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Africa Disability Conference

Work being done in the disability space in Africa is usually given very little attention and support. After being in the Special Education field for 8 years, Dislabelled realized that there was no platform for Disability oriented organisations in Africa, to interact, network, upskill, brainstorm and collaborate. The disability space can be isolating and quite hard to navigate as there are not many resources allocated to that space. As a result of this, NGOs on the continent face a lot of challenges navigating it. The conference will therefore be a great knowledge-sharing platform to address the outlined gaps in the disability terrain and to shed light on the great work that individuals and organizations are doing.

About the conference:

The virtual conference themed “Challenging and Changing the Disability Narrative in Africa” will focus on exploring innovative and contextualized solutions for disability advocacy organizations and practitioners in Africa. This will be achieved through engaging lectures and panel discussions from experts. The conference will have three panels and a breakout session

for the participating organizations to network and exchange ideas. The panel themes are Promoting Equitable Healthcare Access, Bridging the Gaps in Education Delivery, and Building Inclusive Employment Systems: Laws, Policies and Opportunities. This event is the first of its kind in providing a platform for Disability focused organisations from different African countries to upskill, brainstorm, network and collaborate. It also boasts of a diverse pool of participating organizations from 23 countries and counting.

The session on Bridging the Gaps in Education Delivery will discuss digital empowerment of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) and the incorporation of technology into practice. It will

also highlight the role of public and private institutions in providing opportunities and in

driving concrete change for PWDs.

  • The panel on Building Inclusive Employment Systems: Laws, Policies and Opportunitywill discuss the development of high-skilled employment opportunities, vocational rehabilitation programs, and business support programs for PWDs. It will explore the challenges that PWDs face in their career and will seek to discuss how both public and private institutions could develop viable solutions to address these problems.
  • The session on Promoting Equitable Healthcare Access will discuss the structural hurdles around the access and use of health for PWDs in Africa. It will also explore how technology could be leveraged, and advocated for, to address the health challenges that PWDs face.

 

About Dislabelled:

Dislabelled is an NGO aimed at providing career and academic development opportunities to

increase the economic power of persons with disability (PWDs) in Africa. Our past/current projects include: ThisAbility, Ghana’s first summer program for people with disabilities;

SustainAbility, a professional teacher training program, which also serves as a policy making platform for special education teachers; SBA, A Small Business Accelerator program, and

Thrive, a Career Growth program for PWDs in Africa.

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