Turning my own lived experience into advocacy is what motivated me to participate in the UN’s global annual disability rights conference this June.
And indeed, joining the Conference of State Parties (COSP) to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was an excellent opportunity to share two decades of experience and to learn from other disability rights advocates from around the world.
I learned from personal experience. In the early 2000s, as a university student in Uganda, I experienced psychological distress and sought support. Confined to the national psychiatric hospital, I was left alone in a room over long periods of time – with no help, little food, and no support. Following this traumatic experience, I decided that it was worth dedicating my life to human rights activism so that other people wouldn’t have the same experience. I also initiated an ongoing challenge to these abusive practices in court.
I became an advocate and started an organization called the Mental Health Recovery Initiative in Uganda, which provides community support to people with psychosocial disabilities.
Through our work and community, we offer alternatives to institutional responses that can violate a person’s autonomy and bodily integrity. We work with families and provide information so that they can respond more helpfully. In addition to providing mental health peer support, we also look at other issues such as finding housing or jobs.
Last year, I received Human Rights Watch’s Marca Bristo Fellowship to expand my understanding on disability rights research and advocacy. This fellowship brought me to the United States, where, along with attending COSP, I also visited Access Living in Chicago, founded by disability rights activist Marca Bristo. There, people put a holistic support system into practice.
I shared these experiences with member state representatives during the UN conference, urging them to heed the voices of people with lived experience. We come from countries around the world and know that different forms of mental health support are possible – and we shall not stop pushing for change. People with psychosocial disabilities are part of the rich diversity of human beings. They should not be locked away but listened to and treated with equal respect.
Benon Kabale, a Ugandan disability rights advocate, is the 2024/2025 recipient of the Human Rights Watch Marca Bristo Fellowship for Courageous Leadership in Disability Rights.
 to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was an excellent opportunity to share two decades of experience and to learn from other disability rights advocates from around the world.){kind=link}