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.”