Working towards inclusion

connecting the dots

In Uganda an innovative programme called Connecting the dots is challenging negative attitudes towards disability. The programme staff work with community leaders to find young people with disabilities, some of whom have been kept hidden by their families, and give them access to skills training at local colleges, followed by apprenticeships with local employers.

The programme (jointly funded by Sightsavers and the EU) relies on community connections: a network of teachers, volunteers, local and national disability advocates, employers and students. Many of the participants, including some of the students themselves, initially didn’t believe it was possible for people with disabilities to get jobs and earn an income - but their attitudes have been completely transformed.

In their own words, and in celebration of International Women’s Day 2016, here are some of the stories of the women involved in Connecting the dots (you can read the full stories of all the participants here). Want to join our campaign to make these sorts of opportunities available to all people with disabilities? Sign up here

Lotus

“I’m doing well as a welder. I’m going to start working when my training finishes. When I was at home, I was just sitting… now I’m doing well in my exams, and I want to have my own workshop. I’m better than the boys in my class – I’m the best!”

harriet

“It was difficult - I didn’t know if I’d manage to make a sweater. I’m an expert now! After my training, if I got somewhere I can make my workshop, I can teach others, I can get more knitting machines.

“That is my target, I want to be a role model. Because my situation was not OK. That’s why I’m here; I’m struggling for my good future.

“There are very many people with disabilities in the village. For me now I have achieved my goals, [but] they still have goals.”

More about Harriet

Florence

Susan

“People look at people with disabilities and underrate them – they say they are useless, they can’t do anything. But right now the community looks at me with respect [because I am working], they see me as someone with value.

“People with disabilities should stop underrating themselves. If there’s an opportunity for them they should not misuse it because it will lift them to a level where people in the community will see them as people with value.

“I want to work hard and have my own family and a house so people in the community will say ‘That is Susan!’”

sylvia

“Before I went blind, my husband loved me. When I couldn’t see anymore, he said I had become useless and that he had to nurse me like a child. He began mistreating me and I made a decision to leave him.

“This programme has saved me from begging. Before, I used to beg for almost everything. But with these skills, I can work and provide for myself. And that makes me very happy.

“If [my husband] finds out that I am now working and earning some money, he will send the children back to me. He will be shocked to find out I am no longer the woman he used to throw pity at.”

More about Sylvia

rita

“When I started the programme, life became good. I learned how to knit, how to make something. These days they call me when there’s a problem or a meeting at home. It makes me feel good and important, it shows me that my family sees value in me. Now they call, even visit me. All that never used to happen before.

“[People] wonder how a blind girl like me can make a sweater without any flaws. When they see the sweaters I make, they wonder and doubt at the same time. Many make me weave them in their presence and when I do, they are very happy and buy the sweaters from me.

“We can change societal attitudes and perceptions by telling people that disability is not inability – that disabled people too are human beings with rights.”

More about Rita

lydia

“I was approached by Joseph… when Sightsavers came he brought the students to me. I was worried that they wouldn’t manage to learn, especially the blind people. But Joseph insisted – he works with the deaf and I trusted him – so I conceded and said, “Let them come.” Joseph said they had done [knitting] elsewhere, so why can’t they do it here?

“My attitude has changed, definitely! There are no negative attitudes from customers. Some come just to see the students working, they can’t believe it so I make them stand there and watch and they are all so impressed!

“By the time they finish the apprenticeship I make sure [the students] can work on their own. I keep in touch and I want to know how they are getting on. I feel very proud when I see them doing so well, they all advertise that they learnt from me!”

More about Lydia

edith

“I have three hundred and twenty four children, it is so wonderful, I feel so proud! They call me mum. I feel [they] have a strong feeling or attachment to me just because I’m like a mother to them.

“When we are together I feel I should embrace them, make them happy because I know back home sometimes such kind of love is not there. They know I’m happy when they’re working, and they know when I find them at their places of work it gives me joy.”

More about Edith

you're part of it too: join us!

The women featured in this story are all making a huge difference in their communities, and they’re helping to show others that disability isn’t a barrier to a fulfilled life. You’re a vital connection too - by sharing stories like this and making the voices of people with disabilities heard around the world, you’ll be helping us put pressure on those in power to put their promises of inclusive global development into action. Join our campaign