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HAITI / DISABILITIES
STORY: HAITI / DISABILITIES
TRT: 5.30
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / CREOLE / NATS
DATELINE: 25 SEPTEMBER 2012, 3 OCTOBER 2012, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
1. Various shots, Cara Elizabeth Yar Khan driving to La Piste Transitional Shelter Camp, Cite de Soleil
2. Various shots, Cara at the camp with residents
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Cara Elizabeth Yar Khan, UNICEF Resource Mobilization Specialist:
“Good morning everyone. My name is Cara. I work with UNICEF in Haiti. And I also have a disability.”
4. Various shots, Cara with disabled residents of the camp
5. SOUNDBITE (Sign language) Cilimn, William’s mother:
“All I know is he got very sick and lost his ability to move at the age of one month.”
6. Various shots, Cara with disabled children
7. Various shots, journey to Nos Petis Freres et Soeurs Residential Care Centre
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Welchel Jean Louis, Social Worker, Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs Residential Care Centre:
“We usually find children abandoned at the hospital. Recently we found a two-day-old newborn in front of our gate. We also work at aiding children reintegrate into their families, and also at helping the families embrace living with and understanding a person with a disability.”
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Ann Linnarson, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist:
“So you reinforce the family’s capacity so they keep their child and take care of their child.”
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Welchel Jean Louis, Social Worker, Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs Residential Care Centre:
“It’s not only about helping the person with a disability, but you have to love them. It’s about being able to help them integrate into their families and live in the society with that love and acceptance.”
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Gena Heraty, Director of Special Needs Programs, Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs:
“Our idea is trying to change the environment, and trying to change the mentality, and that way we can move forward a little bit. Our whole idea is holistic: all of the things that you need to support a special needs kid, that somehow you help provide it.”
12. Various shots, residential care facility
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Gena Heraty, Director of Special Needs Programs, Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs:
“And we’re trying to work with them one-on-one in the program we have and it’s working very, very well. In our own program, we try, but we’re tiny. So, the kids coming to us, they’re receiving therapy. You should see their faces when they put on their uniforms. I mean, money couldn’t buy the feeling of happiness you have when you see this. They’re so excited, they’re so proud and they do so well.”
14. SOUNDBITE (Haitian Creole) Yves Marie, Garvenson’s Father:
“I feel God led me to the centre, because Garvenson wasn’t doing well at all. He was so small. At age two and three he looked like a 6 month old baby. But since he’s been getting therapy here, he’s improved a lot.”
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Gena Heraty, Director of Special Needs Programs, Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs:
“It comes down to the same thing that everybody has in Haiti: No jobs. No money. How do you raise a family if you have no money? How do you raise a special needs kid if he has seizures, or she has seizures and you have no money to buy anti-seizure medicine or you have five other kids that are hungry? These children need and deserve the same thing that all children need.”
16. Various shots, special needs facility
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Vanel Benjamin, Haitian Social Services Ministry, Chief of Social Programs Section:
“The right to education, the right to health care, the right to food. The right to decent housing, the right to have play time, they simply must have access to all their rights.”
Because of stigma and discrimination, a serious lack of services and a challenging physical environment, the majority of people with disabilities IN Haiti spend most of their time at home.
Eighty percent of people with disabilities in the world live in developing countries like Haiti and most do not have access to any medical care or schooling.
The Haitian government estimates there at least one million people with disabilities throughout the country.
For hundreds of thousands of families still displaced by the 2010 earthquake, home is a camp like this one.
This is William. He is two years old. He cannot hear, and he uses a wheelchair. His mother does not know what his condition is.
SOUNDBITE (Sign language) Cilimn, William’s mother:
“All I know is he got very sick and lost his ability to move at the age of one month.”
SOUNDBITE (French) Welchel Jean Louis, Social Worker, Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs Residential Care Centre:
“We usually find children abandoned at the hospital. Recently we found a two-day-old newborn in front of our gate. We also work at aiding children reintegrate into their families, and also at helping the families embrace living with and understanding a person with a disability.”
SOUNDBITE (French) Ann Linnarson, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist:
“So you reinforce the family’s capacity so they keep their child and take care of their child.”
SOUNDBITE (French) Welchel Jean Louis, Social Worker, Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs Residential Care Centre:
“It’s not only about helping the person with a disability, but you have to love them. It’s about being able to help them integrate into their families and live in the society with that love and acceptance.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Gena Heraty, Director of Special Needs Programs, Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs:
“Our idea is trying to change the environment, and trying to change the mentality, and that way we can move forward a little bit. Our whole idea is holistic: all of the things that you need to support a special needs kid, that somehow you help provide it.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Gena Heraty, Director of Special Needs Programs, Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs:
“And we’re trying to work with them one-on-one in the program we have and it’s working very, very well. In our own program, we try, but we’re tiny. So, the kids coming to us, they’re receiving therapy. You should see their faces when they put on their uniforms. I mean, money couldn’t buy the feeling of happiness you have when you see this. They’re so excited, they’re so proud and they do so well.”
SOUNDBITE (Haitian Creole) Yves Marie, Garvenson’s Father:
“I feel God led me to the centre, because Garvenson wasn’t doing well at all. He was so small. At age two and three he looked like a 6 month old baby. But since he’s been getting therapy here, he’s improved a lot.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Gena Heraty, Director of Special Needs Programs, Nos Petits Frères et Soeurs:
“It comes down to the same thing that everybody has in Haiti: No jobs. No money. How do you raise a family if you have no money? How do you raise a special needs kid if he has seizures, or she has seizures and you have no money to buy anti-seizure medicine or you have five other kids that are hungry? These children need and deserve the same thing that all children need.”
SOUNDBITE (French) Vanel Benjamin, Haitian Social Services Ministry, Chief of Social Programs Section:
“The right to education, the right to health care, the right to food. The right to decent housing, the right to have play time, they simply must have access to all their rights.”
UNICEF promotes support to vulnerable families to avoid abandonment of children, and advocates for a range of services for all children, including those with disabilities. It supports the Haitian Government to create a comprehensive child protection system that takes into account the needs of children with disabilities and encourages disaggregated data collection in order to better understand their situation.
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