With the objectives of celebrating White Cane Safety Day 2022, empowering young activists with visual disabilities, and raising awareness about the participation of visually-impaired people in public life, SAVE Youth hosted a Youth Dialogue titled “Dependency to Activate Civic Citizenship: How Can Visually Impaired People Participate in Public Life?” on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. Here we publish a summary of the dialogue.
Aynul Islam
National Moderator, SAVE Youth
Microgovernance Research Initiatives (MGR) and SAVE Youth are committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are not excluded from their programs. Everyone in society has a responsibility to make it easier for those who are visually impaired to take part in public activities. If Dhaka University does not provide accessibility for students with disabilities, the university is responsible, not the students. Accessibility should be ensured in the classroom, on campus, and in public life. Additionally, we should educate the young people about disability etiquette.
Nazia Hasan Maisha
SAVE Youth Leader and Disability Rights Advocate
People with visual disabilities are deprived of their rights and are one of the most vulnerable populations, with their minimal to zero participation in political and civic processes acting as a key cause. After 50 years of Bangladesh, we are yet to see a Member of Parliament (MP) with a disability. Inaccessibility in political and voting processes; lack of braille ballot paper; lack of recruitment and mentoring of persons with visual disabilities by political parties; hostile environment; lack of persons with visual disabilities in higher education; all of these factors contributed significantly to the exclusion of persons with visual disabilities from political and civic processes. Reluctance to participate in political processes by young people, especially university students, and violence and abuse against young female politicians also demotivate people with visual disabilities to participate in public life. These barriers must be removed to ensure the rights, welfare, and empowerment of people with a visual disabilities.
Nayem Molla
Diversity and Inclusion Officer, MGR
Raising public awareness of disability issues would be greatly facilitated by mainstreaming the discussion surrounding disability. While disability rights organizations regularly observe and discuss disability awareness days, mainstream organizations rarely do so. One notable exception is MGR and SAVE Youth. Since disability is an evolving and interdisciplinary issue, we can all do our part to advance the cause. Researchers, activists, and policymakers alike should all make an effort to ensure that disability is accounted for and considered when conducting their work. Young leaders with disabilities and young people volunteering for disability need to be empowered.
Md. Anwar Hossain
Disability Rights Advocate
My late grandfather’s final wish was that I perform his funeral prayer. Even though I was well-versed in religious matters and legally entitled to lead the prayer, an imam refused to let me do so because of my disability. Mizan, a local youth with a visual disability, was going to suffer the same fate, but I took the initiative and persuaded others that it was his right to lead the prayer by referencing religious texts. I became involved in the disability rights movement after that. Since 2018, we, a group of visually-impaired people, have been fighting to ensure that people with disabilities receive a quota of government jobs and a variety of employment-related accommodations. We marched through the rain and the heat, held demonstrations and went on a hunger strike; we encountered several obstacles, such as a lack of volunteers and the remote location of restrooms, but we did not halt our activity. To achieve our rights, we must maintain our civic engagement and rights movement. We seek the support of individuals without disabilities.
Marzan Binte Alamgir
Volunteer and Disability Rights Advocate
The full and effective participation of individuals with a visual disability in public life requires the assistance of individuals without disabilities. However, people without disabilities are not as accommodating. Social programs are less likely to incorporate individuals with disabilities. There should be a greater number of young volunteers to help enable the public involvement of individuals with visual disabilities. In addition, the participation of visually impaired youth in higher education must be increased. The university administration should make educational resources accessible to students with visual disabilities. The mental health of visually-impaired people must also be prioritized due to their frequent exposure to adversity, rejection, and marginalization.
Shata Mukherjee
Volunteer and Disability Rights Advocate
Individuals with disabilities are neglected and deprived of their rights in the name of religion and tradition. However, no religion views disability negatively. It is the people who assert that disability is the effect of sin. Young volunteers should take the initiative to eradicate societal and religious superstitions associated with disability. We should change our attitude towards those with disabilities and ensure their access to every facility, including accessible restrooms on university campuses.
Saifuddin Rafi
Cultural Activist With A Disability
Although, at Dhaka University, people are more conscious of disability and more open to the cultural engagement of people with disabilities, they still often exhibit sympathy and regard disability as an inspiration. But, attention needs to shift from pity to rights. Music can be a powerful tool in the fight to normalize the discussion of disability.
Abdullah Al Sayed
SAVE Youth Leader
We can stop people with disabilities from being left out of society if we all subscribe to the Human Rights Model of Disability instead of the charity model and other traditional models. We all should work to establish the fundamental rights of people with disabilities for an inclusive society.