ISLAMABAD: There is need to create a conducive environment for persons with disabilities (PWDs) especially women and girls, speakers pointed out during a webinar organised by Rozan titled ‘Promoting the Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities in Covid-19’.

According to some of the recommendations made by participants, training healthcare providers - doctors, nurses, psychologists - legal service providers and care takers of PWDs was necessary to eradicate the discriminatory and biased attitude of society towards them along with ensuring availability of a “gender sensitive and person centred” counselling helpline for the betterment of their emotional health.

Speakers emphasised on the development of systematic strategies to solve issues of mobility and access to care by engaging NGOs, INGOs, and government institutions. They also said that the government and policy makers should focus on long term initiatives instead of coming up with “quick fixes” and reform policies that focus on using the right terminology when referring to women with disabilities (WWDs) instead of generic terms. Availability of data on PWDs must be ensured through a population census for planning and implementation of such policies, they added.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2020