“We need to be part of the process from the beginning to the end”

Naomi Navoce is a disability inclusion activist and advisor based in Fiji. She played a key role in helping design adapted Dignity Kits for women and girls with disabilities. She is a paraplegic and she has been pushing for change for nearly 20 years. The lessons about customized supplies and a focus on disability inclusion is shaping COVID-19  response and strengthening health systems across the region.

The Pacific is a challenging place for people with disabilities. Without ramps, safe street crossings, or accessible health and education services, many in the region are left out and left behind.

For nearly two decades, Naomi has been challenging leaders to build more inclusive communities. “I am very passionate about the work that I do,” she says. “Especially the focus on women with disabilities as well as young women with disabilities.”

“I am very passionate about the work that I do. Especially the focus on women with disabilities as well as young women with disabilities.”

She says she is encouraged by the progress. The Pacific leaders have committed  to international conventions on the rights of persons with disabilities promising to protect the rights of people with disabilities, especially in health services . Naomi says there is still a long way to go. 

“The challenges and barriers are still there in terms of infrastructure and the built environment,” she says. “The built environment needs to look at the accessibility of the facilities.”

We need commitments from the health sector andrural health and outreach in reducing barriers to access. But Naomi says it requires unique approaches to find the most vulnerable groups.

“They are still not able to reach all persons with disabilities. Some might not be aware of the services, or where they are being provided.”

 

“They are still not able to reach all persons with disabilities,” she says. “Some might not be aware of the services, or where they are being provided.”

Naomi says persons with disabilities, especially women, with intellectual disabilities, psychosocial disabilities, hearing and visual impairment are the most marginalized groups and they are especially vulnerable during disasters following weather-related hazards or when systems get disrupted, as we have experienced with COVID-19.

“Gender-based violence in emergencies is a higher risk for women with disabilities,” she says. “In evacuation centers they are vulnerable to sexual violence, while also coping with the stress of enduring the natural disaster.”

 

“Gender-based violence in emergencies is a higher risk for women with disabilities. In evacuation centers they are vulnerable to sexual violence, while also coping with the stress of enduring the natural disaster.”

 

As part of a process to build resilience to climate change and disasters, Naomi led a two  days workshop to collectively design Dignity Kits customised for women and girls with disabilities through  a user centered approach. After days of group discussions in Nadi to design every aspect of the customised Dignity Kits, Naomi says they brainstormed and thought through every item in the kit. This included flashlights with buttons designed for ease of use ,incontinence pads, hot water pack, waterproof sheet and plastic pants, along with other items responsive to the priorities of women and girls with different of disabilities.

In 2019, through the Asia Pacific Regional Prepositioning Initiative, supported by the Australian Government, UNFPA in partnership with the Pacific Disability Forum and the International Planned Parenthood Federationcreated a unique partnership to pursue an inclusive humanitarian response to the needs of women and girls with disability and women and girls more broadly. The Dignity Kit customised  for women and girls inthe Pacific is one of the meaningful achievements of this partnership.

Naomi says she is encouraged by the cooperation that disaster preparedness has fostered. She has been able to see it implemented with the COVID-19 response. She says the lockdowns have increased isolation for many and created new challenges for health systems to meet the needs of  persons with disabilities, even as the systems are tested with the pandemic. She works as a disability inclusion adviser consultant to the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Her contribution to the Pacific Disability Forum on COVID-19, Naomi says, “is ensuring that health officials have taken into account persons with disabilities to ensure that they are safe and protected. I believe we are the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”

“We need to be more inclusive in our policies, programming and planning.”

 

She says it is a process that requires patience and multiple areas like education in  health services.  Naomi says that disabilities are cross-cutting issues because of the overlapping vulnerabilities of certain groups and especially women and young girls with disabilities.

“We need to be more inclusive in our policies, programming and planning,” she says. “We need to ensure that it is not only having a person with a disability and their organizations at the table, but we also need to be part of the process from the beginning to the end.”

Learn more

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women and Girls with Disabilities