Brent Elder, alumnus of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, has co-founded the Tangata Group, a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to the proposition that disability rights are human rights. The formation of the new organization was announced December 13 on the tenth anniversary of the groundbreaking United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a treaty ratified by more than 165 nations.
Tangata Group envisions a world where people with disabilities live self-directed and dignified lives that are free of oppression, exploitation and discrimination. The organization provides consultant services on domestic and international issues related to disability and human rights including not only the CRPD but also the Americans with Disabilities Act, and provides technical assistance to nations around the world in enhancing compliance with the treaty. The name Tangata derives from the Maori language, and may roughly be translated as “the essence of being human.”
Brent Elder is a professor of inclusive education at Rowan University. He has a doctorate from Syracuse University’s School of Education and has extensive international experience in inclusive education. Elder attended UC Santa Barbara as an undergraduate, earning degrees in psychology and art history in 2002. He then graduated from the Teacher Education Program at the Gevirtz School in 2004 with an emphasis in special education (a Preliminary Level I Education Specialist: Moderate/Severe Credential), and then received the Level II Education Specialist Credential: Moderate/Severe Disabilities from CSU Northridge.
Elder’s partners in the creation of the Tagata Group are Professor Janet Lord, a renowned international human rights attorney and a key drafter of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Michael A. Schwartz, the only culturally Deaf law professor in the United States and a professor at Syracuse University’s College of Law.