VIDAS NEGRAS COM DEFICIENCIA IMPORTAM (BLACK DISABLED LIVES MATTER),SESSION 3- LEGAL AND STRUCTURAL APPROACHES TO MORE INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES _LUCIANA Thank you, President. My name is Luciana Viegas, I am a black woman with a disability and I represent the Black Disabled Lives Matter movement in Brazil. We are concerned about the situation of minorities with disabilities and the deaf linguistic minority. There are one billion people with disabilities around the world, and 80% of them can be found in the Global South. There are people with disabilities in all minority groups, however, the UN mechanisms have failed to sufficiently address their intersectionalities. In Brazil, the black disabled population suffers the effects of aggravated discrimination, and yet ableism is still not recognised as a form of systemic oppression. This is illustrated by the case of Sônia, a deaf black woman who was found in the south of Brazil in June 2023, after having spent 30 years in conditions comparable to slavery, without having the opportunity to learn sign language. Despite the evidence of serious violations of her human rights, Sônia was returned to the place where she had been enslaved. The Brazilian justice system failed to deliver justice, partly because it did not recognise that Sonia did not have the linguistic tools to communicate her wishes. For the United Nations: 1. Facilitate the participation of minorities with disabilities in human rights spaces, mitigating additional barriers resulting from socio-economic conditions, capacity and the impacts of colonisation. To the Brazilian State: Update the official documents that address the policies for persons with disabilities to include the concept of “ABLEISM” as part of the systems of oppression. Correct the systematic failure of the Brazilian Judiciary regarding the practice of intersectional discrimination by failing to resolve Sonia's case. Guarantee the rights of deaf linguistic minorities and minorities with disabilities. Thank you for your attention.