CPwD Mission

To encourage Commonwealth Parliaments to enable effective and full participation of persons with disabilities at all levels

CPwD Regional Champions

In 2020, the network established its governing committee of nine regional champions. The CPwD Regional Champions have been chosen to represent each of the CPA’s nine Regions and will promote the rights of Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities in their Region and represent disability interests within the CPA.

The current list of Regional Champions are as follows:

• (CPA) Africa Region: Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP (Uganda)
• Asia Region: Ms Zill-E-Huma, MNA (Pakistan)
• Australia Region: Hon. Liesl Tesch, MP (New South Wales)
• British Islands and Mediterranean Region: Hon. Paul Maynard, MP (United Kingdom)
• Canada Region: Dan Coulter MLA (British Columbia)
• Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic Region: Senator Hon. Paul Richards (Trinidad and Tobago)
• India Region: Smt. Supriya Sule MP, (India)
• Pacific Region: Hon. Viam Pillay, MP (Fiji)
• South East Asia Region: Senator Hon. Ras Adiba Radzi (Malaysia)

CPwD Chairperson

Hon. Laura Kanushu, Member of the Parliament of Uganda

Hon. Laura Kanushu, MP (Uganda) was elected as the CPwD Chairperson at the CPwD Regional Champions meeting held in the margins of the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Halifax, Canada in August 2022. In the same year, the CPwD Chairperson also became an Officer of the Association and a Members of the CPA Executive Committee.

Senator Paul Richards (Trinidad and Tobago) is the CPwD Vice-Chairperson and was also elected at the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.

CPwD Strategic Plan 2021 - 2024

The CPwD Strategic Plan 2021 - 2024 sets out the network's mission, outcomes, outputs and thematic priorities. 

The Strategic Plan, and a plain-text, accessible PDF version of the Plan, are available to download below. The CPA has also published a plain-text web version, designed for use with text-to-speech tools. To access this version, click here.  

If you have any issues accessing the Strategic Plan, or other CPwD publications, please contact us via the website or at hq.sec@cpahq.org. 

Capital Investment Fund

In August 2020, an investment fund was established to improve the physical accessibility of parliaments such as the procurement of assistive technology, or supporting persons with disabilities to seek higher office. 

To find out more about the fund, contact us.

Disability Inclusive Communications Guidelines

The CPwD Disability Inclusive Communications Guidelines comprise two toolkits providing guidance to Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures on how to enhance and sensitise their communications with persons with disabilities. The guidelines provide various examples of best practices that can be adopted by both Parliaments and Parliamentarians in order to continue to ensure that they sensitively address Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff with disabilities.

The Guidelines include toolkits on:

• Facilities of Inclusion
• Linguistic Principles 

Both documents are available to download below. If your Parliament has used these resources to improve its methods of communication with persons with disabilities, please let us know by emailing hq.sec@cpahq.org.