Sponsor: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Collaborator: International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)
Chair: Rosemarie Ramitt - Coordinator of GCOPD’s Women with Disabilities Network
Speakers:
- Ganesh Singh – GCOPD Programme Manager
- Danielle Anthony – IFES Senior Programme Officer
- Her Excellency Nicole Theriat – US Ambassador to Guyana
- Charles Ramson Jr. – Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport
- Kerryann Ifill – President of the Barbados Council for the Disabled
- Erin Brown – Disability Inclusion Consultant in the Bahamas
- Mariyam Cementwala – Disability Activist
- Dheeraj Bansal – Dean and Professor at Texila American University College of Medicine
- Deon Cush-Barnwell – Youth Environment Network
This year’s National Youth with Disabilities Conference was the second of its kind with the first one held in December 2022. The conference focused around advocating for the inclusion and rights of persons with disabilities. The opening ceremony and launch was spearheaded by Rosemarie Ramitt, Ganesh Singh (who gave their welcome remarks and an overview of the conference), and Danielle Anthony, Hon. Charles Ramson Jr. and Her Excellency Nicole Theriat who gave remarks from their respective associations.
Day one of the conference focused more on accessibility for persons with disabilities in daily life. For instance, findings from GCOPD LGE Elections Access Observation were presented by Ganesh Singh, after which Danielle Anthony presented on the current measures IFES is implementing to facilitate voting for persons with disabilities in Guyana, i.e. VOTING BY PROXY and VOTING WITH ASSISTANCE. Keeping in theme with Youths with Disabilities in politics, a panel discussion with Kerryann Ifill and Erin Brown was held surrounding people with disabilities in leadership and civic life. Day two kicked off in observance of Sixteen Days of Activism to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence (with November 25th being International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women). Five participants were dawned in orange shirts displaying messages about ending violence against women and a brief presentation about the matter was given by Ganesh Singh, after which the scheduled activities proceeded. Presentations and discussions surrounded mental health and climate in the context of how persons with disabilities are affected, with presentations by Dr. Dheeraj Bansal and Deon Cush-Barnwell.
In both days, after many enlightening presentations from a variety of speakers and panelists, participants were divided into groups to further discuss and give presentations on the areas focused on. Topic areas included: The formation of strategies to promote the inclusion of more youths with disabilities in civic life, The formation of strategies to advocate for the implementation of the “Elections Access Observation” recommendations, Climate change and youths with disabilities, and lastly a small group discussion was done on the Thematic areas of the draft of the National Youth with Disabilities 2023 Conference Declaration. The presentations given by participants were recorded by GCOPD staff and kept for consideration of the implementation
