(Graphic image of gold Rotary-gear logo to right of blue text stating "Rotary Word Disability Advocacy".) |
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Addressing human-rights issues for
people with disabilities around the world
Good things are going on all over the world!
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Being committed to a cause has many meanings
By Ken Masson
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(Photo of the hand of a volunteer holding the hand of a person in need of help.)
Commitment is an important in the world. It means many things to many people. Much of it depends on who you are and what you are.
To advocates, commitment means dedication to the cause. To Rotarians it is a dedication to the cause - but also to the principles of Rotary. For Rotary advocates, sometimes we must identify ourselves as one or the other.
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Be kind on World Kindness Day - and all year long |
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(Shown is the World Kindness Day banner displaying the event's name and date as well as several extended hands of different skin color, stacked on top of one another.)
The countdown is underway to World Kindness Day 2021! The World Kindness Movement brings to you a Saturday with a difference.
Join them this November 13 by pledging to go offline for an hour and indulge yourselves with the global community in seeking kind pursuits.
To register for World Kindness Day - and to follow the World Kindness Movement's Facebook page - CLICK HERE. Make sure to share your plans for #WKD.
To learn more about the World Kindness Movement, CLICK HERE.
(Shown are two pages from World Kindness Day 2021's celebration guide.)
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Investing in leaders, philanthropists, and peace |
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(Photo of the head and shoulders of young man, who is posing in front of a series of irrigation ditches).
The Rotary Foundation, a charitable not-for-profit organization, and Rotary clubs around the world invest in our future leaders and philanthropists by funding scholarships for undergraduate and graduate study.
Rotary clubs offer scholarships for secondary, undergraduate, or graduate study. Club scholarships are given by individual clubs and are open to anyone except Rotary members and their families. Contact your local club for application information and eligibility requirements.
The Rotary Foundation offers scholarships for college graduates and professionals, to study peace and conflict resolution. Rotary Peace Fellowships are available to candidates who want to participate in a either a master’s degree or a certificate program at one of our six partner universities.
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Siri’s original voice promotes AI-powered accessibility on Internet |
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(Video screenshot of Susan Bennett, as Siri, with a magenta-colored halo around her head and shoulders - as though she is in cyberspace - looking at a male tourist who looks lost and is reading a tour guide, and saying to him, "At the next intersection take a left.")
Susan Bennett announced back in 2013 that she only found out by chance that she became the original voice of Siri. She is now using her accidental fame to promote a new approach to web usability.
Bennett stars in an amusing Siri-based ad for an AI-based approach to making websites accessible to people with disabilities.
(The video was produced by User Way, a widget that helps mainly with the cosmetic aspects of a website, such as what the site looks like and ways of navigating it.)
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Fabulous program of disability-focused screen and stage entertainment |
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(Shown is a scene from one of the two films to be screened, showing a female character leaning into a mass of lighted fog.)
Two free screen-based events celebrating the creativity of people with disability are set to be highlights of activities marking next month’s International Day Of People With Disability, on December 3.
Presented with the support of national peak disability advocacy organisation People With Disability Australia, the two events are:
- December 2 to 4: The world premiere season of four new video artworks by artists with disability at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art
- December 17: The fifth annual Inclusive Film Festival live-streamed nationally from Sydney’s historic Petersham Town Hall.
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Ensuring that no one - including children - is left behind |
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The report analyses the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 with special reference to inclusive education of children with disabilities.
The White Paper has been released in the backdrop of NEP '20, which attempts a paradigm shift in education planning and transaction in the country.
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A mother’s experience raising a visually impaired son
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(Photo of Elizabeth Macharia, who is seated in a room.)
Elizabeth Macharia’s advice to parents who have differently abled children is simple: “Do not hide them.” The Kenya Medical Training College lecturer would know not just because she was a nurse for many years but [also] because she has raised a visually impaired child.
Elizabeth Macharia’s last-born son, Wilson Nderitu lost his sight at quiet an early age and she remembers it like it was yesterday. She had rushed her then one and a half-month-old son to the hospital in the middle of the night after he came under a Malaria attack. On arrival to the hospital, the attending nurse had told her that she had only two options; administer Chloroquine to the little boy or wait until the doctor came in the morning.
From her training as a nurse, she knew that Chloroquine was not recommended for babies. However, she also knew that it may have been the only thing to save her child’s life. She had, thus, made the difficult decision to have her son get a Chloroquine injection.
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Empower, embrace, and accommodate persons with disabilities
By Johathan Metet
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(Graphic image of the words "World [blue color], "Cerebral Palsy" [green color], and "Day" (gold color), located to the right of a stylized rendering of Earth [green color] surrounded by a circular atmosphere [blue color].
On October 6, I, a member of World Disabilities Advisory, joined the Coast Cerebral Palsy Foundation at Tononoka Social Hall in Mombasa, to celebrate World Cerebral Palsy Day.
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(Photo of Jonathan Metet, on the left, posing outdoors with his brother, Francis Kooli.)
I was glad his brother, Francis Kooli, Kisii County police commander, attended the event - despite a busy schedule - and donated diapers.
We had a great procession from Tom Mboya Cerebral Palsy School to Tononoka Social Hall. Mombasa County Inspectorate, some of the participants, and I assisted in controlling the traffic.
Let's continue to empower and embrace persons with disabilities and accommodate them in our society.
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Editor's note: Cerebral palsy affects more than 17 million people worldwide. World Cerebral Palsy Day is a movement of people with cerebral palsy and their families, and the organisations that support them in more than 75 countries. Their vision is to ensure that children and adults with cerebral palsy have the same rights, access, and opportunities as anyone else in our society. It is only together, that we can make that happen.
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Para Football launches Football For All weekend |
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(Football For All advertisement promoting the event.)
Para Football proudly launches the Football For All weekend, bringing together the football community to recognise United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. What will you do to support disability inclusion?
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Impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities |
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(Graphic image of icons of three people with different types of disabilities, a door sign stating "Closed," and text stating the following: "38% of people with a disability were laid off, furloughed or had to shut down their business due to COVID-19;" "People with disabilities are more than twice as likely as those without disabilities to think they will need to find a job outside of their current industry in the next few months;" and, "Two-thirds of people with disabilities expect to experience acute economic insecurity over the next 12 months.")
Global Disability Inclusion conducted a national independent survey of over 500 participants in order to measure the impact and outlook of COVID-19 on those with and without disabilities.
Not only will COVID-19 affect the health and wellness of people with disabilities, but it will also more significantly impact their employment and financial security. In the U.S., people with disabilities have consistently had twice the unemployment rate of those without disabilities.
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Vaccine clinics underway for people with disabilities and sensory-support needs |
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(Photo of a masked VaxAbilities employee displaying a vial of the vaccine, which is attached to a hypodermic needle.)
VaxAbilities' disability-friendly vaccination clinics are now available to ensure that Massachusetts residents with developmental disabilities and other sensory-support needs have the most comfortable and positive COVID-19 vaccination experiences possible. Vaccine appointments at designated disability-friendly locations staffed with trained professionals will provide skilled support to children and adults with disabilities and their family members and caretakers.
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(Graphic image Rotary International's golden-gear icon, to right of blue text stating "Rotary World Disability Advocacy, which is above a graphic image of numerous people of different colors holding hands while encircling world.)
The Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy has 20 active and 10 honorary members.
The Rotary Disabilities Advisory Group - a worldwide movement on behalf of - and by - people with disabilities - has 354 members from 21 countries. They consist of 123 Rotarians - from 49 Clubs in 23 Districts - and 231 non-Rotarians.
To learn more about Rotary International, which was founded in 1995 and has more than 34,000 clubs worldwide with a total of more than 1.2 million members, click here.
To learn more about charitable not-for-profit The Rotary Foundation, which has provided $3 billion in funding for thousands of projects since its founding in 1917, click here.
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(Graphic image of gold Rotary-gear logo to right of blue text stating "Rotary Word Disability Advocacy)
The deadline for stories and photos/images for issue Volume 1 Number 17 is on Monday, November 15.
Please submit your stories and related photos/images to Newsletter Editor Ralph Hammond either via WhatsApp or at ralph.hammond@verizon.net.
All stories must be in either e-mail, PDF, WhatsApp, or Word format.
All photos/images must be in either GIF, JPG, or PNG format.
Our Newsletter team looks forward to receiving news and information from around the world about people with disabilities, and efforts to help them achieve autonomy and respect.
We encourage you to post your disability-related news, information, events, and activities on our club's WhatsApp page.
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(Graphic image of blackboard with white-chalk text stating "Introduce Yourself," and red-heart icon in place of letter "O" in word "yourself.")
Please include the following regarding yourself:
1. Country of residence
2. Role in the society
3. Whether you are a person with a disability, a parent of a child with disability, and/or a diversity- and disability-rights advocate.
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JOIN OUR UPCOMING MEETINGS |
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(Screenshot of online calendar of events, meetings, and activities for Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy.)
With scores of international members, the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy focuses on coordinating human-rights needs for people with disabilities in countries around the world.
Our club has set up international committees in many countries to, identify needs.
We have created an online calendar (shown) for scheduling for all the meetings being held by our club, group, committees, and subcommittees.
While it does not include Zoom links, it will eventually.
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(Head and shoulders of Ken Masson against background photo of cloudy sky with double rainbow above mountainous Colombian landscape
Our monthly Club meeting - for Club members, only - is held on the third Monday at 12:00 p.m. (Eastern time).
Our monthly Group meeting - for both Club members and non-members - is held on the first Monday at 12:00 noon (Eastern time).
To convert Eastern time to your own time, click here.
To obtain the Zoom login for our Club and/or Group meetings, contact Ken Masson our Club's president for Rotary year 2021-2022, via either WhatsApp or at kennethmasson@gmail.com.
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MISSED OUR LATEST MEETINGS? |
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(Head and shoulders of Nirmala Mehendale, president of the India-based World Kindness Movement)
To watch this 54-minute video of the October 18 meeting of the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy, click here.
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(Head and shoulders of guest speaker Anne Oyoo, who runs the Kenya-based Clubfoot Society of Kenya.)
To watch this 68-minute video of the October 4 meeting of Rotary Disabilities Advisory Group. click here.
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(Head and shoulders of guest speaker Ralph Hammond, as he addresses "How to Apply for a Rotary Grant."
To watch this 65-minute video of the September 30 meeting of the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy, click here.
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(Head and shoulders of guest speaker Carolina Barrios, as she shares her experience with "How Successful Rotary Grants Work.")
To watch this 53-minute video of the September 21 meeting of the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy, click here.
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(Screenshot of top half of home page of blogsite for Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy.)
Our club is dedicated to the human rights of people with disabilities.
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(Graphic image of numerous people of different colors holding hands while encircling the world.)
- November 3, 2021
- October 26, 2021
- October 19, 2021
- October 12, 2021 - No issue
- October 5, 2021 - No Issue
- September 28, 2021 - No issue
- September 21, 2021 - No issue
- September 14, 2021
- September 7, 2021
- August 31, 2021
- August 24, 2021
- August 17, 2021
- August 10, 2021
- August 3, 2021
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WE FOLLOW ROTARY'S FOUR-WAY TEST |
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(Graphic image of gold Rotary-gear logo to right of blue text stating "Rotary Word Disability Advocacy.")
Our Rotary Club follows Rotary International's Four-Way Test, a non-partisan and non-sectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships. The Test has been translated into more than 100 languages, and Rotarians recite it at Club meetings:
Of the things we think, say, or do
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Is it the truth?
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Is it fair to all concerned?
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Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
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Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
To learn more on Rotary's Guiding Principles, click here.
To contact Ken Masson, our Club's 2021-2022 president, click here.
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