László Gábor LOVÁSZY, Ph.D.

 

Hungarian re-nominated candidate to

 the Committee on UNCRPD (2017-2021)

 

 

I would be honoured to contribute to continuing my work (2012-2016) at the Committee of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In recent years, not only have I worked with the Hungarian and international NGOs on the issues the CRPD Committee has raised but I have also had opportunities to spread the experience and knowledge I have acquired during my work together with the other excellent and honourable members of the Committee.

 

Since 2013 (in Pécs) and 2015 (in Budapest) I have been invited to deliver lessons and presentations at notable universities in Hungary. I am proud that just since 2012 I have been given the opportunity to give keynote speeches at more than 15 international conferences.  In addition to that, my exclusively disability related publications have reached a total of 40. The latest one was published in February 2016 in EuroScientist and dealt with the intertwined topic of innovation and (re)habilitation.

 

As the person with an 80% hearing disability (medically considered to be almost deaf) representing alone the community with hearing loss alone in the Committee, I am fully aware of the hardship people with disabilities face on a daily basis. In the past, and I believe it is still the case, not enough attention has been paid to people with communication disabilities. This issue will be more important owing to the accelerated technological innovation in the field of communication. Even at the European institutions in the heart of Europe captioning is not a common and automatic practice. This is something, I still feel, that should be developed, especially given that, by the report of the WHO, the number of hard of hearing people is likely to grow rapidly due to the ageing of the world population.

 

As a trained lawyer, expert and European Parliament advisor with a Ph.D covering all aspects of disability legislation, I have learnt about the needs and rights of all persons with disabilities with special regards to national and international legislation and policy-making. In this context, I have always applied and implemented accordingly the international disability movement’s notion of "nothing about us without us". I believe that the main task of the CRPD is to further the achievement and development of all aspects of equal opportunities and anti-discrimination by respecting State Parties’ voluntary but biding commitments and obligations.

 

I am ready to accept this challenge again for

a better, more sustainable and inclusive world.