11 February 2010, Budapest: The second edition of MDAC's newsletter is now available, read it here!

Our newsletters aim to keep you informed of our activities, advances, and the challenges faced in advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities in our countries and internationally. In an effort to improve and update our website, we would like to alert you to several new features. We have added accessibility options to the website to enable our readers to better access our pages or to listen to spoken version of news and stories. Just click on the MDAC podcasts box on the right side under the menu. Visitors may also give direct feedback and write a comment under each news posts. The new Archives button stocks past editions of MDAC's Newsletter as well as previously issued MDAC Information Bulletins. And check out our Executive Director's Blog!

10 February 2010, Budapest: Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights raises serious concerns about the rights of children with disabilities in Bulgaria to live in the community and their right to education.

Yesterday, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, published a report on his visit to Bulgaria made on 3-5 November 2009. High on his agenda was the situation of institutionalised children with intellectual disabilities, including their right to inclusive education, and the need to close down institutions and ensure that care is available in family environments within the community. The Commissioner met with several Bulgarian authorities and civil society stakeholders, including the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC), the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), and other human rights organisations, as well as a number of parents of children with intellectual disabilities. Whilst in Sofia, he also opened MDAC & BHC’s roundtable event on inclusive education.

3 December 2009, Budapest, Hungary. MDAC congratulates its Senior Advocacy Officer, Gabor Gombos, who was today awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in recognition of his work in the field of human rights of persons with disabilities.

A former theoretical physicist and survivor of psychiatry, Gabor has become a world-renowned advocate for the rights of persons with psycho-social (mental health) disabilities. At MDAC, Gabor takes part in international and domestic level advocacy, and has been one of the key actors in developing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and ensuring its implementation in Hungary.

20 November 2009. On today's 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) urges governments not to cut back on human rights-compliant services for children with disabilities.

Some governments are using the global economic crisis as a justification to decrease their social services and education budgets. As children with disabilities are often among the most vulnerable people in every country, MDAC encourages governments to allocate the maximum available resources to them. The concept of progressively realising economic, social and cultural rights means that governments cannot backslide, but rather that there must be measurable progress year on year.