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Future is Inclusive
Madhavan SA
Senior Programme Officer
CBM South Asia Regional Office
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About CBM
CBM Vision Statement
An inclusive world in which all
persons with disabilities enjoy their
human rights and achieve their full
potential.
CBM Mission Statement
CBM is an international Christian
development organisation,
committed to improving the quality
of life of Persons with Disabilities in
the poorest countries of the world.
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• Over a billion people, about 15% of the world’s
population, have some form of disability.
• 1 in 5 people, 20% of the population of the poorest
people in developing countries have a disability.
• 80% of people with disabilities live in developing
countries.
• Children with a disability are much less likely to attend
school than children without disability. The gap in
primary school attendance rates between disabled and
non-disabled children ranges from 10% in India to
60% in Indonesia.
• Only 20% of women with disabilities in low income
countries are employed compared with 58% of men
with disabilities.
• People with disabilities are at greater risk of violence:
up to 4 – 10 times the rate of violence against people
without disabilities.
Disability Facts
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The challenge of numbers…
Do statistics tell the true story?
This can be due to many reasons:
• poor or irregular national surveys/
census data which captures disability
in a standard way
• a lack of or incomplete reporting
systems and data in health,
education and social services
• A lack of capacity or training on how
to collect and manage data
Often there is no reliable data in a country on disability, or at
least it is not comparable with other countries
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Why Inclusive eye care?
People with disabilities benefits like any other
individual from an Eye health service
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4 A’s and Q
Availability Affordability Accessibility Acceptability Quality
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Access to services =
• Availability (existence, geographic
distribution, sustainability)
• Affordability (sliding scales, means tested,
free…)
• Accessibility (transport, infrastructure, use)
• Acceptability (culturally sensitive, free and
inform consent…)
• Quality (responsive to users needs and
desired outcomes, monitored with professional
standards and staffing…)
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Communities at risk have improved access to
HEALTH and rehabilitation services to
prevent and treat conditions leading to
disability
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Factors
enabling
disability
inclusive eye
health program
from CBM
experiences
across India
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In India
Delhi
Meghalaya
Tamil
Nadu
Andaman &
Nicobar Islands
Jammu &
Kashmir
Himanchal Pradesh
Punjab
Haryana
Uttarakhand
Rajasthan
Uttar Pradesh
Madhya PradeshGujarat
Chhattisgarh
Orissa
Jharkhand
Bihar
West
Bengal
Sikkim
Mizoram
Arunanchal Pradesh
Assam Nagaland
Manipur
Tripura
Karnataka
Maharashtra
Andhra
Pradesh
Kerala
Analysis of projects,
through reports,
interviews and project
visits of 13 projects
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Enabling factors
Leadership for Disability
Inclusion
Training on inclusion and
including in induction
process
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• Identification of
Disability Champions
Employment of
persons with
disabilities
Enabling factors
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Identifying rehabilitation
and other service
providers in the
community for people
with incurable visual
impairment
Enabling factors
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Factors which
hinder
• Lack of clarity ,
“Mystique “ regarding
inclusion
• Attitudinal barriers
• Changes to data
systems to collect data
on people with
disability
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• Costs of making
institutions
accessible
Factors which
hinder
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Estimated percentage of
people with cataract who are
female
Source: Increasing uptake of eye services by women:
Susan Lewallen, Paul Courtright ( Community Eye health Journal)
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Why gender in eye health
• Do not actively
participate
• Exclusion, gender
bias
• Childhood barriers
to education
• Vulnerability
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Reasons for neglect in
Eye care by women
• Cost factor
• Economical burden
• Decision making
• Eye ailments not a
priority
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Improving access for
women and girls with disabilities
• Reaching the
unreached
• Need for gender
sensitive approach
• Understand the “Triple
discrimination” and
develop strategies to
address it
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Practical Tips:
• Consultation with women with disabilities
• Raise awareness among staff and collaborators
• Appoint a coordinator for disability inclusion
• Employ women with a disability
• Disaggregated data collection and analysis
• Develop networks and two-way referral
(Thanks to Joanne Webber, Chelsea Huggett, and CBM partners in India and
Cambodia.)
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Disability Inclusive Practices
in Eye Care – Key messages
• People with disabilities
should be able to access
eye health services.
• Participation of people
with disabilities in
programme processes
strengthens inclusive
practice.
• Identifying barriers to
eye health services and
addressing these
barriers
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Disability Inclusive Practices
in Eye Care – Key messages
• Referral pathways to
disability services
• Counseling of people
with incurable blindness
and delivery of a
minimum level of
information on diagnosis
• Consider the specific
needs of women and
children with disabilities
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Ensuring equal access to eye care
services for persons with disabilities
require advocacy at all levels
• National Level
• State/District Level
• Community level
Advocacy
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National level
Advocacy should be focused on the following:
• Getting decision makers to acknowledge that there are
gender differences to eye care
• Persuading decision makers to increase access to eye
care for all
• Ensure data collection on the basis of gender
disaggregated disability data
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District level
• Generate local evidence
• In depth interviews with both men and women including
persons with disabilities
• Inform District health authorities and NGOs about the
importance of being sensitive to the needs of persons
with disabilities
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Community Level
• Advocacy targeted at both community members and
eye care service providers
• Poor families need to make difficult decisions about
prioritizing their health
• “To reach women you need to reach men”
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Words to remember…….
• Elderly
• Sick
• Children
• Pregnant women
• Others
Anything that we make inclusive considering
persons with disabilities will benefit all people…..
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Story of change
“You cannot have a baby”, those were the words of the first
gynecologist I visited few months after I got married. I was so
confused. Why wouldn’t I be able to have a baby? I am physically
disabled, but I have no medical reason not to. I faced a lot of
challenges either because of bad attitude of nurses or doctors
questioning my eligibility to be a mother or the inaccessible
medical facilities, whether it is the entrances, bathrooms,
examinations beds etc. I am now a mother of a 5 year old boy
which is one of the best things that ever happened to me, but I
keep thinking why did it end up to be a luxury thing while it is a
right? Why was I only able to do it when I had the money to go to
a better medical care system?”
Meena (name changed)
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Thank You!!
Future is inclusive
Editor's Notes
Tip: Good to highlight that often prevalence rates appear higher in Developed countries – but this is not the case- just that there is systematic and higher reporting and motivation to report. Perhaps ask would you bother to register for a disability card if it did not come with services and opportunities?
This statistics is derived from population-based surveys in several countries and shows that 60 to 65 per cent
of those blind from cataract are female. This is partly because women live longer than men and thus are more likely to develop cataract. In addition, women have been shown to have a slightly increased ageadjusted
risk of cataract.2 Cataract blindness, however, can be cured, or even prevented if the operation is done early
enough, and herein lies the crucial imbalance: women do not receive cataract surgery at the same rate as men. ( source quoted)
Women do not frequently & actively participate in development programs leaving their perspective and voices unheard.
Exclusion coupled with gender-biased practices, reinforce this invisibility and marginalisation
Childhood barriers to education and social inclusion leave them with very few viable and meaningful work choices later in life.
More vulnerable to Poverty, gender-based violence and barriers to reproductive health care.
Women access eye care facilities only when it is free of cost
Economical burden prevents women from accessing health care overall & specially eye care services
Women do not have the decision making power to treat their eye ailments.
Eye ailments not a priority for women themselves and by others within the family as there are other “ bigger” priorities to take care
Nearly all eye health programmes strive to reach the most marginalised people.
They also seek to be gender sensitive, ensuring equal access for all people.
Women and girls with disabilities(including those with impaired vision) are some of the most marginalised people, as they face the triple discrimination of being female, having an impairment,and being among the poorest.
Consultation with women with disabilities to identify what is blocking their access to eye care, and to talk about how best to overcome these barriers taking a bottom up approach
Raise awareness among staff and collaborators about the impact of disability on women and girls and work together to address barriers
Appoint a coordinator for disability inclusion, who understands gender sensitive practice (part-time or full-time) to ensure the action plan is developed and acted upon
Employ women with a disability in your programme to ensure “ Inclusion”
Collect and analyse data by gender, age, and disability, for example by using the Washington Group self-reporting questions.
Develop networks and two-way referral between your programme and primary health care, rehabilitation, education, and DPOs.
Ensure that women and girls with disabilities who cannot be assisted through medical intervention are referred to other services, such as education, rehabilitation, livelihood, social inclusion and health services.