Max Zidel

Having grown up with a sister with severe intellectual disabilities, I am sensitive to the many challenges that individuals with mental disability face in securing their rights to autonomy, equal treatment and dignity. As an aspiring lawyer, I was particularly drawn to the role that MDAC plays in this struggle, and its belief that legal reform and strategic litigation can have significant impacts on the promotion of human rights for these individuals. In the two months that I have been here, I have helped prepare a litigation strategy for a collective complaint against the use of caged beds, made suggestions on the management of litigation risks, provided weekly monitoring updates to our legal team and conducted research on access to justice. In the two weeks left of my internship, I hope to discover even more about international disability law and the various challenges that the members of our beneficiary community face on an everyday basis. It has been a pleasure working with the MDAC team, and I look forward to helping them further with all the amazing work that they do.

Max Zidel