Bishkek, April 15, 2022. / Kabar /. Our mandate is advancing the rights of persons with disabilities (PwD) across the globe and we’re bringing forward the value-based narrative, Sara Minkara, the Special Advisor for the Office of International Disability Rights in the US Department of State told.
In an exclusive interview with Kabar News Agency during her visit to Kyrgyzstan on April 11-16, Sara Minkara told about the further plans of the US Department of State on support and protection of rights of persons with disabilities.
Special Advisor for International Disability Rights Sara Minkara arrived in Kyrgyzstan as part of the US delegation headed by Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya.
“Our mandate is advancing the rights of persons with disabilities across the globe and we’re bringing forward the value-based narrative,” Sara said and elaborated on four main priorities in the work of the State Department.
Thus, the first one is fostering accountability and building capacity. Talking about the second priority, the special advisor for the Office of International Disability Rights noted that it includes promoting disability-inclusive democracies. Sara mentioned a recent session with the Central Elections Commission of Kyrgyzstan, stressing that the work that they’re doing is making sure that voices of persons with disabilities are heard across the entire political process and framework.
“That’s something that we are committed to as Biden administration in terms of supporting governments and countries in advancing the democratic process and we want to make sure that disability inclusive democracy is part of that effort,” Minkara added.
The third is advancing human rights in moments of crisis.
“In those moments, persons with disabilities are often left behind whether it’s the pandemic that we all dealt with, whether it’s right now in Ukraine. Let’s look at persons with disabilities as a source of solution when we talk about negotiation and peace process, let’s look at persons with disabilities as a source of value when we talk about crisis management,” she said.
The fourth priority in the work of the US State Department concerning the support of persons with disabilities is disrupting the narrative surrounding disability.
Minkara said that countries and societies are large, and global communities are large to be looking at disability inclusion, persons with disabilities as a value to their own work.
“It’s a value to form a policy, it’s a value to society and countries at large. It’s a value for everyone. There’s a phrase in the disability community that says nothing about us without us. But I also take a step further and say nothing without us. Let’s make sure persons’ with disabilities voices are heard everywhere and their values brought across the board,” Sara Minkara stressed.
Further, the representative of the Department of State assessed the efforts of the Kyrgyz Government to support people with disabilities.
“We’re so thrilled that the Kyrgyz Republic has ratified the CRPD, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2019, which is an amazing significance for the country at large and for the disability community. The political will is there when it comes to disability inclusion in the democratic process.
She once again mentioned the session with the CEC of Kyrgyzstan.
“We were told in different meanings what’s needed is technical expertise and support in terms of implementation, whether it’s inclusive education, right? Another thing that we heard as well through different conversations is also attitude. It again goes back to the narrative. Who implements the laws? It’s the people. How do we make sure people are embracing that value-based narrative, how do we make sure people see that value, how do we make sure people are part of the solution? So it’s not just persons with disabilities who are fighting for this. So I think that changing the narrative, changing the attitude towards disabilities is a big part of the work that still needs to be done,” Minkara emphasized.
Sara Minkara said that usually around 15% of the population of the country should be persons with disabilities. “There are a lot of issues around that. So it's important for us to really look at that aspect. We need to make sure when we look at disability inclusion, we need to look at it from a human centered design lens. What are the barriers to access and how do we really eliminate those barriers to access not just from a technical lens, which is really important. Yes. It's important to make sure infrastructures accessible. It's important to make sure the system from a technical aspect is accessible, but I think we also need to look at it from a cultural lens and from an adaptive lens,” she noted.
The special advisor also added that the way to eliminate the barriers from the root is the narrative, the attitude. “I think a big part of the effort should be going towards. I think it goes back to how do we address the attitudes, the narratives in culture and really make sure we're digging at the corner of the problem and find solutions around that,” she noted.
Speaking about how she became the defender of rights of persons with disabilities, Sara Minkara said that she became blind at 7, but thanks to her parents and the community she was surrounded by she lived full life.
“I was able to go to college and grad school and travel the world,” she said adding that as she was growing up, she realized that most kids with disabilities are not living that narrative but they're living.
Sara also told how she started ETI (Empowerment Through Integration), which she found when she was in college. “I remember clearly once I'm meeting this kid, 12 years old at the time. He never went to school. His grandparents are trying to find a way to, almost, like, get rid of him. And this was all because he was born blind. And I remember thinking to myself that I could have been in his shoes easily. So imagine how much potential and values being lost because of the negative stigma surrounding disability. So that's what led me to starting ETI,” she noted.
The U.S. advisor also stressed that even though she was a math major and was planning on doing PhD in math, but she ended up starting this nonprofit which really became her life and she ran it for 10 years and her understanding of disability inclusion envolved over time actually and even envolved for her on a personal level.
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