What do a dance teacher, a pastor, a community advocate, and a home care worker have in common? If you said they all could be allies to those with disabilities, you’re right!
On this episode of Pushing Limits we will be talking to individuals with those labels – all of whom work to support and empower those with disabilities.
Join us for a journey into the mind of these allies to find out what motivates them to be in solidarity with those with disabilities, and get tips on how to join them in this important work.
Reports on People with Disabilities and the Israel-Palestine conflict
(From DisabilityDebrief.org by Peter Torres Fremlin)
From Palestine, there’s relatively extensive coverage of the situations of disabled people in Gaza. Maha Hussaini, a Gazan journalist, writes about families trying to get out with disabled people after losing their homes. CNN reports on a range of struggles including the impossible dilemma of a director of an orphanage for disabled people: “Where will I leave these children, on the street?”
As well as the investigation from Human Rights Watch, Time has explored the additional barriers disabled people are facing in conflict. Aljazeera offers some short videos on the hardship faced and the experience of a deaf couple: “The planes bomb us. We are deaf so it scares us. There is no one to help us and [we] cannot hear.”
For more of Peter’s news on Palestine go here.
In Israel, one estimate suggests over 50,000 people with disabilities have been evacuated from areas close to the border, to get further from rocket fire. The war is challenging for disabled people, but one hotel is hosting disabled and elderly evacuees for free, and the Shalva National Center has also become a refuge. The so-called “Special in Uniform” unit of the Israeli Defence Forces have been packing and distributing supplies.
For more of Peter’s news on Israel, go here.
For further news on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, including some of the conflict’s ripples beyond the Middle East, go here.
————————-
This program was produced, interviewed and written by Jacob Lesner-Buxton. Edited and voiced by Adrienne Lauby.