Empowered LCD South Asia's News Letter, July - September 2008, Volume 4, No. 2
“Earlier, to cast my vote, people would carry me into the polling station and I would then request them to stamp the ballot paper on my behalf. Today, however, for the first time in many years, I could enter the polling station and cast a vote on my own”, says Amarasena Jayaweera, 63, a person affected with paralysis 13 years ago.
People with disabilities in developing countries often face acute barriers than those in developed ones. Within developing countries, people living in rural and remote areas are the ones who are the most affected. One such area is that of Skardu district, in Baltistan division of Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) of Pakistan.
My name is Lata Salvi. I'm 22 years old. I have 3 sisters, two of whom are working, while the youngest is still in school. We live in a small house in one of the poorest areas of Mumbai. I have never been to school as I'm usually sick. (cerebral palsy, mental retardation and cancer). I stay at home the whole day and used to get bored.
The group leader, Prabhudas, says “Earlier no one cared for us, but today they respect us in the community. We have been successful in lobbying with government officials to issue job cards for people with disabilities under the government's 100 days work scheme. As a result, six of our members are currently employed under this scheme. In the future, we plan to promote another self help group of persons with disabilities in our village.”
Badri is now a role model for other people with disabilities. He says “I am going to guide youth with disabilities to be financially independent so they can live a decent life.”
People with disabilities have been totally neglected by the government in the relief operations. Some international development organisations have reached out to persons with disabilities as part of their relief operations, but, none of them were exclusively catering to this vulnerable group.
Many persons with disabilities were searching for their family members lost in the commotion following the floods. On a day-to-day basis, they were struggling to access food, water and health services. The inaccessible toilets in the relief camps added to their woes. Some of them slept in the open air in damp conditions without blankets.
To demonstrate interventions taken up by LCD-South Asia Office and the impact of our work we are regularly tracking the case story of “Esar Uddin and his family”. This family has been recently identified as clients by a SARO supported programme.
LCD-SARO has partnered with Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), a disability organisation in Bangladesh, to implement a programme on Inclusive Education and Employment Rights of Persons with Disabilities. CDD has chosen local partners to support them in implementation of this programme; one among them is Gono Unnayan Sangstha (GUK), a community development organisation working in remote, backward and disaster prone areas of Gaibandha district.
All these tools and use of appropriate processes of PRA makes PRA a fun and an involving method of approaching a community in your programme. It is an effective tool to make your programme effective and useful to all stakeholders.