Deaf Women Aloud Initiative (DWAI), a Non-Governmental Organization advocating and amplifying the voice of Deaf Women and Girls in Nigeria, has launched a Disability-Related Guide for Media Reporting on Deaf Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
The manual was launched at the end of a two-day capacity-building workshop organized to help journalists and other media professionals with the correct approach to interviewing and reporting on Deaf survivors of Gender-Based Violence.
In his address, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disability, Mr. James Lalu, urged the media to focus more on reporting disability rights.
Mr. Lalu, ably represented by the Director, Social Integration, NCPWD, Mr. Lawrence Idemudia, said, “We need to do things in new ways. Reporting issues affecting PWDs have always been relegated to the background, and even when it’s reported, the focus is on the disability rather than the problems. The narrative needs to change.
“I believe this training will improve your reporting skills on PWDs in general. Our issues are of rights and not charity; we are human and should enjoy life and well-being the same as every person.”
In her speech, the Executive Director, Deaf Women Aloud Initiative (DWAI), Mrs. Hellen Anurika Beyioku-Alase, stated that the book would bridge the knowledge gap that exists within the media space because, “the media reportage of gender issues, especially as regards persons with disability with a focus on deaf persons, falls below sensitivity standard.”
She stressed that “the book aims to provide insightful information, particularly to professionals in the media who, in the course of discharging their duties, might come across incidents of Gender-Based Violence and SGBV in Nigeria among PWDs.”