News
‘I Never Imagined I Could Do This’
As a 2022 DJP Fellow, Sri Sukarni Found Herself Behind the Camera for the First Time, Telling Stories of People with Disabilities Through Her Own Lens.
November 23, 2022
WEST LOMBOK, Indonesia – When she joined the Disability Justice Project as a filmmaking fellow in 2022, Sri Sukarni was no stranger to cameras. As chairperson of the Association of Women with Disabilities (HWDI) of NTB Province, Sukarni was used to giving media interviews. While these interviews gave her a chance to shine a light on local disability rights issues, she says she wasn’t always happy with the way the news portrayed people with disabilities in her country. “I sometimes feel happy when there is a story about people with disabilities experiencing success and independence,” says Sukarni. “However, I am sad to see when the media presents people with disabilities as though they can’t do anything, as if we should be pitied, supported. If the media is like that, my heart is very sad.”
During her time as a DJP Fellow, Sukarni experienced for the first time what it was like to tell her own story – shaping the narrative as she saw it. She says the feeling it brought her was relief. “Relief, the first is relief,” Sukarni says. “The second is that I feel happy. Of course, I feel happy to be able to produce videos, which I never imagined I could do this.”
Through the Association of Women with Disabilities in Indonesia (HWDI), Sukarni dedicates much of her time to lifting up women with disabilities in her community. Founded in 1997, the organization has branches all over Indonesia that are run by and for women with disabilities. “HWDI fights for the rights of women with disabilities because we know that women with disabilities face two layers of discrimination,” Sukarni says. “One for being women and the second for being women with disabilities.”
The first video Sukarni produced in partnership with the DJP tells the story of Sustia Rini, a woman who faces exactly this type of layered discrimination. In addition to living with a disability, Rini is a survivor of domestic violence. The video follows her on her journey to access affordable health care for her family after leaving her husband. “In Indonesia, women with disabilities are often the ‘poorest of the poor’ and are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence,” says the introduction to Sri’s film on the DJP website. “Rini has been no exception. In 2019, she left her husband because of abuse, and she has not had any type of permanent employment. Now, every time she or someone in her family needs healthcare, she faces difficult choices that could drive her and her children further into poverty.”
There are still many more stories that Sukarni wants to tell using the skills she’s learned from the DJP. She’s particularly interested in examining local issues that people with disabilities face in her community, like the challenge of accessing a good education and employment. But one of her top concerns is accessibility. “There’s still a lot I want to produce about how are the public service buildings in NTB [West Nusa Tenggara] not yet friendly to people with disabilities,” says Sukarni. “This is what I want to convey to the media, to the government. That we also have the same rights, that we also want to feel comfortable when we use public services.”
Delainey LaHood-Burns is a digital content producer based in New Hampshire and a contributor to the Disability Justice Project. @2022 Disability Justice Project. All rights reserved.
News From the Global Frontlines of Disability Justice
Inclusive Care
For decades, Rwandans with disabilities faced significant challenges to accessing health care. Now the country has embarked on an ambitious plan to renovate all of its outdated facilities, with accessibility as a priority. Thirty health centers have been updated so far, changing stairs into ramps, adding Braille signage and more. “Having access to health services to persons with disability in Rwanda is like dreams that we all wish to be true,” says Aimable Irihose of the Rwanda Organization of Persons with Physical Disabilities and Wheelchair Users.
From Stage to Society
Terubeimoa (Ruby) Nabetari has been using the skills she learned as a composer of music and drama to help her organization, Te Toa Matoa, get their messages across about the rights of persons with disabilities in Kiribati. When she first became disabled from an accident, “I felt sad and confused … because I was well-known as a person who composed music and drama in my country,” she says. “But as time went on, I thanked God that I changed my mind and started to realize what I have to offer people with disabilities.”
‘Count Me In, In Any Change You Make’
DJP Fellow Melvina Voua is advocating for the full inclusion of Solomon Islanders with disabilities in all aspects of climate change adaptation and mitigation. “When the crisis or the disaster happen, we always find it difficult to evacuate or access or even get prepared or respond,” she says. “All … plans must be inclusive and not excluding people with disability, like when designing evacuation centers or developing policies for climate change or disasters.”
Pacific Myth As a Catalyst For Disability Justice
DJP Fellow Ari Hazelman is drawing on his region’s rich storytelling history to further the cause of disability rights. “When we think about our myths and legends that we have in our Pacific culture, that’s part of the stories that we grow up with,” he says. “So when you put it to the disability field, using the stories that we can document through the knowledge that we learn in this [DJP] workshop will help us to tell our stories and use those stories to make a positive change in our society.”
Read more about Pacific Myth As a Catalyst For Disability Justice
LGBTQI + People with Disabilities Should Not Be Left Behind
DJP Fellow Isoa Nabainivalu is a Deaf disability rights advocate for his country of Fiji. Since 2019, he has been focusing on advocating for the rights of one of the more marginalized groups in the Pacific – LGBTQI+ persons with disabilities. “First and foremost for us is for our members to come out, to feel comfortable, to know their rights and know how to use them in different spaces,” he says.
Read more about LGBTQI + People with Disabilities Should Not Be Left Behind
A Disability Rights Champion in the Pacific
Faaolo Utumapu-Utailesolo is a program officer for the Pacific Island Countries with the Disability Rights Fund. She is a longtime disability rights activist in Samoa. “As an advocate, you get knocked down by things,” she says, “and you keep going because you know that there are other people with disabilities who need a lot of support and who will need you to be paving the way.”