Count Me in: Working Together for Disability Inclusion in Guatemala

The organization “Mujeres con Capacidad de Soñar a Colores” during one of their awareness-raising performances. Credit: Diana Alvarado (@alvaradodii) and Mujeres con Capacidad de Soñar a Colores , UNDPBy Peride BlindGUATEMALA CITY, Jan 20 2022 (IPS) “Persons with disabilities are capable and equal. It is time the world understands that,” says Antonio Palma, a UN Volunteer at the Resident Coordinator’s Office in Guatemala. Antonio, who has a visual impairment, expresses what many other persons with disabilities feel. Ignored, mistreated, misunderstood, underestimated, condescended to. People with disabilities are diverse, and they experience exclusion and marginalization in different ways and to different degrees. About 1 in 10 Guatemalans has a disability. That’s one out of every ten neighbours, friends, relatives, co-workers, passers-by, or distant strangers. You might think that ten per cent of the population would get some recognition. But the country has little data on persons with disabilities, making them less visible in public policy and often left with little or no access to basic services in health, education, work, among other areas. Some people might think that providing such services is a charitable gesture. What that perspective ignores is that persons with disabilities are people, and as such they have human rights. Fulfilling the human rights of persons with disabilities requires certain steps so that they can participate and be fully include...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Education Headlines Health Inequity Labour Latin America & the Caribbean Sustainability TerraViva United Nations Women's Health IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news