Documenting Voices of the Disabled and Disenfranchised September 20, 2011

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2011/09/08/Ensuring_the_Right_to_Vote_for_People_with_Disabilities

Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, shares stories from handicapped and disabled persons that have been discriminated against in a civil context. "By documenting these stories and actually raising awareness about the disenfranchisement of people with disabilities ... we'll be able to push the government in order to revise the laws and revise the practices," says Barriga.

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Realizing Universal Suffrage: An Interactive Discussion on Challenges to Ensuring the Right to Vote for People with Disabilities

Shantha Rau Barriga is the Disability Rights Researcher and Advocate at Human Rights Watch. She is responsible for monitoring developments in the field of disability rights, investigating and reporting on discrimination and human rights violations against persons with disabilities worldwide, and carrying out global advocacy initiatives. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Shantha participated in the negotiations toward the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has worked on a range of issues in the disability field including legal capacity, accessibility, women and children with disabilities, sexual and gender-based violence, rehabilitation and access to justice.

Shantha received degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the University of Michigan, and she was a Fulbright Scholar to Austria. She speaks German and Kannada, an Indian dialect.