By Staff Reporter
People living with disability need to embrace information communication technologies and use them to tell their own stories, an activist has said.
Speaking at a belated International Day of People with Disability commemorations in Bulawayo on Saturday, radio broadcaster, motivational speaker, poet and disability/gender activist, Soneni Gwizi, challenged the disabled members of society to use technology to their advantage.
International Day of People with Disability, a United Nations sanctioned day is commemorated worldwide on 3 December.
This year’s theme was Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology.
Gwizi said people living with disability should use technology to amplify their voices.
A father of 2 deaf daughters sharing his experience
“Persons with disability need to embrace technology and tell their own stories. We are now living in a world where print media is dying fast, so if reporters are not reporting issues on disability, we need to tell our own stories.
“This is the time we say to persons with disability, get hold of your laptop, your smart phone, open your own pages, blogs and tweet about issues that are taking place in your community,” she said.
Gwizi, however, noted that poverty was the main hindrance to access to information communication technologies.
“Poverty is the main crippling thing among persons with disability. Smart phones are not readily available to them. The Government of Zimbabwe should do something to empower persons with disability with skills to use these gadgets,” she said.
Gwizi said it was important to use this day to speak out on issues that affect people with disability.
“The international day of people living with disability, restores the dignity of the disabled. It is a day to celebrate and acknowledge some issues are not taken care of by society. You look at the infrastructure, the work environment, there are so many things that do not accommodate persons with disability,” she said.
The day was celebrated in a unique way with some of the participants walking away with prizes. Some of the women in attendance walked away with make-up vouchers, while others were given various gifts.
The participants also took to the dance floor and proved that their nimble footed just like their able bodied counterparts.
