The last and the least? When we met at the National Taiwan University in Taipei from 4 to 7 October, we vigorously discussed “participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport”, the topic of the article 30 of the CRPD. This aspect is one of the most neglected areas of life of persons with disabilities in the region and around the world.
East Asia Disability Studies Forum (EADSF) is a regional forum meeting annually, starting in 2010. Disability studies researchers and activists in East Asia share views on different issues of common concern.
This year, EADSF for the first time met in Taiwan, hosted by Taiwan Society for Disability Studies, founded recently in June 2018, with Prof. Chang Heng-hao of the National Taipei University as the inaugural president, and co-hosted by the League for Persons with Disabilities, R.O.C. (Taiwan).
Keynote speakers outside of the region included Dr. Angharad Beckett, Deputy Director of the Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds, and Prof. Gerard Quinn, Professor Emeritus of National University of Ireland (Galway). In addition to Chinese, Japanese and Korean, English was provided as a conference language, that enabled participation from Cambodia and New Zealand.
East Asia Disability Studies Forum meets again at Wuhan University, China in October 2019 focusing on the issues of social inclusion and inclusive society.