Professor gives presentation addressing disability inclusion to United Nations

Oct. 28, 2020

KALAMAZOO, Mich.––Dr. June Gothberg, assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology, recently gave a virtual presentation to 15 United Nations entities and members of the United Nations Evaluation Group on Gender Equality, Disability and Human Rights to share her work in response to the new United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy implemented in 2019.

In their adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the States Members of the United Nations pledged to leave no one behind, including persons with disabilities. To ensure this, United Nations entities must submit progress reports under the Strategy’s entity accountability framework and the UN country team accountability scorecard on disability inclusion. Drs. Gothberg and Sulewski’s (2013) Universal Design for Evaluation Checklist was highlighted as a valuable resource to the 90 participants.

Dr. Gothberg shared her experience on disability inclusion in evaluations, the integration of disability inclusion in evaluation under the more general umbrella of social inclusion, and assessing the relevance and effectiveness of disability inclusion in evaluations by types of interventions.  She emphasized that “evaluators by their very nature are situated in a position of power with opportunities to either exercise oppressive practices or practices of equity and inclusion.”

Dr. Gothberg was invited by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to give the presentation, held via Zoom (proudly showcasing a WMU background), on October 22, 2020.