Carmen Yau is currently a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Greenwich and was recently nominated for the UN Women USA Rise and Raise Others Award in the Reducing Inequality Category.
Despite Carmen having a debilitating disease named Spinal Muscular Atrophy, she managed to settle in London by having some assistance from her Indonesian helper in July 2021. Before Carmen moved to London, she was a multi-award-winning advocate in Asia. She won Spirit of Hong Kong in 2013. In 2020, She was the third-place winner in Tatler’s Hot List of “Sixteen Women Fighting for Fairness in Asia”. In 2021, Carmen stepped down from numerous prestigious positions including a Committee Member of The Equal Opportunity Commission, a host of a radio program every Sunday as well as the leader of The Association of Women with Disabilities Hong Kong.
The nomination stated that it was a token of recognition of her support and inspiration for women and girls all over the world. Her unfailing passion, genuine personality and charismatic leadership made her an exemplar of empowerment. She demonstrated extraordinary resilience and high self-reflexivity to transform her lived experiences into powerful narratives to build the solidarity of women and promote radical change for all. Despite that she decided to step out of her comfort zone in Hong Kong, her passion and advocacy work on human rights and equality continues as follows:
Sexuality advocacy for the disabled
Carmen is a well-known sex advocate and an LGBT+ Ally. She is a speaker at TEDx TinHauWomen 2018 to share her erotic literature featuring the sexuality of disabled people. Her erotica was repeatedly adapted to be movies and different forms of performances. As a certified sexuality educator, she promotes the sexual citizenship of persons with diversity. Her works and media interviews cover body positivism, disablism and equality of sexual healthcare and sex education. She actively participates in sexuality and LGBT+ movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan. She works closely with Taiwan’s Hand Angels, the first organization to promote body positivism and sex volunteer service for people with disability. She also published an academic journal addressing the structural oppression against people with disabilities. At University of Greenwich, Carmen is currently an Executive Officer of LGBT Staff community focusing on intersectionality and LGBT+ Allyship. She also joined the research team to explore strategies to develop a safer and inclusive campus as a workplace.
Equality and human rights of disabled women
Carmen devotes her passion and time to addressing the intersectionality of disabled women. After surviving 14 years of domestic abuse by her ex-partner, she started to promote and raise public awareness of interpersonal violence against disabled women by publishing research and presenting at international conferences. Carmen also conducted impactful research on the health inequality of disabled women, promoting independent living, welfare, and support for caregivers with disabilities. Her ambition is to advocate disability and gender mainstreaming. Over the years she developed a strong partnership with shareholders from disability and women communities at the local and regional levels.
Political rights and legal protection of the disabled
In August 2022, Carmen was the only disability advocate to represent Hong Kong China at the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in Geneva. She demonstrated great passion and critical thinking in conceptualising inequality issues with solid literature support and research-based evidence. She presented one report on rights and equality issues about disabled women in the Chinese community. She also presented a confidential report on the political rights and health inequality of disabled people and those who acquired disabilities as the consequences of social unrest. She also raised the urgency of strategic planning to address PTSD and other implications after social unrest. Carmen also helped to address issues related to forced marriage among disabled women and disabled human rights defenders in prison as well as contributing her lived experience related to forced migration. During her lobbying work in Geneva, she has proven to the UNCRPD committee and collaborators that her rocky journey from Hong Kong to London made her a strong global changemaker.
