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People With Disabilities In Liberia Making Their Voices Heard

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In Fight Against COVID-19 In This West African State

By Luther Sangar Mendin, AIFO Liberia Staff Writer

In order to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Liberia on April 10, 2020 declared a state of emergency.  Among the measures imposed, residents are asked to stay at home and should come out unless otherwise necessary.

Other measures inclue Travel between Liberia’s 15 counties are prohibited. 

Already, about 14% of Liberia’s population have some form of disability and since the lockdown measures were imposed, this huge population have been greatly affected by quarantine measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. In an already complex, fragile and vulnerable environment, news of the coronavirus has brought with it even greater insecurity, fear and heightened stigma and persons with disabilities face the harsh reality of this nightmare.

“People here are extremely afraid,” Felix Chelleh says. “As a person with disability myself, I too was very afraid, when I heard that the disease had arrived in Liberia.”

But Felix is not allowing that fear stand in the way of the duty he has signed up to which is to protect people with disabilities and help prevent the spread of the virus in the community. 

Before COVID-19, Felix was trained in human rights and basic journalism as part of the Disability and Startup Project implemented by AIFO and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. About 24 young people with disabilities from Bong, Nimba, Grand Gedeh and Montserrado Counties received training in basic journalism skills, human rights reporting and disability rights, thanks to the partnership with the Liberia Media Center and a hosts of community radio stations.

The participants, all of whom are persons with disabilities, now lead an adapted COVID-19 radio program titled: “We are One”. We are One is a friendly disabled radio program that aims to provide greater awareness on the Coronavirus and its impact on people with disabilities in the response.

The program currently has a partnership with 11 community and national radio stations. The adapted COVID-19 and Disability Rights radio program has been running since the second half of April. Guests appear remotely through phone calls to participate to the program. Notably among the guests that appear are Disability activists, health workers, social workers and human rights officers.

A total of 33 live radio talk show on COVID-19 and its impact on people with disabilities have been recorded. An important component of the radio program has been discussions on the impact of rumours associated with the virus and the role that people with disabilities can play in combatting false information to keep their communities safe.

As misinformation about COVID-19 has spread, the “We are One” radio program have become more valuable than ever.  In addition to the radio  program, AIFO has also launched a social media campaign to update about the COVID-19 situation in the country and has strengthen engagement with the Risk Communication Pillar of the Ministry of Health to develop tailored messages that are more relevant and accessible to people with disabilities.

For example, in one of the messages, it states that “Mental Health is Everyone’s Business so is COVID-19”. Series of IEC materials including messages for deaf persons have also been developed to provide greater awareness to this population of people with disabilities.

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