| Mental Disability Advocacy Center | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | MDAC |
| Formation | 2002 |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Headquarters | Budapest, Hungary |
| Region served | Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia |
| Executive Director | Oliver Lewis (2006-present) |
| Website | www.mdac.info |
The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is a non-governmental organisation founded in Hungary in 2002. It is headquartered in Budapest.
Founded by the Open Society Foundations (OSF), MDAC has participatory status with the Council of Europe, and was granted a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
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The MDAC web site states that their mission is to: "[advance] the human rights of children and adults with actual or perceived intellectual or psycho-social (mental health) disabilities. Focusing on Europe and central Asia, we use a combination of law and advocacy to promote equality and social integration." MDAC also states that its "...vision is for a world that values emotional, mental and learning differences, and where people respect each other’s autonomy and dignity." [1]
MDAC has worked at the international level to ensure that international law and policy is as favourable as possible for people with disabilities. They were involved in the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and advocated for its early ratification and implementation. They lobby extensively at the European policy level, are active at the Council of Europe, and regularly send information to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture before their monitoring visits.
In addition, the organization also:
MDAC was registered as a foundation by the Budapest Capital Court in November 2002. The Open Society Institute (OSI) is the founder and continues to be one of MDAC's donors. OSI was at that time offering grants to grassroots disability organizations, and in so doing identified a need for a regional human rights organization to specifically challenge human rights abuses against people with disabilities.
In 2004 MDAC gained participatory status with the Council of Europe.