Prayatna Nepal conducted one-day Feminist Dialogue Series in Kathmandu on 28th April 2022 among 16 blind and visually impaired women and girls. The moderator for the dialogue series was Miss Sarita Lamichhane .Ms Sarita asked all the participants to introduce themselves by sharing their names, type of visual disability, place of residence and what makes them feel proud of their disability and gender. After the introduction part, Ms. Sarita shared general rules and code of conduct before proceeding with the discussion session, where she made all the participants take oath of keeping confidentiality. She also took consent from all the participants to audio record the discussion and take pictures of the program for reporting purposes. After the consent was taken, she shared the objectives of the program and gave two scenarios to initiate the discussion. As a program facilitator, she invited and encouraged everyone to share their experiences of two instances: times you could not speak up for yourself but should have and times you spoke up that made a difference. The discussion then began by participants sharing their stories where participants shared their own experiences of when they could not speak up for themselves as well as the times they could speak up which made them feel empowered. From this part of the discussion, the participants unanimously agreed that speaking up for oneself is a powerful medium to get hold of one's life. The participants also shared that getting jobs is very challenging for them due to their disability but even when employed the challenges do not disappear.
This event provided a safe space for these visually impaired girls and women to share their own stories and experiences. They also learnt that meaningful actions should be taken with precautions against people who try to take advantage of them and their disability.
