Report On C. B. R. Workshop 2014

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Report on the Workshop Entitled: Disability, the Condition of Persons with Disability, the Policies, Provisions, Guide-lines, Plan Made Available for such people and enforcement and implementation of the policies and provisions in Local and National Level

Date: 29-05-2014,

Background:

As Head Nepal has been working in Humla since 2011 in the field of people with disability, especially in empowerment, skill development, vocational training, education, awareness raising/sensitization, for persons with disabilities through series of activities and programs, on Thursday 29th of May 2014 Head Nepal in collaboration with District Women and Children Office Humla organized a day intensive workshop on what is disability? How disability is viewed in society? the condition of persons with disabilities in Humla/Nepal, the policies and provisions that are made available for such people and status of enforcement and implementation of those policies in local and national level. The participants of the workshop were mainly the local government bodies, like District Development Office (DDC), Village Development Committee (VDC), line-agencies, and airline companies, representatives from NGOs INGOs etc. In the workshop the responsible authorities/, officials from District Administration Office, District Police Office, and District Lawyer Office were also present. At 1 PM started workshop was ended up at 5 PM. 5 facilitators facilitated in different 5 major areas. In between each of the presentation, there was time for the participants to have interaction among themselves to have their commitment about the given subject matter.

Starting of the Workshop:

The program was held in the Chair-person-ship of Mrs. Bishnu Kumari Acharya, the Women Development Officer Humla and the Chief guest was the Assistant Chief District Officer, Mr. Bam Bahadur K. C. and Mr. Lokraj Shahi Moderated the entire workshop. About 40 participants from different organizations attended the program. The workshop was begun with a short introductory program among all the participants present. Mr. Chhitup Lama, the executive director of Head Nepal welcomes all the people with a short welcome speech. He further highlighted on the objective of the workshop which is to make all the policy implementers aware of rights and special provisions made available for persons with disability and to implement those policies properly with the high spirit of disabled friendliness. Mr. Lama hoped that the program will be highly important to draw the attention of general public in regards to create a disabled friendly socio-cultural environment and it also equally contributes to establish a disabled friendly budget allocation and interventions program in local and national level. With the expectation of active participation and constructive interaction among the participants during the workshop, He concluded his short statements.

The First Part:

As the first presentation, Mr. Surya Prasad Paudel who himself is hearing impaired from Sahara Group Humla, had chance to present about the definition of disability, types of disability, the process of obtaining the disability card and its variation and the legislative provisions, policies made for persons with disability in Nepal. Before directly having the presentation, Mr. Paudel provided a meta card to each of the participants and let them to write "What is disability? and how disability is viewed in the society? and any of services that is provided to persons with disability so far" in personal basis and the organization where they belong to. After collecting the opinion of the participants within 5 minutes of time, Mr. Paudel took up rest of the session based on the same subject matter as given above and made clear about them. He firstly defined disability and its types according to Nepal Government. Accordingly Mr. Paudel further explained the relationship between seriousness of disability and disability identity card which both of them have four types. The process of obtaining the card and the mechanism which is formed to provide identity card were also made clear during the presentation. The participants had chance to have their opinion and experience about the issue. Some of the participants suggested the VDC secretary, District Health Office and Women and Children Office to improve the system of distributing disability identity card so that the services are not misused and real beneficiaries get the real services. In the next part of the same presentation, Mr. Paudel presented the legal/legislative policies and provisions that are available for persons with disability in Nepal. Some of the important points which he discussed in the session are::

अपांगता भएका ब्यक्तिहरुका लागि नेपाल सरकारले गरेका नितिगत ब्यवस्थाहरुः:

अपांग संरक्षन तथा कल्याण ऐन 2039
अपांग संरक्षण तथा कल्याण नियमावली 2051
अपांगता सम्वन्धि राष्ट्रिय कार्य योजना 2063
अपांगता भएका ब्यक्तिहरुका लागि आन्तरिक हवाई यातायातमा दिईने छुट तथा सौलियत कार्य विधि 2063
अपांगता परिचय पत्र वितरण निर्देशिका 2065
सि. बि. आर. कार्यक्रम संचालन निर्देशिका २०६५
अपांगता भएका ब्यक्तिहरुका लागि पहुँच युक्त भौतिक संरचना तथा संचार सेवा निर्देशिका 2069
अपांग जिल्ला समन्वय समिति गठन तथा कार्यसञ्चालन कार्यविधि, २०७०

The Second Part:

In the second part of the workshop, Mrs. Tara G. C. (Phadera), physically challenged by birth woman government teacher by profession under-took the session and she presented the special provision made available by government of Nepal for persons with disability in domestic flight that says in each of scheduled flight by all public and private airlines, a seat should be compulsorily reserved for a person with disability at 50% discount cost of normal price. Mrs. Phadera further requested to the airline representatives for proper implementation of this policy since Humla is not yet connected with road network and only accessible by air and the flight fare is highly expensive. In the mean time, representative from Tara Airlines informed that Tara Air has been providing quota/reserved seat and allocated discount/concession to the passenger with disability while flying from/to Simikot. Other airlines operating in Simikot also expressed their commitment to follow the system according to the guide-lines and direction that are provided by the government of Nepal and accepted by all airlines companies as well.

Mr. Bam Bahadur K. C. the Chief District Officer, the Chief Guest of the workshop, in the mean time, expressed his essential words about the subject matter discussed. He said that disability should not viewed as problem/barrier rather it can be taken as challenges of the society that can be solved by providing opportunities to the disabled people themselves and changing the mind-set of the community members towards persons with disability. He further said there are thousands of success stories of disabled people. Bringing the reference of Jhamak Ghimire a disabled novel writer, Mr. K. C. clarified that this only the matter of opportunity which can transform disability into possibility/ability.

Despite of the fact that power supply was interrupted during the whole day, Head Nepal organized a solar power system. Even though the first two facilitators presented their presentation by PowerPoint, because of low battery power rest of the facilitators were compelled to present their performance only based on laptop computer with its backup power.

The Third Part:

After a short break, 20 minutes of time for refreshment (tea and Momos), Mrs. Bishnu Kumari Acharya, the Women Development Officer and the Chair person of the workshop presented the main articles and the key spirit of the United Nation Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability, (UNCRPD). Which was basically intended to be an informative message for the participants to recognize the world wide developmental status of persons with disability and the disability movement.

The Forth Part:

The forth session was facilitated by Mr. Lokraj Shahi, the instructor of Head Vision Home. He had the chance to present the statistical report of persons with disability in Nepal and particularly the condition of people with disability in Humla district according to the Statistical Report prepared and publicized by Head Nepal in 2012. The most of the important figures that Mr. Shahi presented are:

In 2010 disability survey conducted by Woman Development Office Humla, total numbers of 1425 people with disabilities are reported and later in 2011 a follow up survey in 8 different VDCs carried out by HEAD Nepal shows that the numbers of people with disabilities are increased with total number of 1597. Again after a year in July 2012 a follow up survey in another 4 VDCs was conducted by Head Nepal and the result tells that there are total 1801 people with different disabilities throughout the district. Among these 1801, 1030 or (57.19049%) are male and 771 or (42.80955%) are female persons with disabilities.

When we come to the figures of different type of disability, the persons with physical impairment is the highest number with 660 or 36.64631%. Similarly there are 465 or 25.81899% persons with hearing impairment, 298 or 16.54636% persons with visual impairment, 189 or 10.49417% persons with multiple disabilities, 73 or 4.053304% persons with speech impairment, 54 or 2.998334% persons with intellectual disability, 50 or 2.776235% persons with mental disability and 12 or 0.666297% persons with deaf blindness in whole district. Similarly there are 228 or 12.65963% PWDs with general disability and 773 or 42.9206% with medium disability and this highest figure of the class of disability. correspondingly 520 or 28.87285% PWDs are seriously defected with their disability and 280 or 15.54692% PWDs are severely disabled which is the most critical condition.

39.97779% or (720) people with disabilities are reported that the cause of their main health condition (disability) was accident or injury, 35.36924% or (637) that it was by birth, 7.55136% or (136) persons with disabilities didn’t know the cause of their disability. Similarly 6.163243% or (111) persons with disabilities that it was disease, illness, and 10.93837% or (197) people caused their disability due to poor hygiene, intermarriage, malnutrition, lack of obtaining vaccination, age factor, heredity, alcohol/drugs etc.

Comparing the 27 VDCs and territories using data which have been gathered from each VDCs, Thehe, Shrinagar, Kalika, Syanda have the highest disability rates with (136 or 7.55136%, 117 or 6.496391%, 116 or 6.440866%, and 109 or 6.052193%) respectively while Madana, Saya, Melchham, and Khangalgaun VDCs have the lowest rates with (22 or (1.221544%), 30 or 1.665741%, 30 or 1.665741%, and 36 or 1.99889%) respectively. People with disabilities age between 0-18 years are reported the highest rates with 562 or 31.20489%, 541 or 30.03887% are age between 19-40. 930 or 51.63798% are unmarried and 755 or 41.92115% are married, 904 or 50.19434% belong to Kshetri, 530 or 29.4281% belong to different ethnic group, 233 PWDs are Dalit and 134 are Bahun. When we come across education and profession, 24.73535% have got an opportunity to both formal and informal education that includes common literate to university level, 617 or 34.25875% PWDs are engaged with different kinds of profession/occupation including farming, house work, business, job holder/laborer etc. Similarly 90 or 4.997224% people with disabilities have an access to skill building/vocational training and 608 or 33.75902% are reported to be participated in social/cultural activities such as party/ritual, festival, sports, cultural program visiting relatives etc. The information has revealed that 624 or (34.64742%) PWDs) are reported to have positive attitude and 1177 or (65.35258%) are reported to receive negative responds from their family members, friends, and society.

The Fifth Part:

Later on, Mr. Reshamraj Rokaya, the Technical Coordinator of Head Nepal had a presentation on "Accessibility and Disabled Friendly Physical Environment and Structures" Though there was no electricity supply, he on computer demonstrated a lot of photographs of structures such as variation/size of ramp, door, toilet, tap, table, etc. to the participants. Most of the participants got interested on the photos because they were new for them. Mr. Rokaya further said that due to geo-physical setting of the district and local construction system/method and process and the raw-materials used, complete disabled accessible construction/structure is not possible. However there is still something that we can take into consideration while constructing such as doors, steps, taps, toilets etc. The Police Inspector Mr. Hari Saran Bhatta expressed his opinion that the Simikot airport should be accessible for persons with disability. While doing so it will not be only comfortable for disabled but it equally makes easier mobility of all people including patients, senior citizens etc. Mr. Bhatta further requested to Local Development Officer (LDO) and Chief District Officer (CDO) to take initiation in making the airport ways/terminals accessible for all.

Few Words from the Guests:

With the completion of Mr. Resham's presentation on accessibility, the LDO, Mr. Shiva Prasad Rijal had a chance to have few words on the workshop. He firstly expressed his gratitude for having an invitation and participation in the workshop. The LDO thanked Head Nepal for taking the initiation of not only the workshop but all the noble actions which has been historically contributing in the development of persons with disability in Humla district. Mr. Rijal further defined disability as a very sensitive issue in human society. He said- "No one can be escaped from this phenomenon. you are not disabled, but anyone in your family can be, you don't have disabled member in your family but there might be disabled person in your relatives, there is no disabled in your relatives but your neighbors can have disabled person. He further added- " I myself can be disabled any point of my life. Now I am speaking in this workshop, but when I go to my office, I can be disabled on the way itself." : Therefore Mr. Rijal concluded his speech by saying that disability is related to every individuals and is common issue of all community members, development agencies, government, NGOs INGOs., public etc. Everyone should take initiative to help disabled community as much as possible. Finally He declared that though it is impossible to construct a disabled friendly building of DDC office, he will shift his office in ground floor for the sake of people with disabilities.

In the mean time, Mr. Nara Bahadur Rokaya, the president of Red Cross Society Humla thanked the organizer team, specially to Mr. Chhitup Lama for driving the hidden and forgotten segment of Humli society a head. He appreciated the activities of Head Nepal and expressed his happiness to see a big campaign of social work is going on. Mr. Rokaya as being himself a social worker in Humla also presented his sincere commitment to support the campaign one way or other.

At the end of the workshop, Mrs. Bishnu Kumari Acharya once again thanked all the participants who got present in the workshop and also for their active participation and creative discussion/interaction and feedback/suggestion as well. She said that such workshop is organized first time in Humla district and expressed her sincere gratitude for all who contribute directly or indirectly to make this event a big success, specially the facilitators and Mr. Chhitup Lama who helped the facilitators during the presentation and interaction among the participants.

Analysis and Conclusion:

All in all, the workshop was over on time. Though there was power supply problems first two presentation were done with proper way. Rest of the sessions was also managed through laptop. Most of the participants were interested and active enough in the presented subject matter. Frequent discussion among the participants sometime with the facilitators also took place during the workshop. Therefore the workshop became successful to draw attention of all responsible stake-holders, line agencies, Government Authorities towards the disability movement in Humla. We are sure that the participants became aware that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. The participants are also clearly recognized further the diversity of persons with disabilities, The workshop also made the participants understand to recognize the importance of the principles and policy guidelines contained in Nepal Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and in the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in influencing the promotion, formulation, implementation and evaluation of the policies, plans, program and actions at the local and national levels to further equalize opportunities for persons with disabilities. As most of the participants are from the government offices and NGOs and INGOs representatives, we believe that they understand that all developmental agencies should emphasize the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development. In this way, Head Nepal believe slowly and steadily through this kinds of workshop, program and campaign, all Humli people with disabilities are provided proper services and included them into mainstream development and can participate actively in all sectors of society with a high social position and respect with a dignified life!!!