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Join the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008!
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | March 11, 2008
GET READY TO SWARM!
Join the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008!
Calling all bloggers, vloggers, and other writers!
- Do you regularly blog (or vlog) about human rights? Or disability? Or both?
- Are you someone who cares about the international disability rights treaty (called the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD), its success, and its broad adoption?
If so, please participate in the RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008, scheduled for March 30, 2008!
What’s a blog swarm?
A blog swarm is when many bloggers and vloggers agree to write blog posts, or make blog videos, on the same theme at about the same time. Writers who don’t have a blog can ask someone who does to publish their post for them. A blog swarm can increase public awareness of an issue and can sometimes stimulate media interest in the topic.
Why Does the CRPD Matter?
If you have a disability or know people who do, then you know that the human rights of people with disabilities around the world are violated every day. In many countries with no disability rights laws, 90% of disabled children receive no education. People with disabilities may encounter doctors who simply assume they’d rather be dead than disabled—and make medical choices accordingly. Disabled people are more vulnerable to abuse and violence. And some have been sterilized against their will, or institutionalized without their consent.
The international disability community has been working with the human rights community and the United Nations for more than 30 years to change that. Together, they have created the first comprehensive, international treaty to protect a broad range of human rights of people with disabilities: the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD).
Celebrate the CRPD Anniversary With a Blog Swarm!
At last, these efforts are about to bear fruit. The CRPD was first opened for countries to sign on March 30, 2007, last year. So far, 17 countries have ratified it.
After the 20th country ratifies the CRPD, it will enter full legal force. Odds are good this will happen sometime soon after March 30, 2008—the first anniversary of the CRPD.
In honor of that anniversary, the grassroots organization RatifyNow.org will be hosting a blog swarm on March 30, 2008, called the “RatifyNow CRPD Blog Swarm 2008″. Please help make the blog swarm a success!
As the “host” for UN CRPD Blog Swarm 2008, RatifyNow.org will collect all the links to all the blog posts submitted for the blog swarm and make them available in one location.
Great! How Can I Show Support?
Have a blog? At any time between now and March 27, 2008, write a short blog post to share your thoughts about the CRPD and its first anniversary. Post it. Then send the link (with your screen name and the name of your blog) to RatifyNow@gmail.com. Links to video clips are also welcome (spoken or signed). If you provide video, however, please make an effort to include a transcript.
Even if you don’t want to write or vlog about the CRPD, you can still help by recruiting other bloggers and writers. Copy and paste this announcement into your blog or web site and encourage people to participate. Consider offering to host other people’s blog posts.
Follow the links from the main blog swarm page at http://ratifynow.org/latest-news/blog-swarm/ to learn more detail about the blog swarm and find ideas for your blog swarm post. The RatifyNow.org web site as a whole is also a great one-stop shop to learn more about the CRPD or about disability rights before you start writing.
Email us and let us know you’ll be participating. Then send your submissions by March 27, 2008 to RatifyNow@gmail.com. Please include the phrase BLOG SWARM at the start of your subject line.
Then, of course, come back to RatifyNow.org to read what other participants say about the CRPD—and encourage your readers to do the same! The Swarm officially opens March 30, 2008 in New Zealand time, meaning it will still be March 29 in most other parts of the world.
Topics: CRPD Blog Swarm! |
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March 17th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
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March 18th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
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March 19th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
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