On 23 September 2019, the Consultative Council ofPromotion,ProtectionandMonitoring of Implementationof the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities held its 19^th meeting, which was led by Deputy Public Defender Ekaterine Skhiladze.

The Deputy Public Defender introduced new members of the Consultative Council - heads of regional divisions of the Office. According to her, the two-year term of office of some of the members expires at the end of November and a competition will be announced to select new visiting members of the Council. Irine Oboladze, Head of the Department of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, spoke about the implemented and planned activities of the monitoring mechanism.

The Council members discussed issues related to the rights situation of persons with disabilities, including: the problem of identifying students’ learning difficulties in public schools, barriers relating to the appointment of an individual assistant, problems in the process of developing a special teacher development scheme, challenges of inclusive education at the higher education level. Discussions also focused on the importance of defining the legal definition of the status of organizations representing persons with disabilities and determining the legal mechanism for granting the status, needs of the blind, challenges related to the right to habilitation and rehabilitation of peoplesuffering fromhearing loss, piloting of a social model of assessment, etc.

The next meeting of the Consultative Council will be held within 3 months.