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Using YouTube to Ensure the Right to Access Information

“Dima With Each Other”, or “Always Together” in English, is an audio magazine on YouTube. It provides two important accessibility roles. It acts as an educational tool that shares critical rights and health information, including information for people with visual impairments on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The audio magazine also provides a source of entertainment for a vulnerable population during a challenging time.

The Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), in cooperation with the Ibsar Association for the Culture and Leisure of Blind and Visually Handicapped People  (IBSAR Association), developed a partnership to develop this initiative for people with visual impairments. The audio magazine provides critical information and solidarity for people with visual impairments during the pandemic through social media.

Supporting Vulnerable People During a Pandemic

With the spread of the COVID-19, the Tunisian government has taken many strict measures to prevent spread of the virus. These measures have included general quarantine and imposing curfews, requiring people to stay at home. Despite the importance of these measures, they have revealed disparities regarding accessibility for people to address their daily needs. The Tunisian government has taken special measures to meet some of these needs. These include providing 1) basic necessities and material subsidies for citizens with limited income, 2) lists of volunteer doctors’ numbers for remote medical consultations, and 3) remote product ordering services and delivery. However, people with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments, are in urgent need of access to information.

This audio magazine initiative is the first of its kind in Tunisia designed for people with visual impairments. It contains four sections:

  1. The first section is health time, or “Weqet Sehah”. It provides useful information related to health affairs, whether physical or psychological. It helps people with visual impairments to overcome the mental stresses and physical quarantine. The first three issues focused on enabling the listener to contact volunteer doctors to provide health consultations over the phone. It also includes exercises to control stress, provide relaxation, improve blood circulation, and more.
  2. The second section is “Know Your Rights”. This information targeted visually impaired women to simplify and disseminate legal information. For example, an explanation of Law No. 58 of 2017 to combat violence against women in Tunisia. Given the high number of women subjected to domestic and marital violence during quarantine, the audio magazine provided resources that enabled women with disabilities to access services and institutions. Resources included names and telephone numbers of associations and centers that provide listening and guidance in various regions in Tunisia.
  3. The third section is light information, or “Malouma Lite”. It provides entertainment and cultural information including advice, games, dishes that visually impaired people can make and stories of leading women with disabilities.
  4. The fourth section is “Mini Tech”. It provides digital literacy for people with visual impairments to encourage independence in communication. Listeners benefit from applications and services that facilitate their lives. This includes information on taxi reservation services, remote product ordering services, home delivery services, and more.

A Collaboration to Support the Visually Impaired

CAWTAR and the IBSAR Association produce two episodes of “Dima With Each Other” every week on Wednesday and Saturday. Anyone can follow the audio magazine “Dima Ma3na” on their YouTube channel.

The Center for Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) was established in 1993, in response to the desire of many international and regional organizations, NGOs, and Arab governments, to establish a regional center for research and studies on the status of women, to collect, analyze and publish data, indicators, and statistics related to the economic, social and political conditions of women. CAWAR also contributes to building the capacities of actors, supporting networking and strategic partnerships, and enhancing women’s rights advocacy tracks.

http://www.cawtar.org/en

CAWTAR Facebook Page

IBSAR Facebook Page

What we can learn from this Tactic:

The "Dima With Each Other" initiative shows the importance of using accessible platforms to disseminate critical information to vulnerable communities. This audio magazine effectively reaches people with visual impairments, providing them with health, legal, and entertainment resources despite the challenges of a global pandemic. By leveraging simple, accessible tools like social media and audio content, similar initiatives can bridge information gaps for other marginalized groups or underrepresented populations.
New Tactics in Human Rights does not advocate for or endorse specific tactics, policies or issues.

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