Bizchut

The Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities

3 Kanfei Nesharim st.
9546406 Jerusalem
Israel

Contact person: Suzanne Cannon

+972-2-6521308
+972-2-6221283
mail@bizchut.org.il
suzanne@bizchut.org.il
http://www.bizchut.org.il/en

Topics

• Social policy/disabled persons
• Human rights

About us

Bizchut, The Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities was set up in 1992 and is a non-profit organization committed to advancing the rights of people with physical, developmental and emotional disabilities and enabling their full integration into mainstream society and participation in all areas of life. The name Bizchut (literally:'by right') reflects the belief that all people are entitled to the same basic rights and that the needs of people with disabilities must be met on the basis of entitlement, not as a function of charity or pity.

Bizchut focuses on:
• The right to housing in the community
• The right to equality in the work-place
• The right to personal autonomy
• The right to investigative and legal procedures adapted to suit people with disabilities
• The right to equal access to public buildings and services, the media, information and public transport
• The right to education adapted to the special needs of the student with disabilities
• The right to integration into the mainstream education system

In pursuit of its goals, Bizchut combines legal work with community outreach and educational initiatives.

Our activities includes:
• Drafting and promoting of equal rights legislation
• Advocacy in court for individuals and on policy issues
• Conducting empowerment seminars for people with disabilities and their families
• Presenting lectures to professionals who work with people with disabilities, members of disability organizations and the general public
• Operation of hotlines that provide information, assistance and representation to thousands for people with disabilities every year: information on rights and services, providing direction to individuals to whom to turn to concerning a specific issue and representing clients – from a simple phone call to court action

Thanks to Bizchut:
• The Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Law was enacted by the Knesset, enshrining the basic rights of people with disabilities and serving as the basis for continued legislation and major court precedents.
• Thousands of children with special needs receive the necessary accommodations for them to study in regular schools.
• Victims of sexual violence, with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, have been properly questioned by the police and have given admissible evidence in court, resulting in their assaulters being convicted of the crimes they committed.
• Crucial rights were included in the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

Suzanne Cannon is the Director of Development of Bizchut.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.