[PDFlist] PDF Weekly Update – 9 October, 2018

Mon Oct 8 16:38:01 MDT 2018

PDF Weekly Update – 9 October, 2018
Persons with disabilities have been excluded from exercising their human rights, including the right to political participation. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities responds to this circumstance and provides an all-inclusive solution.
Article 29 focuses on the design of an electoral process that is non-discriminatory and requiring states to provide voters with disability-related accommodations and other facilitative measures to enable their equal right to vote.
Emerging practices around the globe nonetheless bear out that persons with disabilities can be successfully incorporated in all phases of an electoral process. PDF believes persons with disabilities can perform a variety of roles beyond exercising the franchise—as voter educators, election commissioners, observers, monitors and committee members, and as candidates.
In the weekly update for this week; disabled “can choose assistant” for poll day; Persons with Disabilities in Vanuatu; SV Tenacious to enable person with disability to sail and Australia to help Pakistan form first blind women cricket team.
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Disabled ‘Can Choose Assistant’ For Poll Day
By Fonua Talei
[Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem (standing near table) explains the voting process for persons with disabilities and the role of party agents at a polling venue during a voting mock exercise on September 18, 2018 in Laucala Beach. Photo: Ronald Kumar]Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem (standing near table) explains the voting process for persons with disabilities and the role of party agents at a polling venue during a voting mock exercise on September 18, 2018 in Laucala Beach. Photo: Ronald Kumar
People chosen by physically disabled persons to help them during voting will be arrested by Police if they mark a different number that the disabled person tells them.
For the first time, persons with disabilities can be accompanied by a person of their choice to the polling venue to assist them on Election Day. Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem also clarified that people who are chosen to assist persons with disabilities cannot cast their vote at the same time as the person with disability.
At the voting compartment both parties will be joined by the Presiding Officer who will supervise the process.
“If at this point in time the person with disability says he would like to vote for a particular number and the assistant marks another number then the presiding officer will not allow that ballot paper to go in the ballot box and instead call the Police officer for this person to be arrested,” Mr Saneem said yesterday during the mock polling day voting process at the Fijian Elections Office warehouse in Laucala Beach.
“And thereafter the presiding officer will get the second ballot paper and under the supervision of the assistant presiding officer they will assist the person with disability.”
Persons with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant mothers, are among the few groups that are entitled to be assisted by the FEO on polling day. The public are urged to allow the disabled first access to the polling stations so that they are able to conclude their election process quickly while those who are able to stand in line can wait.
Voting scenarios
During the mock exercise Mr Saneem detailed different scenarios and the process that a voter would go through on Election Day.
When a person with disability approaches the polling station, they will be greeted by a queue controller at the entrance who will then assist them to the polling officer. The person with disability will inform the officer that they have brought someone to assist them in voting.
“The voter will then be directed to the Presiding Officer who will give the person with disability and the person assisting them a brochure to read on how to assist persons with disability,” Mr Saneem explained.
“The presiding officer will then record who is being assisted and record the details of the person assisting them before signing off on it.
“Then the PO will accompany the disabled person as well as the person assisting them through the process of issuing the ballot paper, and give them instructions on how to mark the ballot paper.”
At the voting compartment there are two options available to persons with disabilities on how they can cast their vote.
“If a person is on wheelchair there is a portable voting screen for them. It can be placed on the voter’s lap and the person can still mark the ballot paper. Another option is if a person is blind they will be assisted to the voting screen and the presiding officer is going to supervise the assistance,” Mr Saneem said.
Political party representatives were informed that their polling agents should expect three people at the voting screen when assistance is being provided to persons with disabilities and to help them drop their ballot paper in the ballot box. After voting the normal process will be followed with the inking of the finger of the person with disability and casting their ballot.
Hearing disability
Those with a hearing disability will be provided a booklet of assisted voting steps that the presiding officer will guide them through so that they can visually understand the process.
“If someone has difficulty with their eyesight and need assistance they can be given the magnifying glass, which may help them see things a little bit clearer if it is in small writing,” Deputy Elections Supervisor Karyl Winter said.
“If they would like the FEO to work with them while they go through the voting process the presiding officer and a witness which will be the assistant presiding officer or a polling day worker will go with them to assist them as they go through the process.”
The FEO will also have a record of everyone who is assisted by them on polling day.
Disability sheds
The FEO will also set up disabled friendly sheds, which will all have the same design.
Presiding officers can take the voting screens and ballot box outside for persons with disabilities in the case a polling station is not disabled friendly and the person is unable to enter it.
FEO sheds will be erected at locations where there is no suitable building available as a polling venue, and every shed will have a washroom next to it.
Reactions
Anaseini Vakaidia, a project officer with United Blind Persons Fiji and a member of the Election Disability Access Workshop Group, said: “This is the first time persons with disability are allowed to bring a person of their own choice to the polling venue and I think it is a great initiative taken by the Fijian Elections Office,” Ms Vakaidia said.
Edited by Naisa Koroi
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Persons with Disabilities in Vanuatu
Nelly Caleb
Vanuatu consists of a Y-shaped chain of four main islands and eighty smaller islands, located in the Pacific Ocean between Australia and Hawaii. The official languages of Vanuatu include Bislama (national language), English and French; however there are over a hundred other local languages.
The 2009 Census shows a total population 234,033 people living in Vanuatu. Persons with disabilities constitute 12 percent of the total population, or 28,082 people.
A 2015 UNICEF report explains the government data on persons with disabilities:
 According to Vanuatu’s 2009 Census and based on the definitions used in this report, around 5 percent of the population have a mild, moderate or severe disability. However, according to the VDHS [Vanuatu Demographic and Health Survey], the disability prevalence rate is only 3.3 percent, but there are strong reasons to believe that the survey undercounts people with mild and moderate disabilities. The rate of severe disability according to the VDHS is 2.4 percent, which is similar to the rates found in studies in other countries.
Questions on disability in the Census and the VDHS do not make it possible to determine the prevalence of disability among young children due to the nature of the questions asked about disability. Nonetheless, according to VEMIS [Vanuatu’s Education Management Information System], 7–8 percent of primary school children have a disability. If we assume that children with disabilities are less likely to attend school, as has been found in this report and many studies in other countries, then the overall rate of childhood disability is most likely higher.
[Vanuatu2bw.jpg]International Commitments
Vanuatu ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008. From that time onward, the Vanuatu government took several crucial steps to implement its obligation under this international agreement. It adopted several action plans, namely, the National Disability Policy and Plan of Action 2008-2015, the Mental Health Policy and Plan 2009-2015, and the Inclusive Education Policy and Strategic Plan 2010-2020. It “created a Disability Desk within the Ministry of Justice and Community Services to monitor the implementation of disability related policies and to coordinate collaboration with government institutions, civil society and development partners.”
There are also non-governmental institutions that help promote the implementation of CRPD. The Disability Promotion & Advocacy Association (DPA Vanuatu) is a national umbrella body for Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs) in Vanuatu.  It is led and managed by persons with disabilities in the country.  The main purpose of the DPA Vanuatu is to advocate for the rights and promote the abilities of persons with disabilities.
DPA Vanuatu has a vision of working towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society in which human rights, citizen participation, and the capabilities and diversity of all persons with disabilities are identified, developed and respected.
It has eighteen community-based DPO affiliates throughout Vanuatu. It also has units working on specific issues:
• Women with Disability Committee;
• Parents and Care Givers Committee;
• Youth with Disability Committee; and
• United Blind Persons Committee.
[Vanuatubw.jpg]
DPA Vanuatu Advocacy
DPA Vanuatu is an important and influential voice in Vanuatu. Its 2013-2017 vision calls for an all-inclusive society in all areas of life.  An example is its advocacy with property developers of hotels and offices to best cater to the needs of persons with disabilities in their new development projects. DPA Vanuatu is advocating for ramps and wheel-chair-accessible toilets at all public buildings.
Its advocacy has led to greater employment of people with disabilities although this has been slow. It is heartening to see private companies and the national government employing persons with disabilities; and there is a good prospect for more jobs for them.  For example, when a phone company Digicel opened its office in Vanuatu it promised to employ two persons with disabilities and then undertook to make building alterations to accommodate the wheelchair of one of the employees. It also gave free phones and free phone lines to the staff of DPA Vanuatu and the Vanuatu Society for Disabled Persons. This is an example of the success of the DPA Vanuatu advocacy for persons with disabilities.  DPA Vanuatu hopes to have more cases like this. DPA Vanuatu signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sanma Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centre to empower persons with disabilities to improve their business and employment opportunities as well as to provide training on numeracy and literacy.
In line with its fundamental principle of persons with disabilities having equal rights in political life, DPA Vanuatu has advocated for special facilities on voting at all elections. At an information awareness session for voting at Luganville Municipal Council elections, I raised this subject, arguing that disabilities should not stop people from voting. Luganville is the second largest urban center of Vanuatu after the capital Port Vila, and has a population of 13,156.
To maximize its promotion and advocacy, DPA Vanuatu has now added its voice to social media, having just launched a Facebook page, Disability Promotion & Advocacy Group - Vanuatu. Despite the small percentage of the population regularly accessing the internet, it is important to promote its vital work through different forms of media.
Issues
The 2015 UNICEF report provides “indicative” findings on the problems faced by persons with disabilities in Vanuatu. It listed a number of issues, namely,
a. Education: Children with disabilities are significantly less likely to attend school than their non-disabled peers. For example, among 10-19 year olds, the gap in primary school attainment is more than 53 percentage points. Among adults, differences in educational attainment based on disability status are less pronounced, likely because a majority becomes disabled when they have passed the school age.
b. Poverty: People with disabilities are much more likely to be poor; nearly 31 percent of people with severe disabilities are living in the lowest wealth quintile, compared with 16 percent of people without reported disabilities. The causal connection between disability and poverty is complex and multi-directional: disability could be caused by conditions associated with poverty; having a disability could inhibit one’s ability to obtain wealth; and/or households with more wealth may have better access to health care or other services that lessen the degree of disability even if it does not eliminate its presence.
c. Economic activity: While people with disabilities are equally likely to take part in productive activities as non-disabled people, they are less likely to be employed outside the home and more likely to be either self-employed or working in a family business. This shows that despite the willingness and capability of people with disabilities to undertake productive activities, there are barriers preventing them from obtaining employment.
d. Domestic violence against children and women: The data suggest that parents of children with disabilities are more likely to use the disciplinary practice of psychological aggression and less likely to use severe physical punishment than parents without children with disabilities. The husbands of women with disabilities were less inclined to justify wife-beating under certain circumstances. Since this finding differs from studies in other countries, further investigation is needed to determine if the finding is accurate, or merely skewed by certain methodological issues.
Disasters and Persons with Disabilities
After Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu, there were reports about the exclusion of persons with disabilities (and also senior citizens) from receiving relief goods. DPA Vanuatu did an investigation and found that a person using a wheelchair had to resort to using crutches during food distribution because the distribution area was not accessible to wheelchairs. Moreover, some persons with disabilities and senior citizens did not receive their food supplies because they were not able to reach the distribution center on time due to their impairments. Red Cross reported that a couple in Southwest Santo who were both persons with disabilities and whose home was burned down during the blue alert warning waited for some time for relief supplies.  DPA Vanuatu projected that the failure to consider these groups might have resulted in the exclusion of at least 20 percent of the affected population in Vanuatu.
Attitudinal Barriers
Attitudinal barriers constitute the biggest obstacles faced by persons with disabilities in Vanuatu. Persons with disabilities are considered to have different rights from those of everyone else and are labelled by their impairments. They are seen in public places as strange people from another planet.
Even disaster relief workers have such attitudes that significantly affect the credibility and implementation on the ground of government initiatives for persons with disabilities. This was evident in the assessment conducted by the DPA Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam disaster. The assessment indicated that in some areas people who were not quick enough to come forward when names were called for relief distribution were simply left out. There was neither a rechecking nor follow-up on listed people who failed to receive the relief goods. Thus persons with disabilities and senior citizens missed out on getting relief goods as their impairments did not allow them to move fast to reach the distribution point on time. And those who had to endure the long queue despite physical difficulties (such as those using wheelchairs) were not given any chance to be served first, unless they requested to be given such treatment.
Hence, questions arose. What happened to those who did not have the capacity to ask questions and were unaware of their rights? Did they receive disaster relief supplies if their impairments prevented them from standing in line or in some cases reaching distribution points? Most of them would have been left out as they did not have the capacity to ask or to go past attitudes of those who were distributing the emergency supplies after the cyclone.
Therefore, there is a need for critical people such as those involved in disaster relief supplies distribution to receive disability awareness and inclusion training before they carry out their tasks. Such trainings are vital in ensuring that persons with disabilities live life normally on an equal basis with others and are not denied their human right to basic needs. Most importantly, the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the planning, development and implementation of disaster responses is vital.
*Ms Nelly Caleb is the National Coordinator for DPA Vanuatu *For further information, please contact: Nelly Caleb, DPA Vanuatu, P.O. Box 71, Santo, Vanuatu; ph (678) 37997, mobile no. (678)7796946 or (678)5421040, e-mail: dpasanto at vanuatu.com.vu or calebnellie14 at gmail.com.

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SV Tenacious to enable person with disability to sail
17:05 Mon Jun 06, 2016
[http://media.fbc.com.fj/news/2016/06/sv-tenacious-to-enable-person-with-disability-to-sail_650x350.jpg]
SV Tenacious berthed at the Suva Harbour
Taken from/By: FBC News
Report by: Farzana Nisha
A ship which is equipped to enable persons with disability to sail is in the country for the first time.
Britain’s SV Tenacious is 60 meters long and caters for all and now this includes Fijians.
British High Commissioner Roderick Drumond says eight young Fijians including four disabled participants have been given the opportunity to sail as crew on board the SV Tenacious around the country.
“The Tenacious is set up so that it has lots of equipment that can help people who are partially sighted, might be deaf. They might have different physical disabilities and people in wheel chairs they can all play a full part in sailing that big ship.”
Participants say they are looking forward to this exciting trip as their sponsors are helping them prepare.
SV Tenacious will be spending four weeks in Fiji waters. Of this five days will be with these participants.
After four weeks it will be leaving for New Caledonia and Australia to do the same kind of work with people with disability.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama was onboard the Tenacious this afternoon.
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Australia to help Pakistan form first blind women cricket team
ISLAMABAD: The Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Margaret Adamson, and the Chairman of Pakistan Blind Cricket Council, Syed Sultan Shah announced the formation of Pakistan’s first cricket team for blind women and girls.
“Australia and Pakistan share a passion for cricket, so we are happy to support the Pakistan Cricket Council for Blind’s efforts to bring women and girls living with disabilities into the sport,” Ms Adamson said. “By providing women and girls with disabilities with the opportunity to compete and demonstrate their physical ability, sport can help to reduce gender stereotypes and negative perceptions associated with people with disabilities,” Ms Adamson said.
The Australian High Commission sponsored one of two six-day training clinics for visually impaired women and girls from across the country that culminated in formation of the team at a 10-overs match played at Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore.
“Coach Nafees Ahmed helped these players push their boundaries. They are brilliant exponents of Pakistan’s best-loved game and a source of inspiration for us all,” Ms Adamson said. Nafees also coached the national men’s team to victory in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. The new team is expected to play its first international Twenty20 game against Nepal in January 2019 as part of the second ever women’s blind cricket series.
The Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Council for Blind, Syed Sultan Shah, said, “Cricket for the blind is a highly competitive game which enables people with visual impairment to become people of vision – a vision of an accessible future full of exciting opportunities for all.” Two blind factory workers invented blind cricket in Melbourne, Australia, in 1922 when they improvised the game using a tin can containing rocks. A few years later, in 1928, the first sports ground and clubhouse for blind cricket was built at Kooyong in Melbourne.
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Have a great Week!

Thanks,

Solo

Soloveni Vitoso
Public Relations & Communication Officer

Pacific Disability Forum
Ground Floor | Kadavu House
Victoria Parade | Suva
Fiji

Phone: (+679) 3312008  |  (+679) 3307530
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