The project goal is to bring the challenges facing people with disabilities at the centre of online discourse in Georgia. By offering personal stories of a group of disabled individuals, the project hopes to show that disability need not be viewed as a financial and social burden. We need to create a pool of strong, productive and active disabled individual who can in turn change the image of disability in the country by powerful online presence.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Tbilisi
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
There is absolutely no online or even ‘offline’ visibility for people with disabilities in Georgia. Due to social stigma, households often hide their disabled family members at home and allow them only minimum interaction with the outside world. With as much as 200,000 disabled individuals in Georgia, the Disability Visibility project will target 30 young members who can share their empowering stories with PWDs and broader public.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The Disability Visibility project will provide the participants with the necessary skills and experience to create and operate their own blogs. Before starting, they will be asked to report about one topic by uploading blog posts, pictures, and video materials. They will share their insight on a diverse array of issues, including education, employment, entrainment, personal relationships, lack of accessible facilities and their public image.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established that will contribute to the success of the project.
Our organization is planning to collaborate with a local NGO, ‘Disabled Child, Family, Society’, which has been actively involved in advocating the issues of PDWs in Georgia. The organization will assist us in finding and selecting a group of disabled individuals with an expressed interest in becoming involved in the project and being active in the internet world.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
30 participants will be trained in the framework of the project.There will be no emphasis on a particular disability, everyone able to operate a computer will be able to take part in the project. The trainings will be conducted by a professional blogger and a professional digital photographer. The beneficiaries will be asked to update their blogs on a weekly basis and will offer short reports during our monthly progress meetings.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Since our goal is to integrate people with disabilities in online media world, the biggest contribution from Rising Voices would be to provide us with information about similar projects around the world, which would facilitate networking and partnership opportunities for the participants. In order to increase the sustainability of the project, we could also benefit from online training and mentorship on the effective use of online space.
Contact name
Mariam Goshadze
Organization
Georgian Development Foundation