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In this topic the purpose of mobilizing the community is explored. Community mobilization takes into account the role of the other community members in working toward desired change for persons with disabilities.
Community members do this by being aware of the needs of people with disabilities and working with them to find practical ways to meet these needs. Knowledge about disability and ways to meet the needs of people with disabilities becomes common in the community, and is not left to a group of ‘programme specialists’. At the same time, people with disabilities engage with others on wider community issues, and do not limit their attention only to disability issues.
Community mobilization around disability means that relationships between people with disabilities and other community players are strengthened so that all benefit.
See how community members work together to get a young boy in a wheelchair to school every morning.
Haider is 16 years old. He lives in India and is affected by a mobility impairment. When CBR workers realized that the primary barrier to his education was that he had a long distance to travel to school, they arranged to provide him with a wheelchair.
It soon became apparent, however, that Haider’s family, which is poor, was not able to spare the time needed to take him to and from school everyday. So the CBR workers met with Haider’s friends and classmates to discuss the issue. Now every morning, Haider’s friends arrive at his house 30 minutes before school begins. They take turns pushing his wheelchair to the Raspunja Free School, which is one kilometre away from his home. One kilometre was a long way for Haider, when he didn’t have wheels and his friends.
