Dignity Across Every Age

A treaty negotiated by 193 countries, approved on our guest’s birthday, and powerful enough to flip the global story of disability from “medical problem” to “human rights obligation” is not supposed to have a personal plot twist, but this one does. Ambassador Luis Gallegos joins us to unpack the CRPD’s legacy, the diplomacy behind it, and the lesson that still drives everything: the people most affected must lead the room. 

We also dig into the political reality. Luis explains the early US opposition, the unexpected influence of a conversation with Barbara Bush, and what it meant to witness President Obama sign the Convention. From there, we pivot to what may be the fastest-moving lever of inclusion: accessible technology. We talk G3ICT, why Article 9 made ICT accessibility unavoidable, and how AI, robotics, and inclusive design could expand independence and participation if we build them responsibly. 

Then the conversation widens to the next global rights frontier: aging. Luis describes how the pandemic exposed what “living with dignity” really means, especially for people who died without it, and why ageism is not a side issue when the world is getting older. We explore the demographic shift, the urgency for the global south, and the push for a UN convention on the human rights of older persons, anchored in one clear principle: dignity across the lifespan, including the possibility of dying with dignity. 

Subscribe for more conversations on accessibility, disability rights, inclusive technology, and aging, and if this sparked something for you, share it and leave a review. What would dignity-first policy look like where you live?

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