María Soledad Cisternas Reyes (born November 4, 1959) is a Chilean

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and disability rights activist. Cisternas, who became

blind Blind may refer to: * The state of blindness, being unable to see * A window blind, a covering for a window Blind may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Blind'' (2007 film), a Dutch drama by Tamar van den Dop * ''Blind' ...

while she was in college has worked to increase access for people with disabilities in Chile and at the United Nations (UN). She was on the committee that drafted the

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the convention are required to promote, ...

and served as the chairperson on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 2017, Cisternas was appointed the Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility for the UN.

Biography

Cisternas was born on November 4, 1959, in Santiago. Cisternas was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of fourteen. She attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile where she studied Legal Sciences and earned a master's degree in Political Science. While she was in college, her vision continued to worsen, but she hid her condition from teachers and classmates. Becoming

was difficult for Cisternas to accept, but eventually she started working to secure the rights of people with disabilities. Cisternas went on to become a

and disability rights activist. She created the Legal Disability Program at the

Diego Portales University Diego Portales University ( es, Universidad Diego Portales, UDP) is one of the first private universities founded in Chile and is named after the Chilean statesman Diego Portales. UDP has campuses in the Barrio Universitario de SantiagoA li ...

in 2000 and chaired the department until 2008. In 2001, she was part of a team that fought a lawsuit on behalf of the Deaf community to demand the inclusion of sign language and

closed captions Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio por ...

on television in Chile. Cisternas also created a group called ''Corporación Pro Ayuda al Débil Visual'' (COPRADEV) and served as president. From 2006 to 2008, Cisternas worked on the ad hoc committee that created the

. In 2014, she was awarded the National Prize of Human Rights (') from the (INDH) recognizing her for her work on the intersection of the rights of people with disabilities and the rights of women, children, senior citizens and indigenous people. Cisternas served as the chairperson on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Cisternas was appointed the Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility by the United Nations Secretary-General,

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

in 2017.

References

External links

Message from Ms. María Soledad Cisternas Reyes Special Envoy of the SG on Disability & Accessibility
(2019 video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cisternas, Maria Soledad 1959 births People from Santiago Blind lawyers Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Academic staff of Diego Portales University United Nations officials Chilean women activists Chilean women lawyers Living people Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations