Prayatna nepal organized a Consultation meeting with OPDs for promoting digital rights-ensuring digital accessibilities of persons with disabilities in Nepal. The discussions were based on accessibility of persons with disabilities in digital space and its associated challenges and issues. The attendees showed active participation in sharing their views and experiences.
Among the participants, Mr. Nir Bahadur Shrestha, vice president of Blind Youth Association Nepal, Kathmandu Chapter shared issues regarding freedom of expression and bodily autonomy. He shared that persons with disabilities face challenges in expressing themselves openly and freely in comparison to non-disabled people through digital platforms. He further added that persons with disabilities especially women with disabilities have difficulties in expressing themselves and their interests in digital space due to fear of judgments and bias in the society. He also shared that even though there is increasing digital literacy, persons with disabilities still lag behind in terms of digital reach. In the same way, Ms. Pratikshya Chapagain, representative of ADRAD Nepal, shared challenges faced by persons with disabilities in terms of privacy and confidentiality in digital platforms. In addition, Ms. Neera Adhikari, under-secretary of Lalitpur Metropolitan city mentioned her opinions on digital challenges and barriers among persons with disabilities. She furthermore added her own challenges on accessing information from websites being a visually impaired person. Furthermore ,Mr. Manish Prasai, admin manager of NFDN, shared his views on campaigning for digital rights and accessibility promotion for persons with disabilities.
This Conculation meeting with OPDs helped discuss on different perspectives on issues of persons with disabilities in digital space,ideas on promoting digital accessibility among persons with disabilities and recommendations have been collected for future planning.
