News – 2008

Comments from some individuals who received their CDMP and CRTWC designations in Canada during 2005.

NIDMAR has signed a licensing agreement with Prevent, the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, to deliver the curriculum and offer the professional designations of Certified Return to Work Coordinator (CRTWC) and Certified Disability Management Professional (CDMP) in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France.  To view the bulletin, please click on the following link:

NIDMAR HAS CREATED A SERIES OF SPECIAL AND ADVANCED MODULES ON INSURANCE designed to prepare disability management practitioners to contribute to the organizational discussion on insurance provisions, administration and responding to impairment as well as to communicate effectively with insurance providers. Further details can be found on the website at: Full story

Unum, the UK's largest group income protection insurer, has agreed to host in London, England the 2012 International Forum on Disability Management (IFDM) - the tenth anniversary of the conference.  Founded by NIDMAR, the IFDM is now under the auspices of the International Disability Management Standards Council (IDMSC), an international multi-stakeholder agency aimed at reducing the human, social and economic costs of disability in the workplace. 

Manitoba's Parkland Regional Health Authority is the first regional health authority in Canada - in fact, the first regional health authority in the world - to receive the International Disability Management Standards Council Certification. 

March 30, 2007 marked the opening for signature of the UN Convention.

Louise Arbour, High Commissioner for Human Rights, along with the Vice President of Ecuador, the Minister of Disability Issues of New Zealand, Under-Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico, and Mr. Yannis Vardakastanis from the International Disability Caucus briefed correspondents on the opening for signature of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Details of the opening and a list of the countries signing on can be found at the following website:  UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Wolfgang Zimmermann has joined the Minister's Council on Employment for Persons with Disabilities for British Columbia, established in 2003 to advise the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance on solutions and strategies for increasing the employment, employability and independence of persons with disabilities.

The ILO announced in a press release dated December 14, 2006 the unanimous adoption by the United Nations of a new Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.  This new Convention would benefit millions of people whose inability to find jobs due to social exclusion costs the global economy an estimated $1.9 trillion US per year. 

According to ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, "The Convention marks a ground-breaking change in the way disability issues are regarded in international law."  Disabled workers will have the possibility of exercising their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others and discrimination on the basis of disability will be prohibited in all forms of employment.  Where workers become disabled while in employment, their jobs will be protected through job retention measures and provisions will be made for vocational and professional rehabilitation and return to work.

The UN Convention will be open for signature and ratification on March 30, 2007.  Further details can be found on the ILO website.