A New Challenge
Of the nearly 400 DeafBlind people living in Malawi, 250 are school-aged children. DJP Fellow Duster Lucius interviews Chrissy Mutumba, the first DeafBlind student accepted at a prestigious high school in Blantyre.
Filmmaker: Duster Lucius
Duster Lucius is a 19-year-old disability youth activist who is DeafBlind (partial hearing, completely blind) and a national youth coordinator at the Visual Hearing Impairment Membership Association (VIHEMA). Read more about Duster Lucius
Food Insecurity and HIV
Limited access to food and medicine poses significant risks to Ugandans with with disabilities who are HIV positive. Advocates are asking for more government support for their life-saving programs.
Filmmaker: Nissy Namuyomba
Nissy Namuyomba is an administrative assistant at the Masaka Association of Persons with Disabilities Living with HIV/AIDs and a volunteer with the Masaka Association of Persons with Cerebral Palsy in Uganda. Read more about Nissy Namuyomba
‘How Long Do We Have To Wait?’
Discriminatory legislation and stigma have made sexual and reproductive health (SRH) resources inaccessible to queer Nigerians with disabilities. Disability advocates explain the need for an intersectional approach to SRH resources in Nigeria.
Filmmaker: Benedicta Oyedayo Oyewole
Benedicta Oyedayo Oyewole is an intersectional feminist passionate about disability and women's rights. She is a program officer of diversity and inclusion at the Women's Health and Equal Rights Initiative in Nigeria. Read more about Benedicta Oyedayo Oyewole
News From the Global Frontlines of Disability Justice
‘I Never Imagined I Could Do This’
Dissatisfied by the way local news portrays people with disabilities, DJP Fellow Sri Sukarni is determined to use her new video skills to share issues important to her community. At the top of her agenda is the lack of accessible public service buildings. “This is what I want to convey to the media, to the government,” she says.
‘You Can’t Legislate Attitudes’
When DJP Fellow Benedicta Oyèdayọ̀ Oyèwọlé was a child, a pastor laid hands on her to “cast out the demons” and blamed her disability on witches. Today, Oyèwọlé is working as an advocate for Nigerians with disabilities to end discrimination: “It’s people’s attitudes that need to be transformed. You can’t legislate attitudes.”
‘Videos Are Like Art to Me’
When she was four years old, DJP Fellow Kinanty Andini drew all over the walls in her mother’s house. Now she’s using her creativity to make films that fight against mental health stigmas. “I want to show the society who we really are,” says Andini. “I want people to know that we are not what the stigma says about us.”
When Identities Collide
Olúwáṣeun Oníyídé Olútòni says that living at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities has shaped the way the world sees her – and how she sees the world: “My disability, gender identity, and queerness are not separate parts of me. They are parts of what makes me whole.”
Shut Out
Accessible job opportunities are few and far between for persons with short stature in Rwanda, says Vice President of the Rwanda Union of Little People Manasseh Nzanira. A woman with short stature who has remained unemployed despite having a bachelor’s degree for over four years shares her story.
Financial Exclusion
A national effort to reduce poverty through the provision of small-scale loans in Malawi is not reaching persons with disabilities, advocates say. A man with a disability recounts his experience applying for a loan, and a Malawian disability rights advocate shares his hope for equal loan access for persons with disabilities.