Pacific Disability Forum

You are on the PDF NEWS page.


News Title: PDF Weekly Update 18 June 2010

Date Published: 18 June 2010


PDF Weekly Update

 

18th June, 2010

 

Greetings from the Pacific Disability Forum!

 

In the news this week, we meet Jamie-Lee Kristina Bula, a nominee of  the 2010 Pride of Fiji Medal; and learn about a $2 million inclusive education programme in Samoa; the Olympics Day sports and Paralympics competition hosted by Wan Smol Bag; the Inaccessible Pedestrian Environment in Delhi and how the Palau National Policy on Disability is taking shape.

1.                 She’s a fighter
(Source: Geraldine Panapasa– Fiji Times Online Thursday, June 17, 2010)

Pride of Fiji

EIGHT-year-old Jamie-Lee Kristina Bula has overcome a personal adversity ever since she suffered a slight stroke to the right side of her body when she was just a year old.

Nominated for a Pride of Fiji Medal 2010 under the Child of Courage category by her mother Charmayne Charlotte, Jamie has since fought off 18 to 20 seizures a day, endured tiring trips to Lautoka Hospital and continued to receive medical treatment until she was five.

"In November 2004, I took her to New Zealand for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan and the doctors reported back to Fiji," said Ms Charlotte from Nadi.

"In March 2005, we had to fly back to NZ for more tests and by this time Jamie was not able to walk at all or even talk.

"We would feed her blended food with a syringe or dropper that medications came in and by then the whole family and all our friends were out fundraising, all in the hope that these overseas scans and tests would one day prove that Jamie-Lee is a fighter and deserved the right like any other child to walk, talk and play.

"On June 1, 2007, Jamie turned five years old at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne where she was operated on. Looking at her little body in bed was so painful.

"It was a bit too much for me to take but imagine the pain she went through and not being able to tell us because she had lost her speech."

Ms Charlotte said after undergoing physiotherapy in Melbourne for a couple of weeks, they returned to Fiji and in no time was walking and running around.

"We celebrated her eighth birthday on June 1 and she now goes to Nadi Special School three days a week," said Ms Charlotte.

"We now eat our family meals together, she communicate when she is thirsty or hungry and can now play with her brothers and cousins.

"With all the pain and suffering that our beautiful daughter has gone through and managed to come out a winner, she is a champ in our hearts.

"We want to the world to know what a fighter she is and with her strength of character; she overcame all obstacles that were in her way."

2.                  ‘Schools’ in for special needs kids

(Source: Samoan Observer Online – 8th May 2010)

Children with disabilities in Samoa have the chance to participate in education, with the start this year of a new five-year $2 million inclusive education programme.

Under the Samoa-Australia development partnership, Australia has provided $2 million (A$1 million) to develop a unique inclusive education program to support learning opportunities for all children with disabilities.

Through the Samoa Inclusive Education Program, Australia is providing SENESE School with $1.6 million (A$800,000) and Loto Taumafai with $181,000 (A$90,000), with the remaining $220,000 (A$110,000) available through a small grants scheme.

The five year program follows the successful 12 month pilot for inclusive education last year, which was supported by an initial $320,000 grant from Australia.

Principal of SENESE, Donna Lene said through the Australian funded program, SENESE is partnering with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, the National Health Services, Ministry of Health and other non-government stakeholders to establish sustainable support systems for children in Samoa with disabilities to enjoy the same opportunities for learning as their peers in their regular classrooms within the village they reside.

 “There are more than 2000 children in Samoa with disabilities and we are now in a position to build the support services to enable families, schools and communities to have access to the support they need,” said Ms Lene.

“This would include support for families’ right from when the baby is born up until they graduate from secondary school and find employment. This won’t happen overnight, but certainly we are on the right track with lots of positive steps already being taken”.

 “AusAID’s support, together with the SENESE’s partnerships with local and international partners is creating ways to outreach to rural communities.  All our efforts are focused on making differences to the lives of children with disabilities, their families, the schools they attend and the communities they live in.  That’s what inclusive education is all about!”


 “We are very grateful to the Australian Government for supporting inclusive education. It is giving the most vulnerable in our community a real chance to learn and be able to enjoy school.”

Ms Lene said the program will address the needs and priorities  of an education system that include children and young people with disability in Samoa from early childhood interventions through to secondary schooling. The program is consistent with Samoa’s National policy on disability. Support to the Loto Taumafai Society will focus on training and up skilling of staff to provide appropriate early intervention services and an awareness program on cerebral palsy to boost family and community information and awareness.

Head of AusAID in Samoa, Ian Bignall said the success of the 12-month pilot was a major first step in ensuring that Samoan students with disabilities have equal access to education.

 “This has now grown to be a broader focus through the new Samoa Inclusive Education Program. In today’s society, children with disabilities should not be deprived of an education and Australia is working with Samoa to ensure that all children with disabilities have the same learning opportunities as all children,” Mr. Bignall said.

 “Through the pilot program, the efforts of SENESE and their collaboration with other schools to foster inclusive education have helped to define the best approach. We are now working closely with the Ministries of Education and Women Community and Social Development, SENESE and other partners to finalise the five year program.”

The program is supported by two Australian funded inclusive education volunteers working at SENESE.
Mr. Bignall said that Samoa is fortunate to have several other organisations, already working with children and adults with disability and these groups will now be able to apply for a funding grant.

“The new program includes a small grants scheme which will allow these organisations to access funding to support their very important work. We have  called for small grant proposals and encourage groups supporting education of people with disabilities to apply for funding. Applications closed on 20 May.”

Mr. Bignall said that a new Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, Rebecca Visintin, arrived in Apia this week and will work staff and students at Aoga Fiamalamala.

The Ministry of Women Community and Social Development’s draft national policy on disability reflects MESC’s policy on inclusive education in Samoa. The draft policy sets out the following strategies:

• Greater classroom support for children with disabilities in schools
• Expansion of inclusive education in the curriculum division of MESC
• Up-skilling of staff
• reviewing of the current exam-based ‘push-out’ system in the light of its impact on children with disabilities


The new funding for inclusive education complements the $24million (A$12 million) that Australia is providing to the education sector which includes funding for curriculum design, teacher skill development, new headquarters, school fee relief and support for rural schools.
 

3.                 Wan Smol Bag to Host Olympics and Paralympics

(Source: Andrew Bynon - Management Support Officer; Vanuatu Paralympic Committee)

 

Wan Smol Bag will again be hosting their annual Olympics Day in support of the VASANOC National Sports Festival. Wan Smol Bag aims to build on last year’s successful day and have a bigger and better competition this year.

 

The program is so big that it will be extended over two days. Olympics Day will be held on Thursday 24th June. This year Olympics Day will see competitions in Long Jump, Shot-put, Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Running and more.

 


And on Friday 25th June, Wan Smol Bag is proud to be running its first ever Paralympics Day with the support of the Vanuatu Paralympic Committee. Paralympics Day will have competitions in Sitting Volleyball, Goal ball and Wheelchair Races. The Vanuatu Paralympic Committee will also be running a Wheelchair Tennis Demonstration Event.

 

To participate or for more information, contact Wan Smol Bag (ph 27119) or the Vanuatu Paralympic Committee (ph 22321).

 

For more information on this media release contact:

Andrew Bynon

Ph: +678 5421028

Email: a.d.bynon@gmail.com

 

*Andrew is a volunteer with the Volunteering for International Development from Australia (VIDA) Program, an Australian Government initiative.

 

4.                 Inaccessible Pedestrian Environment in Delhi

(Source: Shivani Gupta – Director AccessAbility; shivani@accessability.co.in)

 

In the flurry of preparing Delhi for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Delhi has been revamped. There is the new BRT Corridor, the low floor buses, huge overhead bridges, accessible pathways and the swanky metro. All of these have accessibility incorporated in them. I should feel fortunate being a wheelchair user that now public transport and the pedestrian environments is accessible to me. But the unfortunate reality is that none of these so called accessible facilities are really accessible to the disabled and hence have not brought the desired mobility. Money is being spent in the name of accessibility but what we have really got are ‘teasers’. ‘Teasers’ being my way of describing facilities that are signposted as being accessible but are not usable by disabled people in reality.

 

Usability is the first and the basic requirement of accessibility and it is here that all these fail. Usability goes beyond blindly putting on ground accessibility standards, it is about how a user will actually interface with the given service/facility/infrastructure etc. it may also vary based on the social context, therefore what may be a working design in a developed country may not be so in a developing country. To increase usability is also the crux of Universal Design.

 

Just yesterday I went out on my wheelchair and thought of crossing to the other side from the overhead foot bridges that have been built all over Delhi. The bridge is about seven meters high with a ramp 89 meters long of 1:12 gradient to get onto the bridge and the same ramp on the opposite side.

 

In India most people will say “arre there is a ramp na to get on and off the bridge and that too of 1:12 gradient, then what more do you want?” What they fail to see is that a wheelchair user will need to wheel two hundred meters up and down a ramp to cross just a 10 meter wide road. So its 10 meters verses 200 meters.

 

Major Design Flaws:

 

·        To provide a ramp to negotiate a level difference of more than 3 meters is impractical and not usable by the disabled and here it is more than double that height.

·        A ramp to negotiate a level difference of more than 3 meters must have a gradient no more than 1:18 here the gradient is 1:12

·        Landings must be provided after every five meters, here landing is provided after 40 meters.

 

I am sure even athletes using wheelchairs will find negotiating this ramp difficult!

 

Here I will also like to point out that accessible parking is demanded and provided closest to the entrance to ensure that disabled car drivers and passengers do not need to walk extra, but when it comes to pedestrian environments adding 200 meters to the journey is reasonable. Why this disparity?

 

A recent press release by the Delhi metro said that there, ‘Delhi Metro provides wheel chair facility to old and physically challenged commuters at all Metro stations. On an average, 149 physically challenged people and 78 blind commuters use the Metro system daily’ and ‘on an average, it is carrying about 800,000 commuters’ everyday.’ Just taking the figures published by them it is easy to calculate that there are only 0.02% people with disabilities who use this so called ‘accessible transport system’ to travel.

 

The pavements in Delhi are being refurbished and most with tactile guidance and ramps at the beginning and end. The amazing part is that the guidance breaks whenever there is an obstacle in the path like trees, poles etc., hence ensuring people with blindness bang into them and majority of the ramps are blocked by bollards, through which a wheelchair cannot pass.

 

I wonder when will people with disabilities stop compromising and accepting shoddy solutions to improve access. The UNCRPD talks about ‘Persons with disabilities to have access, on an equal basis with others’ its time we demanded it.

 

5.                 Palau National Policy on Disability takes shape

(Source: Mr. Setareki Macanawai – PDF CEO in Palau)

 

Mr. Alastair Wilkinson, Regional Adviser Social Development and Planning, UNESCAP Pacific Operation Centre and Mr. Setareki Macanawai, CEO, PDF are in Palau this week supporting the development of Palau National Policy on Disability. The Honourable Minister for Community and Cultural Affairs, Mrs. Faustina Rehuher-Marrugg invited the two gentlemen and Mr. Frederick Miller, Disability Coordination Officer, PIFS to Palau this week for this assignment.

 

It was unfortunate that Mr. Miller couldn't travel to Palau at the last minute. However, consultations were held between Monday and Wednesday with various Government Ministries in Palau as well as civil society groups to establish current disability initiatives in Palau and to identify gaps that could be addressed through a national policy on disability.

 

On Thursday and Friday, a 2-day consultation was held at the Palau Pacific Resort where about 20 participants actually developed a draft policy for further consultation in the coming months before it is finalised and presented to relevant authority within the Palau Government. This consultation was also attended by the Minister for Health and Minister for State providing positive leadership on disability matters in Palau.

 

It is wonderful to learn of the involvement of Omekesang Association in this process as it is currently the disability advocacy group in Palau. Efforts will be made in the coming months to involve this disability group in Palau with the PDF family, and to see an actual DPO being established there.

 

That is all for this week. You have a lovely weekend and do keep in touch with PDF.

 

Regards,

 

From the PDF Team

 

Top