Skip to main content
Sri Sukarni sits in a motorbike sidecar, looking at the camera.
Sri Sukarni, chairperson of the Association of Women with Disabilities [HWDI] of NTB Province

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.”

A film by Delainey LaHood-Burns. Video includes audio descriptions. Click here for descriptive transcript.

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.”

Sri Sukarni addresses the audience at a public meeting.
Sri Sukarni addresses the audience at a public meeting.

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

Srijana KC smiles at the camera. She has long dark hair and is wearing a red scarf and green cardigan sweater.

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.

Read more about Voices Unsilenced

Three fellows with the Disability Justice Project stand behind their cameras in a room. One is blind and one is low vision.

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.”

Read more about Capturing Vision Through Sound and Touch

Sharma sits next to one of his subjects - a man from the nomadic Raute people.

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.”

Read more about Beyond the Frame

Thacien Nzigiyimana stands in front of rubble outside one-story stone buildings.

‘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.

Read more about ‘I Am Left With Nothing’

Neera Adhikari types on a computer at her desk.

‘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.”

Read more about ‘Leadership Training is a Key Focus’

Satya Devi Wagle sits at her desk, signing papers.

Accessible Instruction

Nepal has between 250,000 and one million Deaf people, but most do not attend school. In many schools for Deaf individuals, education ends at 10th grade, and higher education is rarely available and often inadequate. DJP Fellow Bishwamitra Bhitrakoti interviews Satya Devi Wagle from the National Federation of the Deaf Nepal about the strategies, challenges and successes of her work on inclusive education. “Because hearing teachers are not competent in sign language, there is no quality instruction in a resource class in Nepal,” she says. “We are working … to create a Deaf-friendly curriculum.”

Read more about Accessible Instruction

fapjunk.com