All this points to the rampant prejudices, stigma and discrimination that society harbours towards persons with disabilities.
"When my wife got pregnant, the doctor suggested a gene examination to make sure that the baby was not blind. Although blindness could be hereditary but still this does not mean that we deprive blind people from their sexual and reproductive health and rights" rightly stressed Cai Cong.
Cai's wife did not take the gene test, and fortunately delivered a daughter with no physical impairments. However, the reaction of Cai and his wife indicate that everyone, including healthcare professionals should be more sensitive to the rights of persons with disabilities while dealing with such sensitive issues without being judgemental.
Cai is bang on the spot in saying to Citizen News Service (CNS) that "All my life experiences reflect the attitude of the public, experts, and stakeholders towards persons with disabilities who are expected to live under the charity of others. This is not a human rights model."
When he joined One Plus One Network of Disability, Cai took sexual and reproductive health as a very important issue in his network. Some of the problems his organization faces while working with persons with disabilities are:
- empowering them to know that they too have SRH rights and that others should respect their dignity;
- raising awareness of stakeholders, especially doctors, teachers and policy makers, to improve rights based services;
- educating the public and telling them that although persons with different types of disabilities have different types of needs, they have the same rights as others.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has brought in a new spate of challenges for people like Cai. They needed not only healthcare but also other types of help. A survey carried out by his organisation revealed that one of the top difficulties faced by persons with disabilities was the digital gap or inability to access information. "We found that 20% of the persons with disabilities had no channel to get enough information. We made electronic versions in sign language for the deaf to get COVID-19 information. Also, after February, with the beginning of the new semester in China, online classes started. But most of the blind or deaf students were actually excluded from these online classes. This was another challenge for them. We made electronic versions of these classes in sign language for the deaf to get COVID-19 information", said Cai.
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