News
Breaking Barriers Through the Lens
DJP Fellow Sa Utailesolo Wants to Share His Video Production Knowledge with Others to Further the Cause of Disability Rights in Samoa
June 30, 2023
APIA, Samoa – Question: Tell me your name and which organization you are working for and your role and responsibilities.
Answer: My name is Sa. I’m from the village of Napier, and I’m a man, 41 years of age. I’m married and have one son. I work at NOLA [Nuanua O Le Alofa] as finance and administration. Fifteen years of my service to the organization. NOLA is a national advocacy organization here in Samoa. And also it’s the only OPD here in Samoa.
Question: What is your motivation to apply for the Disability Justice Project?
Answer: Because this program it’s help for us to do our work, like to advocate and make tools or videos to promote our rights of persons with disabilities.
Question: What challenges do you face when you tried to apply for this program or what challenges might you expect to come across when participating in this DJP program?
Answer: English is not our first language, but we try so hard to understand and they make things easy to understand. As a person who is visually impaired, it’s quite hard to see things like the demonstration, to explain things like seeing the cameras.
Question: So what are some of your expectations that you would like to achieve after joining this DJP?
Answer: One of the expectations, it’s to know how to make or produce a video and also how to write the stories that go along with the videos.
Question: Tell me about your plan, after obtaining this program.
Answer: First thing when I return back to our office, it’s to make a video. The other thing is to train and share my knowledge with other colleagues. And also to make more videos so you can get better and better for making a documentary or promotional materials for ours. Like, I said, this is a good experience to promote our organization and also our work to the community and the country.
Question: What is your message to other people with disabilities out there who also might want to participate in such a program like DJP?
Answer. This is an amazing project to promote our rights. This is the first training for the Pacific region, so I think it’s nice to have another opportunity for our Pacific people. If they had other opportunities for a disability community here in the Pacific, I’d like them to use wisely the opportunity if they got the chance to participate.
DJP Fellow Melvina Voua is involved in many volunteer activities with youth groups, women’s groups and people with disabilities in her community. She is a member of People with Disability Solomon Islands (PWDSI), the umbrella body of organizations for people with disabilities in the Solomon Islands. @2023 PWDSI. 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.”