The Albino Foundation Public Notice
Disability Rights Advocacy Center (DRAC) has produced a handbook to serve as a media practitioner’s guide to disability inclusive SGBV/SRHR reportage.
DRAC recognized the importance of media in the advocacy for disability inclusive SGBV/SRHR and they engaged media practitioners in a one-day training to sensitize them on the content of the handbook on disability inclusive SRHR/SGBV.
The meeting is part of the activities under GIRLS project funded by Spotlight Initiative which aimed at ending Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities by improving access to SGBV services for them.
Speaking at the event, Amaka Agwu, a program officer at DRAC, said that the Media is an important stakeholder and plays a vital role in advancing the integrity of PWDs, especially WGWDs, as this is fundamental to respecting and fulfilling their human rights. The Media is also saddled with the responsibility of spotlighting and bringing to fore the lived experiences of WGWDs. However, holistic, and accurate media reporting on SGBV/SRHR issues has been sketchy due to myths and misconceptions about WGWDs which unintentionally or otherwise, the Media propagates and popularizes.
She also said that it is important that the media is properly guided on the best way to report disability issues, the media need to understand the issues properly and also know right terms to use while reporting disability issues in order to portray disability in positive and empowering way.
She pointed out that the handbook was developed to provide the needed knowledge the journalists requires to report disability issues better such as proper definition of disability, disability inclusion, models of disability, Sexual and Gender Based Violence, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Discrimination and stigma faced by women and girls with disabilities and the appropriate terminologies to use while reporting disability.
In her recommendations, she said that the language, images and description used by the media practitioners to represent disability issues are central to social inclusion and increase awareness on disability rights, therefore providing accurate and realistic information about disability is one key area the media need to improve. She recommended that the media should make conscious effort to improve their knowledge on disability reportage through engaging OPDs/ PWDs, the message should be empowering focusing more positive and strengthen of PWDs not on their weaknesses, employ PWDs in high level strategic positions to participate in decision making process in media organization in order to proffer practical solution to challenges the media faces in disability reportage.
The meeting was attended by media practitioners from print, electronic and online media.
