BDCD Broadens Makeni Media Disability Reporting Lenses

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson – (AR-Wilson)

As part of its project implementation plan, the Bombali District Coalition on Disability (BDCD) with support from catholic Canadian Organization for Development and Peace has successfully ended a day’s training workshop with invited pressmen from both Print and electronic media houses in Makeni over the weekend.

Since it was established in 2010 by coalition of Civil Society Organization, BDCD main focus has been glued to advocacies and promotion of disability issues in mainly Bombali District, with a vision of contributing and achieving accessible services, equal rights, justice, wellbeing, safety and providing opportunities for Persons with Disability in the Bombali District and the country at large.

The training which was staged at the NMJD Makeni Office located at Sillah Street in Makeni City, Bombali District Northern Sierra Leone featured dialogue sessions of questions and answers between Trainers and Trainees on the theme: “Understanding Disability and the Media” as a path way of popularizing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2011.

The lead trainers of the workshop were NMJD Makeni Director, Joseph Pukawa and BDCD Coordinator, Henry Francis who spearhead discussions with Newspaper, Radio and Televisions Journalists on: Disability Writing and Journalism Guides, Avoiding Stereotypes, Disability Culture and Community, words and phrases to use or not use, Social Media Versus Medical Model and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2011” were all looked into.

The training was very educative and interesting said Williamina Burah Dumbya and Yusuf Sowa two of the many participants of the workshop who revealed to this writer that Part V of the U.N Persons with Disability (PWD) Act of 2011 has not only jogged their memories as Reporters but has also educated and motivated them implement the ideas learnt from the one day interactive training.

Sulaiman Sixty Kamara an Experienced and Energetic Disable Activist, who is also a member of BDCD expressed his anxiety and appreciation for the inclusion of members of the fourth estate as the Project is rolling on gradually.

He further said that this is a perfect opportunity for them as PWDs for their voices to be heard with support from Journalists who are News carriers, thereby enhancing an enabling environment for inclusiveness of PWDs in all development sectors of the country.

In an interview with Northern Times, BDCD Coordinator Henry Francis commended Journalists for their role over the years in promoting disability issues in their various media houses and for being so responsive throughout the training.

He also said that participants are expected to accelerate the rate at which they go in to discover, publish, report and broadcast articles and stories centered around PWDs on Various Newspapers, radio and Televisions of theirs.

Participants made commitments to continue to educative the public to see PWDs as their contemporaries in the development and democratization processes  and not as inferiors in any society in the Bombali District and nationwide.