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Emergent Disability voices on Social Media during COVID -19 times

MEHROTRA, Nilika
2021

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Persons with disabilities are invisible and almost silent in the Indian media. This paper examines the emergence of articulate expressions of persons with disabilities (pwd) in the social media over the months March to June 2020 during COVID Lockdown. While technology has been seen as a great leveller for persons with disabilities, the digital divide, however, remains very real for masses of disabled persons, whereby it is largely the educated middle class who have access to internet facilities and presence on social media. This paper draws from observation and analysis of posts on Facebook by different categories of persons with disabilities. There appear to be a number of discourses emerging and imageries running almost parallel. Accessibility and support appear to be very important issues especially in terms of access to domestic workers, regular medical checkups, and procuring daily provisions as well as access to online teaching. On the other hand, little concern is being paid to the huge humanitarian crisis of returnee workers from cities to villages. Interestingly, disabled persons appeared more connected, participating in discussions and Webinars and voicing out their experiences with greater clarity and also analysing the COVID situation through Disability Studies (DS) perspectives.

Decolonizing schools: Women organizing, disability advocacy, and land in Sāmoa

ANESI, Julianne
2019

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In the 1970s and 1980s, Sāmoan women organizers established Aoga Fiamalamalama and Loto Taumafai, two educational institutions, in the independent state of Sāmoa. This article examines these schools’ support of students labelled as ma’i (sick), specifically those with intellectual and physical disabilities. Through oral histories and archival research, I show the vital role performed by the women organizers in changing the educational system by drawing attention to the exclusion of disabled students. I focus on the collective labor of Sāmoan women and their influence in decolonizing schools. In this regard, the women organizers used Sāmoan concepts of fa’a Sāmoa (culture), fanua (land), and tautua (service) as ways to redefine the commitment of the education system. This is a story about daring to reimagine indigenous disabled bodies and their futures through knowledge systems, theory, and literature.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2019, Vol. 6 No. 1

SDGs, Inclusive Health and the path to Universal Health Coverage

HASHEMI, Goli
KUPER, Hannah
WICKENDEN, Mary
2017

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of goals designed to improve the social, economic and well-being of all, while maintaining global and environmental sustainability. Health is one of the 17 goals, and focuses not only on addressing morbidity and mortality, but also on improving access to healthcare services for all through Universal Health Coverage (UHC). While disability is not specifically mentioned in this goal, a focus on people with disabilities is important given the inclusive nature of the SDGs and the fact that people with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the world. This paper aims to critically consider what the health goal could mean for people with disabilities and advocates for inclusive health. It discusses the complex relationship between disability and health, and why people with disabilities are more vulnerable to poor health are discussed, and then considers factors that impact access to quality healthcare for people with disabilities and how these impact on the achievement of the targets in SDG Health Goal and the main principles of UHC. The paper argues that developing an inclusive approach to healthcare will not only improve achieving good health for all, but is also important since experiencing poor health may reduce quality of life and participation (e.g. in education, employment or community activities). Poor quality of life and participation can exacerbate disability, poverty and exclusion in addition to increasing suffering, morbidity and early mortality. The paper concludes that an inclusive UHC will not only fulfil the fundamental rights of people with disabilities to health and rehabilitation, as emphasized within the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but also contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2017, Vol. 4 No. 1

The capacity of community-based participatory research in relation to disability and the SDGs

GREENWOOD, Margo
2017

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The 2030 Agenda pledges to foster shared responsibility, recognizes all as crucial enablers of sustainable development, and calls for the mobilization of all available resources. It also commits to multi-stakeholder partnerships and pledges to be open, inclusive, participatory and transparent in its follow-up and review. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) equitably involves community members, organizational representatives and researchers, enabling them to share power and resources through drawing on the unique strengths that each partner brings. It aims to integrate any increased knowledge and understanding into action, policy and social change to improve the health and quality of life of community members. CBPR involves recruiting community or peer researchers, involving them in planning and offering them training to undertake interviews and observations in their context. They are also part of the analysis and dissemination process, and continue to work with local partners on advocacy plans and events after projects and research have finished. People with disabilities are actively part of the research process throughout. Drawing on relevant literature and current CBPR disability research in East and West Africa, this paper puts forward CBPR as a methodology that can enable community members to identify key barriers to achieving the SDGs, and inform how policy and programmes can be altered to best meet the needs of people with disabilities. It demonstrates CBPR in practice and discusses the successes and complexities of implementing this approach in relation to the SDGs. The paper also highlights findings such as the high level of support needed for community research teams as they collect data and formally disseminate it, the honest raw data from peer to peer interaction, a deep level of local ownership at advocacy level, emerging issues surrounding meaningfully involving community researchers in analysis, and power differentials. A key conclusion is that to join partners with diverse expertise requires much planning, diplomacy, and critical, reflexive thought, while emphasising the necessity of generating local ownership of findings and the translation of knowledge into a catalyst for disability-related policy change.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2017, Vol. 4 No. 1

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