The Disability Rights in Society Program brings together researchers, policy-makers, and advocates to advance disability rights through research, education, and capacity-building. The Program builds on the increasing recognition in the worlds of policy-making and academia of the urgent need to address disability rights on both national and international levels; it takes as a major point of reference the 2007 adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the on-going reforms in disability laws around the world. The program adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing together researchers and practitioners who work in disability-related projects at Columbia, as well as at national and international research institutions, intergovernmental organizations, and local disability rights organizations (DPOs).