Building Back Better: working towards a disability-inclusive, accessible & sustainable world

People with disabilities have a clear vision for their future and for a world that includes them. A world where every person is able to live their life fully and equal - free from stigma and discrimination. Water for Women shares that vision.

The global pandemic of 2020 has had catastrophic impacts on the lives and well-being of the world’s one billion people with disabilities, who have faced:

• higher rates of unemployment,
• increased food insecurity
• challenges to protect themselves from the virus disproportionately more than people without disabilities

This global pandemic has brought into sharp focus the systemic and structural inequalities that exist in all societies – gender, disability, class, ethnicity, poverty, age, sexuality to name a few. The challenges these marginalised groups have always faced, have been exacerbated by COVID-19. In many low and middle income countries, women and girls with disabilities experience further discrimination because of being female.

As we to look to the future there is an opportunity to build back a better world for all, and address inequalities and injustices inherent in our current systems. We all have a role to play in building a society that listens and acts on the ideas, priorities and perspectives of people with disabilities, and understanding that we can only achieve this by ensuring that their voices are brought to the centre of decision-making.

This International Day of People with Disabilities (IDPD), we are joining the campaign to call for a world where all people feel valued and heard; and can access their human rights. Across Asia and the Pacific, Water for Women partners are working to ensure that disability inclusion is embedded in our water, sanitation  and hygiene (WASH) projects, the voices of people with disabilities are heard and their WASH needs met.

This year’s theme is of particular relevance to WASH projects, which have played an important role in COVID-19 preparedness, response and recovery. “Building back better requires us to look beyond simply responding to COVID-19 and ensuring no one is left behind in our efforts. We need to ask ourselves: how can we use the momentum and resources for COVID-19 response to challenge inequalities and ensure access for all?” asks CBM Australia’s Asahel Bush, Disability Inclusion advisor to Water for Women.

The question we must strive to answer is: how can we make sure that WASH policies, institutions and programs in the post-COVID-19 world are more inclusive and accessible than they were a year ago?

COVID-19 response and recovery efforts must take this opportunity to embed inclusion into all activities to ensure we leave no one behind - at the hour of greatest need and beyond, so that when society returns to “normal” in a post COVID-19 world, we reset to a better, more caring and inclusive normal. To this end, Water for Women has developed and released two guidance notes in 2020 to assist partners and the wider WASH sector to consider and embed disability inclusion and sexual and gender minority inclusion into their activities, including COVID-19 responses.

Whilst this is an important every day, IDPD offers an occasion to pause, celebrate successes and generate momentum towards our goal of inclusive and equal access to WASH - for all - and do this in partnership with people with disabilities and their representative organisations.

Today we share some stories from our partners on their work in disability inclusion and how they are bringing the voices of the marginalised to the centre of their work. Happy #IDPD!

There are more than one billion people living with some form of disability. 80 per cent of them live in developing countries, and, globally, persons with disabilities experience disproportionate poverty. COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities faced by persons with disabilities. These include disparities in stigma and discrimination, access to health-care services, the digital divide, social protection and the risk of violence and abandonment - especially of those living in long- term care and institutionalized settings. Women and girls, indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees, older persons and other marginalised populations are further exposed to intersecting risks. The pandemic can be an impetus to find new solutions for building more sustainable, inclusive and equal societies. Many hard-earned gains are now at a crossroad. It is, thus, imperative that disability-inclusion be an integral part of crisis response, recovery and “building back better.” (UN IDPD)

Pictured: WaterAid holds Gender and WASH Working Group meeting with DPOs and Gender Organisation in Yangon, Myanmar. (WaterAid/Eaint Phu Myint Myat)