Plea to remove physical barriers
A TALANOA session organised by Weta Coffee Fiji allowed people with disabilities to share their struggles and strategies to improve accessibility and mark International Day of Disabled Persons.
One of the participants of the talanoa session, Leslie Tikotikoca, said there was a need for more awareness and improvements in the infrastructures and assistance available for people with disabilities.
“The entire disaster response plan needs to be accessible to everyone. Such as for an evacuation centre, it needs to be accessible for persons with disabilities so we also feel protected,” he said.
World Federation of the Deaf Oceania president Krishneer Sen said it was important for people to fulfil the responsibility embedded with a right.
“When people talk about their rights, they forget about their responsibilities, so it is important to consider the responsibility and the actions on implementing the policies that are set to protect persons with disabilities.”
Participant Jackie Lauff said the overlay of the global pandemic with the disaster response had added further disadvantages and gap where people with disabilities were already on the margin and being left behind.
“During hard times such as Cyclone Winston in Fiji, there were approximately 900 people with disabilities who didn’t reach evacuation centres and during Tropical Cyclone Harold, some of the evacuation centres were not accessible for people with disabilities.
“We need to remove the barriers as action is only possible by addressing the physical barriers, attitude and institutional barriers that prevent people from making a difference.”
Mrs Lauff further highlighted that International Day of Disabled Persons could be utilised to appreciate the visibility that it could bring and marked by celebrating the ability of the people with disability.
International Day of Disabled Persons is celebrated on December 3 and aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities.
l