People with disabilities in Khijidemba and Molung, Okhaldhunga, have started taking International Day of Persons with Disabilities as a national festival. According to the people with disabilities, the celebration of the Disability Day was successful because Okhaldhunga Community Hospital’s community-based rehabilitation (CBR) project advocated the social and cultural rights of people with disabilities. Local people are saying that the CBR project has taught them to think about disability rights and seek rights. Various songs, poems and dances were presented on the occasion as well as a rally, with the event being attended by members of the local government, people with disabilities and their families and other members of the local community. With this kind of event, people with disabilities have gradually succeeded in coming out of their homes into their society and have started talking openly about their rights.
UMN is active in disability rights in other parts of Nepal too, with other recent activities including a screening camp for the children with disability at Chayanath Rara Municipality, Mugu, and various events at district and community levels in Kapilvastu on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
