the “Facebook revolution,” the “social media revolt,” sparked by WikiLeaks and organized by Twitter users. But how much of the credit can really be given to social media? The revolution began in December 2010, sparked by the …
May 16
UN Enable: Celebrating the 100th Ratification of the CRPD!
On May 10, 2011 Columbia became the 100th country to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The event is a majormilestone for the treaty, as it demonstrates how quickly progress was made in spreading its message across the international community after it entered into force in 2008. To …
May 16
Reading Comprehension and People Comprehension
In the education system in the U.S., so many resources are utilized in order to teach children how to read. Starting in our early elementary years, various skills and tools are drilled into our heads to enable literacy. From memorizing the alphabet to understanding grammar rules to practicing reading comprehension skills, the education system ensures …
May 13
Breaking the Culture of Individualism
In my previous post, “Labeled Disabled”, I highlighted the divisions among isolatedinterest groups in American society. Continuing along this vein, I will explore an alternative approach that could potentially break the stigmas attached to disability in our society. American society has always nurtured its “rugged individualism” and its proudly independent character. We take pride in …
May 11
Seeking to Combat Child Sex Tourism
A Focus on Federal Legislation Human trafficking is a persistent international and domestic problem and crime, which is bound in violations of human rights, labor, and public health standards. The definition of human trafficking varies from source to source; however, there are common entities to its overall meaning—victims of trafficking include those who are recruited, …
May 10
Labeled Disabled
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed in 1990, protected the rights of persons with disabilities (PWDs), prohibited discrimination in employment, and mandated access to public services and facilities in the United States. It seemed that all the years of hard work and lobbying by activists and the disabled community to gain recognition …
May 06
A Vicious Cycle
Poverty, Disability, and Exclusion from Development Strategies A World Bank estimate suggests that 25% of the 1.3 billion most impoverished people in the world experience some form of disability, and according to the UN Development Program, 80% of persons with disabilities (PWDs) live in developing countries. These numbers are steadily increasing due to a number …
May 03
Dangerous Reporting
Essentialism in Western Media Perspectives Even today, among reputable news sources, there still remains a level of ignorance and an essentialist undertone in Western media perspectives of the “developing world.” For example, in a recent issue of The Economist, I came across a feature on Gendercide in India, which discusses the distorted sex ratios in …
Apr 27
Can we PLEASE focus on a real education issue?
Donald Trump has asked for the President to provide his birth certificate several times and has made a new statement that the President wasn’t “Qualified for the Ivy League.” I am not sure how the President performed at Harvard, and honestly I think it is a question that the American public should not really care about. …