Ambassador Noah Mamet met with disabilities advocates Laura Gonzalez Arroyo and Douglas Jarvis, who will travel to the United States to participate in the U.S. Department of State sponsored Professional Fellows Exchange Program on Disability Rights. This special program was developed by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in conjunction with the Office of the Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. The program addresses three main themes: increasing public awareness and understanding of disability; disability advocacy, specifically cooperation between civil society and governments; and implementation, enforcement and accountability.
Laura Gonzalez Arroyo is the founder of “Amputees without Borders”, an organization which provides advice and assistance for people and their families who have suffered an amputation or congenital malformation. Douglas Jarvis is an Advisor for the National Advisory Commission for the Integration of People with Disabilities (CONADIS), as well as a board member for the NGO Asociacion de Lucha contra la Paralisis Infantile or ALPI (Association to Combat Infantile Paralysis), dedicated to the rehabilitation, medical treatment and education of people with disabilities.
This special program highlights the 25th Anniversary of the American Disability Act (ADA), the United States’ first comprehensive “equal opportunity” law that prohibits discrimination and guarantees that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else to participate in life in the United States. The ADA prohibits discrimination in employment, public services, public accommodations, and telecommunications.
