By Hisayo Katsui
I heard the very sad news on last Monday morning when I went to my office.
I first met her as soon as I started my PhD study on disability and development in 2000. I attended one seminar and she made her presentation on accessibility, as she was an architect. I had the privilege of attending other presentations of her in the following years. In one of the presentations, she introduced her latest publication on accessible homes. After the presentation, I approached her to ask for a copy to purchase it. She said, “It’s free. You can have it for free. If some information makes lives of persons with disabilities better, such information has to be free.” This has been very important for me whenever I produce some writings, unless articles were included into someone else’s books.
Likewise, she has influenced many people’s thinking in her life and such influence definitely continues to live. I would like to thank her, deeply.
Representation of the Research Team Members
Elina Pirjatanniemi, LL. D., Professor of Constitutional and International Law, Director of the Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University. Project Leader (Turku, Finland, elina.pirjatanniemi (at) abo.fi)
Martin Scheinin, Dr. Iuris, Professor of Public International Law, European University Institute, Law Department. Project Leader (Florence, Italy, martin.scheinin (at) eui.eu)
Hisayo Katsui, PhD, Senior Researcher: I am a Japanese researcher interested in disability, civil society, human rights and development. The ultimate goal of my research is to contribute to the
equality and equal opportunity of disabled people particularly in the South.
(Helsinki, Finland, katsui (at) mappi.helsinki.fi)
Please visit Hisayo's own web site
Jukka Kumpuvuori, LL. M., Researcher, Doctoral Candidate: I am Finnish researcher and a disability activist. I have a strong interest in the academic field of human right and disability and I have prepared quite several reports in this fields. I am also active in the DPO-world both nationally and internationally and I also have a strong interest in the development cooperation that relates to disabled persons. I am my self a wheelchair user. Everything that relates to human rights and disability...I'm there!
(Turku, Finland, jukka.kumpuvuori (at) abo.fi)
Edson Ngirabakunzi, MA, Researcher, Doctoral Candidate: I am a Ugandan disability activist with high level interest in disability and development issues. I have advocated for the rights of persons with disabilities in Uganda at national and local levels. This has been to ensure that disability needs and concerns become part of the development process in Uganda. I have been in the disability movement for the last 8 years as a key player. I have keen and strong interest in seeing how legislations take care and multiplier effect in the lives of disabled persons. I have participated in policy reviews and evaluations at ministerial levels. I have participated in a number of strategic meetings with line ministries and district local governments raising disability as key issue of concern in the development process. It is my firm conviction that once policies and programmes targeting disabled persons are judiciously followed and implemented then they would greatly contribute to making world a better place to live in and therefore humanity would boast of development for all.
(Kampala, Uganda, ngirabakunziedson (at) yahoo.com)