Transcript for Equal Opportunity for All

The video starts with soft, hopeful guitar music, mixed with some trumpet. Cut to a metal gate. Solomon Olakunle Okelola opens the gate and walks through. He is wearing a green button-down shirt and brown pants and has a headset around his neck. He is carrying a white cane. Okelola is a Nigerian man with closely cropped hair. He is DeafBlind.

“My name is Solomon Olakunle Okelola,” he says. He closes the gate behind him.

Cut to Okelola sitting in an interview. He is wearing a red turtleneck shirt and a hearing aid in one ear. The interview background is a white, shimmery curtain with diagonal stripes of brown and tan. “And I am the executive director Lionheart Ability Leaders International Foundation.”

Okelola locks the gate and, using his cane, walks toward the building. “Lionheart Ability Leaders International Foundation is a non-governmental organization of patriotic citizens who have the zeal to work together to make a difference in their society with special regard to individuals with disabilities – women and children.”

Okelola is standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Some people think DeafBlind cannot climb the staircase. Here we go!” he says. Okelola folds up his cane and starts walking up the stairs. When he gets to the top, he swings from a bar: “Here we are!”

Cut to inside the Lionheart offices. A man stands at a table, talking with staff. “We work to enlighten the general public and the government about the ability of individuals living with disability about the true nature and need of these individuals and how everybody can join hands together to provide for these needs with the aim of giving these individuals ample opportunity to lead meaningful and productive lives in their society,” says Okelola. More shots from inside the office. A man with dark sunglasses sits in a chair. He has a mask around his neck and is wearing a brown striped, short-sleeve polo shirt. He is talking with the man standing at the table. A woman with albinism looks at her phone. She has long, brownish-red hair and is wearing a pink shirt and sunglasses on her head. Another woman with large glasses and her hair piled into bun smiles at the camera. She is wearing a pink, frilly blouse.

Cut to the man with dark sunglasses sitting in the chair. Okelola says, “We work to equip people with the communication, interpersonal and emotional intelligence that will enable them to live peacefully one with another to bring out the best of themselves for self-actualization and for societal progress and transformation.”

Cut to Okelola swinging from the bar at the top of the stairs. He says, “And!” He drops his cane, and it clatters down the stairs. “I think we have to do that one again,” he says. Someone laughs off-camera.

A quick fade to black, and then these words come onscreen: Copyright @2021 Lionheart Ability Leaders International Foundation. All rights reserved.

Transcript for If There’s a Wheel, There’s a Way

Video starts with soft piano music with guitar. Scader Louis, a Malawian woman with short dark hair and a pink shirt and floral pants, is seated in a wheelchair at her desk. She wheels her chair toward the camera. “So my name is Scader Louis,” she says. “I’m the co-founder of Spinal Injuries Association of Malawi.”

Video cuts to a closer shot of Scader at her desk, looking at her computer. “I’m also the vice-chairperson of Federation of Disability Organizations (FEDOMA) in Malawi,” says Scader, as the video cuts to her in an interview. She is seated in front of a beige couch and wall, with patterned brown-and-white curtains behind her.

Video cuts to a group of men in wheelchairs gathered in a circle outside. “SIAM – Spinal Injuries Association of Malawi – is a grouping of people like myself who have spinal cord injury,” says Scader. Video cuts to a series of photos of SIAM members. “And it was started by a group of, I think, five people (I was the only lady) in 2011 after we noted that persons with spinal cord injuries, we are facing a lot of challenges.”

Scader continues: “When you look at someone in a wheelchair like myself, often people assume that my challenges are the same as someone maybe with polio.” Video cuts to a photo of SIAM members seated on a bench inside. “With spinal cord injury comes a number of secondary complications with the injuries,” says Scader. “Because this is an acquired disability, you may not have had a full understanding of your rights as a person, but you also need to be integrated back into the community and be able to participate and to make your own contributions.”

Video cuts to a woman in a wheelchair collecting money. People are dancing around her and throwing money into her bucket. “So in 2011, there wasn’t a lot of information around spinal cord injuries,” says Scader. Video cuts to a series of photos of SIAM members. “There wasn’t a network, and because as a group we noted that gap we thought of starting this grouping, and I’m happy to report that over the years it has really grown,” she says. “So we are working with the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.” Video cuts to an exterior shot of the hospital. “We were also partnering then at the district level with Malawi Against Physical Disabilities (MAP), and we are visiting rehabilitation centers,” Scader adds. Video cuts to an exterior of MAP with a banner across the front of the building that says, “MAP: Malawi Against Physical Disabilities.”

Video cuts to a photo of a Malawian man pushing a woman in a wheelchair over a threshold and into a brick building. “We are also visiting our peers in their homes,” says Scader. “We are in all the regions in Malawi. We are in all the districts.”

Video cuts to a wide shot of a group of Malawian men playing basketball outside. You can hear someone off-camera laughing. “The funding that we recently received from DRF – the Disability Rights Fund – we are training more people to become peer supporters even in their districts, “Scader continues.

Video shows a young Malawian woman in a wheelchair receiving a certificate at an event. She and the presenter turn to the camera and pose with the certificate. “There’s a lot that we need to do because government really is not placing issues of disability as a priority,” says Scader. Video cuts to SIAM members in wheelchairs playing basketball outside.

“Government is a duty-bearer, so it is supposed to take care of its citizens,” she says. “Persons with spinal cord injury but also people with disabilities they do pay taxes, and they’re supposed to benefit from the programs that government is implementing.”

Video cuts to Scader in the interview. “We shouldn’t leave anyone behind, so we have to be involved from the designing to the planning to the implementation to the monitoring and all that, and this doesn’t only go to government but it also goes to non-government organizations because they are also implementing a lot of programs which are not inclusive by design,” she says.

Video shows more SIAM members playing basketball. It ends on the young woman in the wheelchair who received a certificate maneuvering her wheelchair and facing the camera for a second before turning away.

A title card says, “Copyright @2021 SIAM. All rights reserved.”

Transcript for It Takes a Village

Video opens with the Basoga Tribe from Uganda performing a cultural dance. They are wearing black T-shirts and long, orange scarves tied around their waists. Video cuts to TRIUMPH’s Uganda’s red and blue logo. Melancholic synth music starts to play.

“I needed a platform where I can use my story, my lived experience to build hope in other families who experienced mental health issues like what I’ve gone through,” says Robinah Alambuya, TRIUMPH’s Uganda’s executive director, “and displaying that it is possible to have mental health issue, yet you continue with your life, making a meaningful contribution to society.” Robinah is wearing a pink and brown shirt with star designs. Video cuts to a younger Robinah leading a meeting with other TRIUMPH members. Then it transitions to a photo of Robinah wearing a bright blue shirt and white headscarf. She is holding a sign that says, “#Stop Sexual Abuse!”.

“Our first meetings were in 2008,” she says. Video cuts to a photo of two TRIUMPH members holding a sign that says, “Why not affirmative action also in elections.”

“It was a family initiative to begin with. We began calling people on a monthly basis to come home and just to be…We take some tea together,” says Robinah. Video shows a series of photos of TRIUMPH member gatherings. “We would call members who have experienced mental health issues and they would come around – those who chose to come – they would come around and we just share some tea together, and we talk about these issues and our experiences. Then we’ll share information. We’ll do encourage one another. It was like a peer-support group.”

Video cuts to Robinah standing outside and talking with government officials. In the next shot, a group of young Ugandan women stands in a circle outside. “We come, and we share freely and openly that this is part of life and these people are part of our community, which we need to include them and make sure that they participate and actively get involved.”

Series of photos of TRIUMPH members and Robinah. “And also seeing the fruit from our lives, for us have stood out, and we began mentoring the younger people, so the younger people we’ve mentored especially the families can witness because, like children who have fallen out of school, some have come back to school,” says Robinah. “Children who had lost hope that maybe they would never make it in life, they have gone even up to university with the support that they get from the peer support that we give them – the information, the hope-building.”

Video shows a series of photos of young TRIUMPH members dancing and posing for the camera. “The impact of TRIUMPH and our work as prior TRIUMPH can be seen or witnessed by families. We have one of the younger ladies who is well-known – Esther Suubi, who was connected to me by the mother because I shared a lived experience,” says Robinah. “One of her years was really distracted by what she was experiencing.”

Video shows photos of Esther at various family and TRIUMPH events and also speaking to the camera as a spokesperson for TRIUMPH. “When she was connected to me, of course, I just kept on using my story and caused the heart to see light for the in the future, and then the training because we mediated on that time Disability Rights Fund had us to build the self-esteem of these younger women, adults and younger women with psychosocial disabilities,” says Robinah. “We were able to give trainings on building self-esteem, hope-building, and strengthening the peer support among the younger people.”

Robinah continues: “I’m so privileged to see that now she’s really serving in TRIUMPH. Happily, she’s now a peer educator, supporting others, and she’s even leading our Disability Justice Project as a fellow.” Video cuts to a photo of Esther holding a camera and then to a screenshot of an article Esther wrote for the Disability Justice Project. The headline is, “Teen Pregnancy During Covid: Triumph Uganda advocates for better access to sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls with disabilities.”

“I’m very proud, and I also feel good that I’ve added value in my lifetime,” says Robinah. “I’m adding value to other people’s lives.”

A black title card with black letters on a yellow background says, “Copyright – @2021. Triumph Uganda. All rights reserved.”

Transcript for Finding the Light

Video starts with gentle guitar music and a photo of NOUSPR members standing in a circle outside. A Rwandan man wearing a mask appears to be talking with them. The people in the circle have bundles of supplies at their feet. The next photo is of NOUSPR members sitting in a room in white chairs, masked, and the third photo shows NOUSPR members sitting on the grass with more bundles of supplies in front of them.

The next shot is of a NOUSPR billboard. It says “NOUSPR-UBUMUNTO: National Organisation of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry in Rwanda” and includes contact information. It also shows the NOUSPR logo – a drawn face – and tagline: “seeking dignity.”

The video cuts to an interview with Mariza Munah, NOUSPR’s advocacy officer. She is sitting on a large, brownish beige couch and wearing a brown and orange dress. Her short, dark hair is pulled back in a scarf. “I believe that mental health issue in our country is one of the neglected disabilities,” she says. The video cuts to Mariza in the office. She is sitting behind a computer, with a NOUSPR poster behind her. “So I think direct advocacy can work here in our country,” she says. “If we really meet those people who can really bring change like the politicians, the authorities, the police, the Ministry of Health, all those organizations that can really bring change.”

The video cuts to Mariza walking down a dusty street. “With that, people with mental health issues can get help,” she says. The video cuts back to Mariza in the interview on the couch. “I have been working with NOUSPR for a long time now,” she says. Video shows a photo of NOUSPR members standing outside again, with bundles of supplies at their feet. Video cuts to a closeup shot of four NOUSPR members talking in a room. There are two men and two women, and two of them are pointing at something in the corner. Cut to a headline from an online news publication, Rwanda Focus (Kigali), that says “Rwanda: Organization Helps Mental Health Patients to be Productive.” The beginning of the article says, “The National Organization of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (NOUSPR), which advocates for people with current or past psychosocial problems, has set up an initiative to group its members according to their health situation to form cooperatives so that they can earn a living. Seated in a room making the baskets, trays, mats, others on tailoring machines, a group of people who have experienced or are experiencing mental health problems are being supervised by chairwoman Shemsha Murekatete.”

Video returns to Mariza on the couch. “In our culture, we don’t believe that there is such a thing like depression, like anxiety,” she says. Video cuts to three NOUSPR members in white coats (like the kind doctors would wear) with the NOUSPR logo. “They believe that you just have to face whatever comes your way and still be strong and still be normal,” says Mariza. Video cuts to a photo of dozens of NOUSPR members sitting in front of a NOUSPR banner that says, “Focus on Suicide Prevention.”

“Now that people are realizing that this is an issue, it’s a very big problem,” Mariza says, “especially with what our country went through, the genocide and the war.” Video cuts to an old photo from Rwanda. Military vehicles drive down a dusty road while families with bundles on their backs walk beside them. Cut to a picture of a woman in a blue shirt. She has braids and is wearing glasses. She is seated and looking at a wall of pictures of people who died during the Rwandan genocide. Video cuts to a screenshot of an academic study with the headline “Rwanda – lasting imprints of genocide: trauma, mental health and psychosocial conditions in survivors, former prisoners, and their children.” The academic study’s background says, “The 1994 genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda left about one million people dead in a period of only three months. The present study aimed to examine the level of trauma exposure, psychopathology, and risk factors for posttraumatic disorder (PTSD) in survivors and former prisoners accused of participation in the genocide as well as their respective descendants.”

“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to make people who have been understanding this thing in the wrong way for a very long period of time.” Video cuts to Mariza walking down a street. “To make them now see how things really are,” says Mariza. Video cuts to a photo of a purple banner that says, “The light will eventually overcome the darkness of genocide.”

“I think it’s not easy, but it’s possible that people can change their mindset,” says Mariza.

Transition to a title card with words highlighted in yellow on a black screen that says, “Copyright – @2021 NOUSPR. All rights reserved.”