we may be seeing the flattening of curves of case rates in Northern

Europe and Western Europe, northern America and other countries

of the world. We know that in the countries of Africa and South
Asia, the curves are still rising fast. Those peaks are still yet to be
experienced and we just don't know how severe those peaks are
going to be. But what we do know is that people with disabilities will
continue to bear the brunt of this pandemic. For me, ADD
international, my central message is we have to focus on the
countries of Africa and Asia and increase, double, triple our efforts
to support the COVID-19 response in those countries. As we move
through this pandemic, the strength of the partnership between IDA
and IDDC will be paramount in achieving that. Right. I will pass over
now to my colleague, Ruth. Ruth, it is wonderful to have you here
today. Please, tell us the areas that you want to talk about for us
today. Thank you. >> RUTH WARICK: Thank you very much,
Jimmy. It is my pleasure to be part of this panel. Welcome to all of
those who, by taking part in it. I will be speaking about issues
affecting hard of hearing persons, as Jimmy has mentioned. The
organization that I represent is the International Federation of Hard
of Hearing People. And it's a network of organizations of individuals
who have a hearing loss. For the most part, you can't tell by looking
at someone if they have a hearing loss. Our condition is invisible.
And as a result, it is often misunderstood. And particularly, our
needs are being misunderstood in this pandemic. And there are a lot
of us. According to WHO, there's an estimated 466 million people
with hearing losses. So it's huge number of people that are being
affected, many of whom are not visible to others. So even at the
best of times, communication is our main challenge. And this
challenge has been magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic. And
I'm going to be speaking about three factors in particular that have
impacted hugely on hard-of-hearing people. First of all, it's face
masks. They're being worn by health providers, be of course, by
necessity and increasingly all citizens are being urged to wear them.
For example, in Canada where I live, the message is now that
everybody should be wearing a mask. The thing is these masks
cover a persons mouth and hard-of-hearing people rely on being
able to see a person's face in order to read their lips, which
enhances understanding what they're saying. And now that's taken
away from us by masks. The second major factor affecting us is
social distancing. That's doubling the range of contact in this terms
of distance from other people. So they're further away from us than
ever before. And even when -- with wearing a hearing aid, that
doesn't compensate, because we still need to be close to the other
person. And to use amplification devices is problematic. Usually
amplification devices consist of two components, the transmitter
and the receiver. And we can't give the other person the transmitter
to be able to hold so either we have to hold it out and then the
reception is not clear. So that's not necessarily a solution for usto
overcome social distancing. And then the third issue is that we're all
living in a quarantine-like state. And that's exacerbated our mental
health issues, increased social isolation, loneliness. These are
factors that affect people, all of us, but they also affect hard-of-
hearing people for whom communication is particularly impacted. To
overcome this, a lot of people are making contacts with others by
telephone, going on to the web to have chats, but these are more
challenging for hard-of-hearing people because they rely on being
able to hear the other person. And without additional supports, this
isn't possible. So the isolation is being heightened and includes also
the situation with broadcasts not being captioned. And that means
that people are lacking access to information. Furthermore, more
students are being encouraged to learn online, but that will leave
behind hard of hearing children, unless their need for access to
information is accommodated. So those are three of the major
problems we're facing. Now for some of the solutions. The
international federation of hard-of-hearing people is advocating with
IDA and our partners for captioning. What has happened during this
pandemic is that it has really brought to light that we have a long
way to go in terms of access with captioning. Particularly in
developing countries. We are also advocating for the use of
automatic speech recognition programs that will enable speech to
be recognized automatically with captions for a means of online
learning and everyday communication. At the same time, we still
advocate for professional captioning for formal meetings and
broadcasts. With respect to automated speech recognition program,
usually these are not automatically available in apps unless one
purchases what's called the premium program, and so we're
advocating for the providers of these apps to reduce the prices and
make them affordable for hard-of-hearing people. With regards to
face masks, we're advocating for the use of clear masks or opaque
face shields. Now, this is a solution that would be ideal, except that
there is a limited supply. And there is a limited number of people
that are able to wear them because of the supply not being there.
And it is also something that has now been realized that is a
necessity. The other complicating factor is that these face shields
must meet a certain standard for it to be used or they won't be
used by the health providers. And now that everybody is being
encouraged to wear face masks, there's perhaps an opportunity for
consumers to make their own face masks that are clear and there
are actually some patterned on the website. I Googled it yesterday,
and found a dozen of them. And we do also find during this
pandemic that people are having lack of access to healthcare
services, although some health providers are going out of their way
to be available, which is great, but there is no Cochlear implant
surgeries being done. And in developing countries, there are people
reporting to us that they're having difficulty even getting batteries
for their hearing aids. Finally, I want to mention that the economic
impact is huge. And we haven't yet begun to see how huge that
impact is. That will be something that we will be dealing with for
months to come. At least at this point in time, we're calling on all
Governments to provide financial support for hard of hearing and
other people with disabilities who are financially impaired by the
pandemic. I would like to close my comments by giving you a
reference to our website where we have a lot of information. And
our website is www.IFOHOH.org. That is www.IFOHOH.org. We
have, if you can't find it directly. It is on the IDA website that you
can link to our site. As Jimmy has mentioned, the cooperation and
collaboration among all of the partners have been fantastic. And we
are definitely part of that disability community and are glad to be
working together with you. I look forward to people's comments and
reactions. Thank you. >> JIMMY INNES: Thank you so much, Ruth.
Really lovely to hear. I love the closing comment about
collaboration and cooperation. I couldn't echo that strongly enough.
A reminder with everyone who is with us today, please type your
questions into the chat box. We don't have any so far. Otherwise,
we're now going to switch continents from North America to Africa.
And we're going to invite Betty to come in and tell us more about
the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities in Uganda. And
the response that we're seeing so far. Betty, you're welcome. >>
BETTY ACHANA: [Muted] >> JIMMY INNES: Betty, you are on mute.
>> BETTY ACHANA: Oh, Jimmy. So sorry about that. Thank you
very much for the opportunity. I'm so delighted to be here and to
be speaking on this very, very sensitive topic this evening. Good
evening everybody. My name is Betty Achana, I'm the executive
secretary for National Union of women with disabilities of Uganda.
Tonight, I am going to present a few issues that are impacting
persons with disabilities in Uganda. Specifically, women and girls
with disabilities. The different councils of disability. Now, National
Union of women with disabilities is a women-led organization that
handles all persons, all categories of disabilities for women and girls
in Uganda. That are living with disabilities. We do not discriminate
any. We have the short of hearing, the physical, the epilepsy, the
mental health, all part of our organization. I am so glad to be
speaking to us all this evening. So this is how it is in Uganda. First
and foremost, in Uganda, we recognize and appreciate all the
categories of disability. And with the Affirmative Action, the
Government appreciated and give us a fully fledged Department of
Disability under the Ministry of Gender, labor and social
development. Honestly speaking, every DPO, disabled persons
organization or person with disability is supposed to front their
issues to the national level through this department within the
Ministry of Gender, labor, and social development. Now, where is
the challenge? Since the onset of COVID-19, it was announced in
Uganda on the 18th of March, 2020. Since that onset, we wouldn't
have expected that this department, through the ministry would
give advice to the presidential and the international task force so
they are informed about issues that are affecting persons with
disabilities in the COVID era. We would have expected that they
would come up with a standard operating measure that isthat isthat
is presented to the international task force or the President
themselves because they have an opportunity and it is their
obligation to advise the President on issues that are impacting
persons with disabilities nationwide. This has not happened. We
have glued our eyes on the papers for a very long time, for a press
release indicating and giving advisory. It has not happened. And
because this has not happened, the Government has sent
precautionary and preventive measures for COVID-19. And then
precautionary measures then therefore come without inclusions of
the limitation of the persons with disability. The different limitations.
So the directive we have that is being implemented in this country
is noninclusive. And without that inclusivety, we have the adverse
effect of implementing the directive itself. For instance, the stay at
home. The ban on the public transport means differently to the
different category of disability. I'll take an example for -- take an
example of persons living with epilepsy or mental health or sickle
cell. We had a very recent case this last week. They needed to
access the health center. We all know that they have to be stable,
they have to be stabilized by their medication to survive. Some of
them have to be transfused their blood exchanged for them to
survive another day. Many of them on medication need this
nutrition. All of this come with accessibility. They need the access.
In Uganda, as we all know, the health centers, the medical centers,
at this time, from our residential area. And there is a ban on
transport. Least of all, even the motorcycles that the persons with
disability are very comfortable jumping on, and getting to where
they need to be. So this directive implementation has adversely and
greatly affected the different categories of persons with disabilities.
We plead daily, we plead daily for a look at -- a look into this
directive for an inclusive measure. I know that as an organization
we have pleaded to the ministry. We have written to the ministry of
gender and the ministry of health. And yes, we have got responses.
That your issues will be addressed to the President. And the
President will be advise accordingly. Yes, every day we keep waiting
when there is a press release and a presidential press release. And
they -- nothing comes out. We are still pleading. We are still
pushing for it. Now, secondly, the big issue with urban and rural
persons with disabilities. This goes hand in hand with social
economic lifestyles of this person. We know very well that especially
the women with disabilities who have to provide food for the table
for their children, notice women with disability are mostly single
mothers. They're the most impor -- impoverished. They're living
hand to mouth. You will not meet a disabled woman on the street,
trying to survive, doing this and that, trying to do fashion and
design, tailoring. Trying to do hair dressing for survival. Now all of
this has been locked down. And is no standard specifically
procedure of reaching out to them. Even though the Government is
giving food aid, the Government is giving the masks, the protective
gears if is giving out. But we cannot be sure that these people will
access it, because there is no mapping that has been done to
ensure people with disabilities included. Secondly, DPO,
organizations of people with disability are excluded. These are
people we look to in technical advice. In the absence of the
exclusion of these people or persons with disabilities themselves,
what happened? We're totally excluded. I know the Government is
giving out food in the Cabela area or the urban area. This food has
not reached these persons. Already we are having -- Ruth has
clearly mentioned the hard of hearing. Before the food is
distributed, someone goes out on a megaphone to announce
tomorrow food will be distributed in such and such a place. But how
is a person hard of hearing supposed to hear. You bring in the issue
of social distancing. Probably they're living alone and there is not an
interpreter for them. So it is very difficult to access the information
around the aid that is going on. But again, it is more difficult to get
a whole mapping and data of persons with disability. So that they're
reliably planned for and programmed for and catered for in a special
way. Now, on again, the rural and social economy. We know that
most persons with disabilities had their link somewhere in the urban
areas, those that were working in the urban areas, we're sending
some sort of help downstream to the rural area. Now that is also
cutoff. The cutoff starts with the lockdown, you cannot access
market. Yes, the Government allowed for women to sleep in the
marketplace, what is the hygiene at the marketplace like? Where
are they going to sleep? And how are they transporting themselves
to the market area? To be able to sleep there? With the limitation,
are we going to allow them to go through another -- vulnerability of
wash? So those are the implications of the lockdown. Now, sidely,
we -- sadly we have the different disability categories. Ruth hinted
on this. We have the education system. Right now in Uganda, we're
doing e-learning. It is online. But how many people, children with
disabilities are accessing the online? First and foremost, the gadgets
are not accessible. Many of the families with children with disability
do not have the gadgets. They may not have the smartphones, they
may not have the TV, they may not have the radios. So they are
totally locked out of the learning process that is ongoing. But other
children are learning. Most of these things are online. Even if they
had the gadgets, are we able to afford the data, the MBs, as we
locally call it for us to be able to be online? Okay, if we can't afford
that, are we in reach of electricity? Most of us are rurally residents,
we do not have electricity. So we have those little nitty-gritty
challenges that people in a nutshell underlook, but they are
impacting persons with disability to a heavy magnitude. And we
need them addressed. They seem so small on the face value, but
they mean a whole life for a child with disability when it comes to
education. Yet, we are in an era of leave no one behind. And the
Government of Uganda embraces this at least politically. We should
be inclusive in all of our actions. >> JIMMY INNES: Betty -- >> >>
BETTY ACHANA: We have -- >> JIMMY INNES: Just finish up, we
can move to the questions. Thank you. >> BETTY ACHANA: We
have the messaging around the COVID-19 -- I'm sorry. I lost the
sign language interpreter. I'm sorry about that. Oh, so the
messaging is also there. It is based [audio skipping]. Look at a
person -- a medical caregiver that is all dressed up like someone
going to the moon. It looks so scary. But let alone that, the
message comes out in a holistic, clinical manner. That if you do not
do this, then you will die. The message would be more approachable
if it was socially included. For instance, saying this is how you can
prevent yourself. This is how you should protect yourself. This is
how you talk to your guide or your interpreter. This is why we are
putting these precautions in place. But the message as it is being
sent out is only depicting death. And then I had a very interesting
question yesterday. A person short of hearing asked me, so you're
saying this is a viral infection? It has no cure. But we see Uganda
discharging people who have been cured and healed of COVID-19.
Yet, this is a message that is coming out in a very scary manner. So
how do we reconcile the two? There is need for us to harmonize the
clinical messaging and social aspect so it is appreciated and people
can uptake it as is. >> JIMMY INNES: Betty, thank you. We will
move on to the questions for a minute. If you have anything final to
say, please wind it up so we can go to the questions. >> BETTY
ACHANA: All right. We can go to the questions. >> JIMMY INNES:
Great. Thank you so much Betty. Ruth, we have some questions
coming in the chat box on the side. We're going to come for a
question to you first. There has been some discussion in the chat
box about issues that the hard-of-hearing community faces, for
example, many banks require calling for activating or deactivating
cards. This is presenting a big challenge for hard of hearing clients,
customers. Other times, this group can go to the bank without
taking a risk, but in this COVID situation, it is more of a risk for us
to go to the bank and use a check. Ruth, does your organization
have a position on this? >> RUTH WARICK: Thank you for this
question, Jimmy. This is actually the first time that this issue has
been raised. So I can't say we have a specific position. We have a
position about accessibility. And this is clearly a case where there is
a lack of accessibility, because the individual is not able to hear on
the phone to be able to use it from order to activate or deactivate
their card. So alternative solutions need to be found. And the
alternative solution of dealing with this in person, unfortunately is
now not available because of the pandemic where you can't go to
the bank in person. Although, we do know that some shall services
do allow for people to actually access that service. And they take
precautionary measures to make sure that everyone is safe. In
some countries, there is telephone relay system. So you can call or
you can use your computer to contact somebody else who will do
the speaking or the action for you. In other words, a kind of a
personal assistant. But this is it really difficult to set up if it has not
already been established. So I think what this pandemic is showing
to us, is we're not well set up for some of the unique situations.
They really haven't been thought through. Now what we have to do
is sit down and talk with the people who are affected as well as
those who are in the service industry. But what are the solutions
that can best meet the needs of the individual? So I thank you to
the person who raised this issue. >> JIMMY INNES: Thank you for
your clear answer there, Ruth. Very helpful. Betty, there is a
question here, I will put to you now. And it goes as follows: One of
the biggest challenges facing persons with disabilities across the
world, particularly in the Global South countries, is the very real risk
of losing grounds on the rights based discourse of disability. More
and more Governments are falling back on the medical model of
protectionism rather than ensuring the rights of persons with
disabilities are not being violated. I would love to him from Jimmy
or Betty on your views on this. Betty over to you, please, first and
then I'll share my thoughts afterwards. >> BETTY ACHANA: [Muted]
>> JIMMY INNES: You are on mute, Betty. >> BETTY ACHANA:
Sorry, Jimmy. I lost you. I was just trying to read the question. >>
JIMMY INNES: I will reread it for you. >> BETTY ACHANA: Okay,
okay. >> JIMMY INNES: One of the biggest challenges facing
persons with disabilities is the risk that we're losing ground on the
rights based discourse of disability with more and more
Governments falling back on the medical model approach and
protectionism rather than ensuring that the rights of persons with
disabilities are not being violated. Is this something you are seeing
in Uganda? What are your thoughts on that? >> BETTY ACHANA:
Thank you very much, Jimmy. That is rightly so. I did mention it
when I was speaking. It is something that is very visible in my
country. Not only my country, originally it is affecting persons with
disabilities. Simply because persons with disabilities are perceived
differently by the different duty bearers and the different
policymakers and the different policy implementers. It is
unfortunate that we have not taken an intentional initiative to just
have a moment to educate the duty bearerbearers, the policy
bearers and policy implementers. When you see all of this action
happening to people with disabilities, actions of rights violations, it
clearly shows a lack of knowledge. And we should, as a country,
have that moment, for instance, for the cops, the police, the forces
to have a moment of studying and being educated on the issues of
disability. I know that we have a university that has a department
that is now fully pledged and bringing us issues of persons with
disabilities. But to understand that they have rights and not clinical,
rights that are not really clinical. Not medicinal all the time is
something that we are still grappling with. We are fighting to come
out of. Thank you, Jimmy. You could add on that. >> JIMMY INNES:
Yeah, thank you. I want to speak on something you mentioned
earlier, related to Uganda, about the national task force. And the
fact that organizations of persons with disabilitiesdisabilities DPOs
are not represented on the national task force. That is something
beyond the national level to the district level. I think I am right that
every district in Uganda has a district task force for emergencies in
general. Right now, of course, that means for COVID-19 response.
I'm not aware of representation of people with disabilities or
organizations of persons with disabilities on those task forces. Are
there any examples of that happening in Uganda, Betty? >> BETTY
ACHANA: Yes. Thank you, again. Yes, it is -- after a long push, after
a lot of letters were written and following up personally with phone
calls, that would have been included up in the task force Committee
meeting, and the different Committees. Writing up the letters to the
national level and district level [audio skipping] were allowed to
move to help out. And this has moved [indiscernible] tried [audio
skipping] especially women, it is happening so much in northern
Uganda where our field staff is allowed to pick the medications for
persons with H.I.V. but also other disabilities. Persons with epilepsy
and distributing them to remote areas. Inn -- in an doggo, we are
allowed to specifically go out, [audio skipping] reach out to the
persons with disabilities household and do a sense tization and
awareness. Beyond that, we registered the persons with disabilities
to receive aid. So in response to this, at district levels we're seeing
more positive action compared to the national level. I am at the
national level task force. The risk Committee meeting, but it is not
something that you are going to get away with that you have
spoken about this today and tomorrow you will see a result. . >>
JIMMY INNES: I think that is the heart of the issue, isn't it? You
mentioned in the beginning of that response it hasn't been
automatic. You would expect to be automaticautomatically included.
You had to fight for it, write lots of letters, make phone calls have
side advocacy and lobbying to make sure persons with disabilities
are represented in these structures. That to me is the heart of the
question. All of the gains we had over the last 10, 20 years in
disability right and inclusion, they're endangered of being
unravelled. We are having to fight for the rights. It is a difficult
situation we find ourselves in. It is a big concern as we continue to
move through this pandemic. Great, I will move on to the next
question now. Another one for you, Ruth. The question is here, how
can we ensure that the new normal does not exclude people with
disabilities, especially people who are hard of hearing? >> RUTH
WARICK: I think it is buried in inclusion. We have to have a mind-
set in our society that we need to include people with disabilities in
the solutions and identifying the problems that require solutions. As
you mentioned, both Betty and Jimmy, it is important that we do
not lose ground from what we have gained in the past. So it is really
important that organizationorganizations for people with disabilities
are really in the forefront of advocating and that the rest of society
takes responsibility to ensure that we're involved and included.
Specifically, we need to know on the ground what are the issues
that individuals are facing? So for example, IFOHO plans to conduct
a survey. IDA is also doing a survey, to get information like we did
in the session with the problem of banking, as one example. So
then we find out, well, what are the issues? Then I always like to be
positive in my approach. And to offer solutions. So we're identifying
not just the challenges, but we're together to find the solutions for
it. And I think if we go with that approach, that we're working from
this together. We're all in this together. That we will create a more
inclusive society. >> JIMMY INNES: Ruth, again, fantastic to hear. I
have written it down, I couldn't agree more. We need to be positive
and offer solutions. We have to be focused on solutions. The crisis
demands that of us. We have to be finding ways forward, new ways
of working together, ways of working with new people as we keep
pushing through, absolutely agree with that. Good, Betty, coming
back to you again, it is a bit of a follow-up question, really related to
the last one about the representation of persons with disabilities on
the crisis task forces, et cetera. The question here is: How do you
think the inclusion of DPO representatives on the national task
forces will help women and girls with disabilities reduce the impact
of COVID-19 on their livelihood and. >> BETTY ACHANA: Hello? >>
JIMMY INNES: I will come back to it again. It is about the national
task forces and how do you think your representation or
representation of DPOs on the task force and other structures, how
can that help women and girls with disabilities and how can they
help reduce the impact of COVID-19 on their livelihoods and on
them? >> BETTY ACHANA: Thank you, Jimmy. The major reason
why we formed the task force Committee across the country is to be
an eye-opener. To say look here. You're targeting the entire
population, but there is a minority population that you are not
reaching. So with us being on the task force, we are bringing out
the issues that affect the women and girls with disabilities at the
forefront. To be able to be resorted like any other better than. I --
any other person. I will give you an example there was a lady in
northern Uganda that we took medication to on a Monday. And on a
Tuesday, the hut is torched. And so she loses not only the
medication, but all the properties. And as an organization, we were
not prepared to lift her from a level she dropped to, to a level to be
alive. Being on the task force brought together other persons, not
the DPO only, but the CSO with the Government and district level
relationship in it that district and together, we have managed to
bring this lady to a level to start life. She's not well to go, but yes,
she's at a surviving level. So the biggest advantage we have of
being in the task force is just to bring forth the issues of not only
the women and girls with disabilities at this time in the COVID era,
but generally the persons with disabilities. Thank you. >> JIMMY
INNES: Thank you. That's really good. And I think from your
particular organization's perspective, which is focused on the rights
of women and girls with disabilities, I think you are the right person
to question. Okay. We have like 10 minutes left of the Facebook
Live. The questions are still coming in. Thank you for everybody for
listening and commenting. I think this is a really useful
conversation. We still have a few more to cover. We'll try to get
through all of the questions, but if we run out of time, we will pause
at that point, I'm afraid. Ruth, we have another question for you.
Right at the beginning, when you were giving your opening
comments, you mentioned that you had been Googling companies
-- patterns for clear face masks. Somebody here has asked the
question, and there any organization or group who is working on
the standards are shields for best results for people who are hard of
hearing or deaf people to wear? Is there any particular organization
or group who is working on the standards, on the shields? >> RUTH
WARICK: Jimmy, there definitely are organizations that are working
on the issue of making more clear and opaque either face shields or
masks available for health professionals. And they have to meet
certain health standards, which otherwise are not going to be worn.
And as I mentioned, there is a limited number of them in
circulation, because no one has paid attention to the need for
opaque or clear masks in the past because it hasn't been in
widespread use. When it comes to consumers, there are no specific
standards that are required. There are some masks with the
standard of what they call the N-95. And our organization is working
with these other organizations and networks within IFOHO within
other countries, to identify who are the individuals that are
developing the standards. I don't think that we're going to see the
same level of standard required for the public in terms of masks.
Right now, anyone can make a mask and it doesn't have to meet a
particular standard. And it is still considered to have some level of
effectiveness. But I think what we can do is share information on
our website about where you can obtain that information. Still
gathering it but we're realizing the importance of doing that. I hope
that partially answers the question. I don't think it fully answers it.
>> JIMMY INNES: That is great. A follow-up comment as well, Ruth.
Someone has written, maybe we can contact mask manufacturers,
it seems COVID is not going anywhere in the near future. So we will
have to continue wearing masks. Maybe it is a good time to push
and advocate for the production of transparent masks. >> RUTH
WARICK: Absolutely. It is not going anywhere. We will find people
wearing masks, routinely, in the future, even when the pandemic is
over. It is going to become a new norm. And it is going to continue
to be a huge challenge for hard-of-hearing people. Personally, I
have experienced this several times. I go to the store, and the
person is saying something to me, the clerk, and I have to say, first
of all, I'm hard of hearing, I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I can't even
offer to them a piece of paper and a pen to write down their
comment, because people aren't touching objects. So they have to
have their own pen and paper handy. It's going to take a huge
awareness raising campaign for people to understand the problem
and to able to even have a simple solution, which could be use of
pen and paper, you know, the traditional method, as an alternative
to high-tech. >> JIMMY INNES: Yeah, very helpful, thank you,
Ruth, for that. Betty, one more question coming to you now, and it
is related to the sexual reproductive health rights. The question is:
Is there any way that the sexually reproductive rights and maternal
health of women and girls with disabilities are being addressed
during the COVID-19 response? >> BETTY ACHANA:o thank you,
Jimmy, again. Noticeably, with the outbreak of the pandemic, most
hospitals, health centers in this country were locked up. They were
gated to specifically cut off the COVID-19. So most of the other
illhealth issues, clinical health issues that were not so imagined and
urgent and were set aside, and that includes the SRH aspect. Now,
we also notice that within this era of COVID-19, there is an
immense increase of sexual harassment for girls and women with
disabilities. We just had a case of a 14-year-old girl in gullue. This
was ripped, picked from the house in her house and raped by a local
leader, local council 3 chairperson. Now, this is happening because
most of the health centers are blocked out. They are not only
blocked out but there's an issue, a challenge with accessibility.
There is no transport. There is no peer-to-peer interaction any
more. Ahem. Excuse me. There is no space for discussion of SRH,
the safe spaces that were provided for this girl are not there any
more. They cannot access the services for the sexual reproductive
health. They cannot even just the community worker that was
providing the service, so with the pandemic [audio skipping] it has
been totaltotally difficult for the women and girls to access these
services, I should say. >> JIMMY INNES: Thank you, Betty. I
wanted to pick up on that point. Because it is really impressing on
me. It is really affecting me when you say that there is no space for
discussion of SRHR. It reminds me of something which I think is
really important for us to take away from this session today,
everybody who is here listening to it. Is that despite the great
response that we're seeing around the world from IDA and IDDC
and DPOs, and persons with disabilities all around the world, despite
the great efforts that have already happened, I firmly believe that
there is a total lack of attention paid to the specific challenges of
women and girls with disabilities in some country settings, I think it
is an area that we collectively as people that are pushing and
driving to an inclusive COVID-19 disability responsibility have a
responsibility to do more work to. I'm sure I'm preaching to the
converted here. But Betty or Ruth, do you have anything you want
to add on to that? Ruth to you first, then Betty. >> RUTH WARICK:
Absolutely right, Jimmy. There are so many issues that are coming
to the floor. And it is -- it breaks my heart, frankly. It almost brings
tears to my eyes when I realize how individuals are being impacted.
That they are having their personal safety compromised, and that
the usual support mechanisms and safe spaces are not available to
them in the pandemic. And how frightening that must be to the
individual. We absolutely must do something about it. We must
continue to be advocates. Not only for our own specific disability
issues -- I talked a lot about the hard of hearing -- but I'm also
committed to issues that are facing all people with disabilities and
specifically as you mentioned, women and girls that we don't pay,
as you mentioned, enough attention to. Fortunately in this forum,
we're bringing this to the floor. That is really important. Betty, I
want to say thank you so much for all the important work that
you're doing. It is making a huge difference to those individuals.
And thank you for carrying on despite, I'm sure what are very
difficult times for you personally. >> JIMMY INNES: Thank you,
Ruth. That's fantastic. Betty very quickly, we're running out of time.
For the last one minute, you have anything else you want to add on
to that? >> BETTY ACHANA: Oh, I -- Jimmy, say that again, I didn't
get it. >> JIMMY INNES: We're at the end of the time. Do you have
any brief last comments that you wanted to make? I think there is a
problem with the sound for bety, but I Betty. But I will echo Ruth's
comments. Your role in Uganda is critical. Even though Ruth is
talking about, it is breaking my heart thinking about the individual
circumstances that people are going through right now and continue
to go through in a daily basis, I want to bring us back to the
positive at the end and remind us of Ruth's pragmatic solution,
focused approach to this, we have a duty, we have every
opportunity to find solutions to support women and girls with
disabilities to ensure that the specific challenges facing them during
this period are addressed better, and I think it will be really
important for us, collectively, internationally to ensure that that
happens in the months and indeed years ahead as we move through
this pandemic. I will stop there. Thank you all so much, Betty, Ruth,
for your great perspectives, for all of the comments and questions
that have come in. Before we close, I would like to remind
everybody of the IDA and IDDC survey, which is out there, the
disability rights organization monitor, for persons of disabilities and
other stakeholders all invited to complete a survey to highlight the
issues faced by persons with disabilities in the COVID pandemic.
The link for the survey is in the pinned comment. You will see it in
the chat box there. And please encourage your organizations, your
Governments, your stakeholders in your own context. To respond.
The more responses we get, the better information we have, the
better advocacy we can do on the back of that. Just another
reminder, the next Facebook Live will be midday, New York time,
same time next week, more information will be shared through the
normal channels. Keep an eye out for that. We thank you
everybody, once again for your times, inputs, onwards, upwards,
we have plenty of work to do. Together we will pull through. Thank
you so much. [Concluded] >> Talin: Thank you, again, everyone.
The questions were direct to you, people wanted to hear about what
your organizations are doing and directly on the specific groups. So
really great. Positive responses from everyone. Thank you again,
cannot thank you enough. I'll send you a link to the recording in a
while. So you can view it and see it back. If you are interested.
Thank you. Thank you everyone. Take care. Take care. >> BETTY
ACHANA: Thank you, thank you for getting out -- getting us all
together. Thank you for pulling this through. It has been a great
moment. Thank you for moderation. Thank you, Ruthie, you were
so on point. And thank you to the sign language interpreter. Bless
you all. It is a good night for me. But I know it is a good day for
Ruth. Bye-bye. See you some day when the lifting is done. >>
JIMMY INNES: Thank you, Betty. >> Talin, bye, everyone. >>
Ruth? Hello, Ruth. I wanted to mention to you, Ruth. Is that Alex?
>> Alex: Yes, this is Alex here. I know you have been having some
issues since you can't read people's lives and things like that. I
know in Brussels, we discussed me possibly helping you connect
your hearing aid to your phone so your phone can be a transmitter.
Of course, I was hoping to do that in person, but you know, I don't
know when the next time I'll see you will be. So if you would like I
am happy to, you know, do a zoom call or something to try to walk
you through those steps. [Ruth] >> Alex: I mean, it is actually
something that is embedded in the phone, it. >>S with the phone.
It is not something you have to download. But it is something you
have to set up. I don't know if you have the time right now. We can
see. It is just in your settings. Finish we can take a quick minute
now, if you want. Should we stay