Disability, Equity, Justice Working Group organised our first policy consultation on 'Health and Disability' in New Delhi + virtual mode in collaboration with International Planned Parenthood Federation, India Working Group, and Mariwala Health Initiative on 'Health and Disability' in New Delhi + virtual mode.
The consultation was from 9 am IST to 5 pm IST. We had a total of 36 in person participants and 395 virtual participants who were disabled as well as non disabled. Over 80 organisations participated who represented diverse disabilities and chronic conditions including blind, low, vision, deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, various locomotor disabilities, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, thalassemia, psychosocial disabilities, muscular dystrophy, rare conditions like CRPS, IHH and others. We had speakers join in from rural and urban parts of India across West Bengal, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, New Delhi, and also those joining in from Mexico, Switzerland and Bangladesh. Majority speakers live with a disability and also a few who live at multiple intersections like disability and caste, disability and gender queer, disability and rural areas.
The discussions were across 4 panels: 1) Access to health services and rehabilitation: rare conditions, invisible disabilities and communicable diseases, 2) Universal access and inclusion: Health infrastructure, health finance and pandemic response 3) Access to education and information – SRH 4) Menstrual health and maternal health.
Mr Chapal Khasnabis, formerly from World Health Organisation, where he led community based rehabilitation (CBR) work, in his keynote emphasised the need for CBR and assistive devices for health care.
You can read excerpts from the panels here:
Panel 1: Rare conditions, invisible disabilities and communicable diseases
Panel 2: Universal access and inclusion: Health infrastructure, health finance and pandemic response
Panel 3: Access to education and information – Sexual and Reproductive Health
Panel 4: Menstrual and Maternal health