News
‘Count Me In, In Any Change You Make’
DJP Fellow Melvina Voua Advocates For the Full Inclusion of Solomon Islanders with Disabilities in Government Responses to Climate Change
July 1, 2023
APIA, Samoa – DJP Fellow Melvina Voua, from the Solomon Islands, works for People with Disability Solomon Island (PWDSI) as a climate change officer. She is advocating for the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Question: Can you share your experience of your journey of being a climate change advocate for persons with disabilities?
Answer: I started working with PDF [Pacific Disability Forum] in 2020 as a part-time climate change officer. I was the focal point person for the Solomon Islands in the climate change research conducted for the three countries of Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu to coordinate the research on the impact of climate change on people living with disability in the Solomon Islands.
Question: What are the challenges that you faced in implementing this work?
Answer: The big challenge is the COVID, in 2019, 2020 and 2021 while we were doing the research. So all of the learnings and findings we had to do activities online with the PDF, such as when we trained our response team and training team to collect information from other persons with disabilities and their stories, so it’s kind of challenging to get stories like how were they impacted by climate change, how do they prepare for the disaster.
Question: What is the challenge you face in working with key stakeholders?
Answer: It’s a big challenge. Also, it’s a bit difficult to approach them, so when we try to engage them or approach them for our consultation, they all, like, have other commitments. So we can’t really get what information we want from them. So yeah, that’s the big challenge for me.
Question: What is your message to the government?
Answer: It is very important for the inclusion of persons with disability in all the plans or starting from a grassroots level up to the national level. All the adaptation and mitigation plans must be inclusive and not excluding people with disability, like when designing evacuation centers or developing policies for climate change or disasters. It should make sure that disability must be included in the planning because when the crisis or the disaster happen, we always find it difficult to evacuate or access or even get prepared or respond. So that’s why it’s very important to include the needs of persons with disability in preparedness activities or programs.
DJP Fellow Sa Utailesolo has been working at the National Advocacy Organisation of Persons with Disabilities, Nuanua O Le Alofa (NOLA), in Samoa as a finance and administration coordinator for nearly 15 years. In the past, he has also worked as a Braille translator. @2023 NOLA. All rights reserved.
News From the Global Frontlines of Disability Justice
‘Our Vote Matters’
As Rwanda prepares for its presidential elections, voices like Daniel Mushimiyimana’s have a powerful message: every vote counts, including those of citizens with disabilities. Despite legal frameworks like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, challenges persist in translating these into practical, accessible voting experiences for over 446,453 Rwandans with disabilities. To cast a vote, blind people need to take a sighted relative to read the ballot. An electoral committee member must be present, violating the blind person’s voting privacy. “We want that to change in these coming elections,” says Mushimiyimana.
Voices Unsilenced
Often dismissed as a personal concern, mental health is a societal issue, according to Srijana KC, who works as a psychosocial counselor for the Nepali organization KOSHISH. KC’s own history includes a seizure disorder, which resulted in mental health challenges. She faced prejudice in both educational settings and the workplace, which pushed her towards becoming a street vendor to afford her medications. Now with KOSHISH, she coordinates peer support gatherings in different parts of Nepal. “It is crucial to instill hope in society, recognizing that individuals with psychosocial disabilities can significantly contribute,” she says.
Capturing Vision Through Sound and Touch
Last summer, the DJP trained Indigenous activists with disabilities from the Pacific on the iPhone camera to create a documentary series on disability and climate change. With VoiceOver, the iPhone provides image descriptions for blind and low-vision filmmakers and offers other accessible features. “If you think about it, it doesn’t make sense for a blind person to use a camera,” says DJP filmmaker Ari Hazelman. “The iPhone gives you more avenues to tell your story in a more profound way as a blind person.”
Beyond the Frame
DJP mentor Kishor Sharma is known for his long-term photography and film projects exploring community and change. Over the last 12 years, he has been documenting the nomadic Raute people in mountainous Nepal. With any project, Sharma aims to actively engage participants, sharing photography and videography techniques. In September, Sharma became a mentor to DJP Fellow Chhitup Lama. He was eager to connect “this idea of sharing the visual technique with the storytelling idea and the issue of disability inclusion.”
‘I Am Left With Nothing’
Recent flooding in Rwanda has left many persons with disabilities without homes and jobs. “Sincerely speaking, I [am] left with nothing,” says Theophile Nzigiyimana, who considers himself lucky to have escaped the flooding. The flooding demonstrates the disproportionate impacts that disasters have on persons with disabilities, which will only intensify as climate change continues.
‘Leadership Training is a Key Focus’
DJP Fellow Sita Sah interviews Neera Adhikari about starting the Blind Women Association Nepal (BWAN) and the steps BWAN has taken to advance the rights of Nepali women who are blind and low-vision. Women with disabilities, particularly those living in rural areas, “face discrimination from family and society which prevents them from venturing outside their homes,” says Adhikari. “In a household where there are two children, one disabled son and one daughter, societal beliefs often favor sending the son to school while neglecting the daughter’s education.”