We believe everyone has the right to be involved in decision-making that affects them.
This is described in Article 4.3 (General Obligations) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for all governments to recognise, specifically in relation to persons with disabilities.
This means organisations must make sure that people with disabilities are involved in everything they do.
Right now, there are more self-advocate leaders than ever working for change.
But we know people with an intellectual disability are often still not included meaningfully in the work that affects them.
"When we take part in meetings with other organisations we very rarely get the information in the way we need."
There are lots of organisations working with people with intellectual disabilities who do this very well.
However, we can all do better.
The DSi network advocates for organisations to be inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities.
Put simply, an inclusive organisation is one that includes all its stakeholders in its work
Many people face barriers that prevent them from playing key roles in organisations.
Such roles may include (but are not limited to):
Every organisation should aspire to include everyone in its decision-making.
This can be achieved in any organisation, with the right processes in place and with a genuine desire to succeed.
Listen Include Respect UK
Visit the LIR website
LEARN ABOUT CAST
We are learning all the time from our current projects. In the future, we hope to do more work like this, working with our membership network and with international organisations all over the world. DSi will also continue to improve our own work, ensuring that everything we do includes people with Down syndrome, from start to finish.
Learn - find out what needs to change in the world so that all people with Down syndrome are fully included in society.
Inform - tell us what life is like for people with Down syndrome where you live.
Advocate - speak up for people with Down syndrome and disabilities.
SIGN-UP
We work with a team of Ambassadors who guide our work and give us feedback. Read more
DSi is supporting self-advocates with intellectual disabilities to improve Bridge training - a program that helps advocates speak up for the rights of people with disabilities. Read more
We are happy to share the 2023 World Down Syndrome Awardees. Congratulations to all! Read more
Down Syndrome International was established in 1993. This year we celebrate 30 years of inclusion advocacy! Read more
The Listen Include Respect UK project aims to train a new group of self-advocates with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities, to become consultants on inclusive organisations. Read more
Jordan’s Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Listen Include Respect team are working together to translate the Listen Include Respect Guidelines into Arabic. Read more
For World Down Syndrome Day 2023, the Down Syndrome International network is campaigning for the right to legal capacity. Read more