Featured Quotes from the Virtual Event: COVID-19 and Promoting Rights of Women with Disabilities
These quotes are part of the "Virtual Event: COVID-19 and Promoting Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities"
On April 8, 2019, IDA in collaboration with EDF held a virtual panel bringing together prominent women with disabilities from different walks of life. The virtual panel with 572 registered participants was an effort to provide space and prevent any loss of momentum in promoting the rights of women and girls with disabilities in the global gender equality agenda. During the virtual discussion, the panelists have discussed various topics ranging from the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities into mainstream gender mainstreaming strategies, multiple forms of discrimination faced by women and girls with various forms of disability, and the impact of the current pandemic on their well-being. Some of the featured quoted are listed below.
Pirkko Mahlamäki, Secretary-General of the Finnish Disability Forum
"We keep hearing from some of our colleagues that the disabled people are not tested for COVID-19 and we are not included in the statistics. This is something over which we are raising our voices in order to make sure that our voices, our involvement in this pandemic is also noted", says Pirkko Mahlamäki, Secretary-General of the Finnish Disability Forum.
Villaney Remengesau, the Secretary of OMEKESANG
"We are women and girls with disabilities in the Pacific following. Persons with disabilities and their families who are exposed to the COVID19 and likely women and girls with disabilities face barriers in information due to lack of availability and accessibility of critical information to guide them in taking necessary precautions, identifying where to go to seek help, and where to contact in case of self‑emergency", says Villaney Remengesau is the Secretary of OMEKESANG.
Yeni Risa Damayanti, a Chairperson at the Indonesian Mental Health Association.
"Many residents of mental institutions in Indonesia don't have access to information, there are no newspapers, internet, television, radio. Being deemed incapable of thinking, they were excluded from the info. on the Coronavirus pandemic," says Yeni Risa Damayanti, a Chairperson at the Indonesian Mental Health Association.
Rosario Galarza, Focal Point at the Economic Commission for the Latin American and the Caribbean
"Voices of women w. disabilities are not heard. Their capacities are not recognized. Humanitarian actors should seek technical advice from women w. disabilities. They should involve them in COVID-19 pandemic mitigation", says Rosario Galarza, Focal Point at the Economic Commission for the Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
An-Sofie Leenknecht, Human Rights Coordinator at the EDF
"Women & girls w. disabilities face intersectional & multiple forms of discrimination. Women w. intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, deafblind, & women w. high support needs are even more at risk of being marginalised & abused", says An-Sofie Leenknecht.
Rupsa Mallik, Director of Programs and Innovation at CREA
"Both the women’s movements & the disability movement need to learn from one another & build collective advocacy", says Rupsa Mallik, Director of Programs and Innovation at CREA.
Pratima Gurung, General Secretary of the Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global Network
"We need document information, evidence, cases, stories, narratives, and voices from the margin and Global South. Frame global policies on multiple identities", says Patima Gurung-one of the prominent voices in Nepal and Asia.
Ekaete Judith Umoh, Board Member of the African Disability Forum
"The response to COVID-19 so far, aside from the provision of ISL interpreters at the press briefing, treatment centers don't in any way take into consideration the needs of women with disabilities that might use such facilities", says Ekaete Judith Umoh.