All issues are relevant to people with disabilities

SAMOA – The Pacific Disability Forum is meeting in Samoa this week to focus on building a more inclusive and equitable Pacific for people with disabilities. Representatives from 19 Pacific countries and territories are attending the five-day conference in Apia. The forum’s chief executive officer, Setareki Macanawai, told Radio New Zealand’s Dateline Pacific what issues the conference is expected to cover. “For example, education, talking about employment, violence against women with disabilities, talk about disaster, about climate change, the whole works. “It is a diverse range of topics. We’re looking at equity, we’re looking at inclusion for people with disabilities. It is our dream, in terms of living side by side, with our brothers and sisters and family members in individual countries and territories.” DATELINE PACIFIC: How well is the Pacific region doing on disability issues at the moment? “ We have governments developing disability policies but we also need, hence the theme of this conference, to ensure that the mainstream society – policies, budgets, frameworks – are including people with disabilities and their rights and aspirations. “So, I think there’s still a way to go but countries in the Pacific, most of them have already signed disability treaties, which is a good sign. The next step is implementation, monitoring and then reporting.” DATELINE PACIFIC: You mentioned climate change. How does that relate to disability issues or how could it relate in the future? “Good question. Everything relates to people with disabilities. At the end of the day, people with disabilities are human beings just like anyone else. “So whatever’s affecting the human being, the person, is affecting a person with a disability. “So climate change – our governments, our civil societies, our region are grappling with an issue – when you talk about relocating a village that’s close to a coastal area because of the rising sea level, there will be people with disabilities in that village. “In the relocation of that village, how can we accommodate the accessibility needs of that person with a disability? When you’re building a new home? when you’re setting up a new village? Climate change affects people with disabilities and I think sometimes we forget.” - Dateline Pacific