News
Pacific Myth As a Catalyst For Disability Justice
DJP Fellow Ari Hazelman Uses the Pacific Island Nations’ Rich History in Storytelling as Inspiration for His Advocacy Work
June 30, 2023
APIA, Samoa – Thirty-four-year-old Ari Hazelman is representing the Samoa Blind Persons Association in the Disability Justice Project’s program. As a filmmaker who is blind, he is exploring new ways of making accessible films with the help of the DJP.
Question: Tell me about your country and the government in your country in regard to persons with disabilities.
Answer: The government of Samoa ratified the CRPD (the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) in 2016, and with the help of our advocacy organization for persons with disabilities called Nuanua O Le Alofa, we have been able to provide awareness programs for government as well as training programs, and we have also helped the government to review how they have been implementing some of the articles of this. Also, this new government that came into power last year has now introduced a disability benefit scheme, which is the first-ever social protection scheme for persons with disabilities.
Question: What is your kind of advocacy?
Answer: I think that being a fellow of the Disability Justice Project is very important because … the Disability Justice Project, through its training on advocacy journalism, will help organizations such as the Samoa Blind Persons Association to tell important stories that need to be heard by people in power and also by the citizens of Samoa and the world on issues that affect people who are blind and visually impaired as well as issues that affect persons with disabilities living in Samoa.
Question: Why are you attending this workshop?
Answer: I think that attending this workshop is very important because it is giving us the tools so that we may use these tools to tell stories. We in the Pacific are very good at telling stories. 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 as children. So we always use these stories to teach our children and our societies about good things in life. So when you put it to the disability field, using the stories that we can document through the knowledge that we learn in this workshop will help us to tell our stories and use those stories to make a positive change in our society.
DJP Fellow Terubeioma (Ruby) Napetari is a member of Te Toa Matoa, the umbrella organization for people with disabilities in Kiribati. She is a theater director and a composer who works with women and youth with disabilities and NGOs to help deliver their messages to communities through drama and song. @2023 Te Toa Matoa. 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.”