Appropriate, accessible, acceptable, and available training opportunities are usually hard to find for persons with disabilities in municipalities that are considered to belong to individuals from first income class. Persons who are wheelchair users, those with communication challenges, and those who are quadriplegics are usually confined to their houses. There is also the notion that people with disabilities always need help from non-disabled persons. Empowering People With Disabilities through independent living peer counselling provides people living with disabilities with knowledge, skills, and abilities, and teaches them how to avail various resources to become physically, emotionally, and economically empowered. Peer counselling provides a wide range of activities such as sharing of experiences and information that can be understood as a person with disability because the counselor himself/herself is a person with disability. Peer counselling is an effective tool to recharge one’s spirit and vigour especially for people with debilitating conditions. The project also lessens the dependence of People With Disabilities by empowering them to think and decide for themselves. This opens doors to a lot of opportunities and possibilities. They start seeking for themselves the answers on how they can achieve their dreams and how they can convince their family to support their living independently in the sense that they are the ones to decide for themselves.

Building connections for PWD reintegration in the mainstream society 

The Labuin Association of Persons with Disabilities  (LAPDI) in Philippines came in to empower people with disabilities through independent living counselling to provide them with knowledge, skills, and abilities and teaches them how to avail various resources to become physically, emotionally and economically empowered. To achieve this, the project identified and trained independent living counselling leaders, facilitators and peer counsellors. While the training provided opportunities for establishing connections for the PWDa, some of these are grassroots leaders committed to conduct similar activities in their localities while other participants reported significant changes at personal and organizational level. 

Razel Paulo of Santa Cruz, Laguna was encouraged by members of the team to enlist in the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System where she actively participated in all online and in person activities and workshops, even though she could hardly speak due to cerebral palsy. Similarly, Rodel Bataller, is a leader of persons with disabilities in Santo Angel Norte, Sant Cruz, Laguna. After completion of the empowerment project when he attended the first Voice workshop in February 2020, he attempted to conduct independent living peer counselling for their members. He was not able to raise enough funds for the activity except for some barangay officials who provided some resources for cellphone load and bundles. The group is already practicing the concept of “new and good” (individual sharing about the new and good recently experienced by everyone, usually conducted before the start of support group activity) in their organizational meetings. 

April Abordo, Nonilon Rey Burgos, and Cecile Rivera all have a difficulty in moving and requires a wheelchair to move around, with all except April having difficulty in speaking. However, they showed passion and commitment to learning and active participation in the project activities and workshops. The two communicate by typing text in the chat box where someone reads them out, highlighting their commitment and passion not to be left out 

Vice Mayor Malibiran of Santa Cruz, Laguna expressed her support to PWDs. She reiterated that guardians of children with disabilities should also be allowed to attend these workshops for independent learning peer counselling. The Officer in Charge of the Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development and the municipal administrator of Santa Cruz, Laguna both expressed their admiration for LAPDI’s achievement in sourcing funds from an international and innovative grant facility such as Voice. 

“Project implementation could be frightening for first timers.  We learnt a lot in terms of activity and workshop preparations and challenges on the ground.” 

Labuin Association of Persons with Disabilities 

To ensure sustained implementation of activities, LAPDI continues fund raising efforts from different sources. Additionally, the team has set up a Facebook page named LAPDI & Life Haven Empowerment through Voice on the following link https://www.facebook.com/voice.grantee 

One of the most significant successes of the project is the connections it was able to establish. They were able to get in touch with other organizations working for marginalized people, though no significant activities have been conducted yet perhaps due to the pandemic. The team, however, is confident that future collaborations with those actors will eventually happen. The project has been equally successful in provision of knowledge, skills and abilities through the trainings that taught them how to avail resources. The stories of Razel Paulo, Rodel Bataller, April Abordo, Nonilon Rey Burgos, and Cecile Rivera represents the impact the project has had on expanding access to opportunities by PWDs. The Labuin Association of Persons with Disabilities will be hosting an Empowerment grant awarded to the Santa Cruz Federation of Persons with Disability, their partner community in the project.