by Chris Agbo
On 27th November, 2019, Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC) organized a breakfast meeting with the media on sexual and gender-based violence/ disability-based violence.
It is part of DRAC’s “RESPECT NOT ABUSE(RNA) PROJECT” an initiative for prevention and reduction of violence against women and girls with disabilities in Nigeria.
Executive Director Dr. Irene Patrick-Ogbogu in her opening speech explained that the essence of the breakfast meeting is to interface with the media to see how DRAC can work with the media to change the pubic perception about persons with disabilities and eliminate violence against women and girls with disabilities. Speaking further, she acknowledged the media as the voice of the voiceless and their role in changing the society is significant as such, the media is very important in the advocacy especially on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) / disability-based violence (DBV). She noted that while SGBV Response has increased over the last few years, DBV has not been noticed by the public and expressed hope that through the media, the public will know about it. She urged the media practitioners to identify ways that they can better collaborate with DRAC to drive home this message.
A short movie was screened to showcase the disability-based violence, it was based on a true-life story and produced by DRAC. The movie brought out the clear picture of what disability-based violence is all about. The participants were shocked that women and girls with disabilities face severe gender-based violence. They made some suggestions and comments on how the advocacy can be channeled through media. Some notable suggestions are showing the movie in our mainstream media to reach more people, working with some notable online media platform because it is cheaper, produce the movie in different local languages and screening the movie at religious houses.
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DRAC’s Executive Director challenged the media on the following points: (a) how to discuss and report disability issues as mainstream issues, (b)how to change the negative perceptions/stereotypes using the media, how can the media report disability issues using empowering language and depictios rather than the disempowering way they have been reporting, (C) one of the greatest challenge person with disabilities are facing is access to media, the media practitioners don’t make out time to stay in disability related programs and they still using offensive words when writing news or articles on disability despite being educated on the right way to do it.
She proposed a training for media practitioners but still wondered how possible it is for them to commit to staying and learning important information to enhance their reportage of disability issues. She went further to charge the media to use their different platforms to create awareness about the Discrimination against Persons with disabilities (Prohibition) Act, to hold government accountable, ensure that the commission is set up and the law is fully implemented. The same is applicable to the National Policy on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights of Persons with Disabilities with emphasis on Women and Girls with disabilities which launched in April this year. The media should serve as watchdog to ensure government commitment towards the implementation of these documents to ensure that they are not just meant for the shelves.
She concluded by urging the media to see the propagation of disability issues as their corporate social responsibility because people with disabilities are not so rich to pay media to promote their issues. Disability issues are everybody’s business. It can happen to anybody at any time. There are some examples of those who have disability today as result of accident. Therefore, the media should see disability issues as their own issues.
She made a passionate appeal to the media to support and promote the Rights of people with disabilities by popularizing the disability act which took the disability community over 20 years of struggle to secure, ask questions, hold the government accountable about the establishment of the commission which would oversee the implementation of the act. She felt that the media are not doing enough in their primary role of holding the government accountable because the media suppose to ask questions about several laws made by government that have not been implemented.
SEE PICTURES OF THE MEETING:
