"Let's Move the Limits" Campaign Integrates People with Disabilities
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The OAS and the International Telethon
Organization (ORITEL) launched the "Let's Move the Limits" campaign
on March 12 at the organization’s headquarters in Washington DC. The
campaign seeks to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in
the region, by raising awareness of political leaders and the
general public, through simple and direct messages in a series of
spots to be broadcasted by television networks and through virtual
platforms.
The Secretary General of the OAS,
José Miguel Insulza explained that "the campaign aims to provide
a paradigm shift where as a society we are invited to ‘move the
limits' to fully include people with disabilities in all aspects of
society." Insulza stressed that the collaboration with ORITEL, a
network that integrates 12 countries in Latin America, responds to
the mandate received from the Inter-American Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with
Disabilities. The Convention, he said "sets a key objective of
sensitizing society in terms of promoting recognition of all the
human rights of persons with disabilities, protecting their dignity,
their proper valuation as well as the elimination of all forms of
discrimination and all cultural barriers and other measures that
prevent their development and their full and effective inclusion in
society."
"Statistics on the situation of people with
disabilities in the region are revealing" stressed the Secretary
General, adding that "in Latin America and the Caribbean, over 85
million people live in a situation of disability. Of this group,
over 80% live in poverty and extreme poverty. We speak of a vicious
cycle in which poverty generates various forms of disability and the
disability itself produces higher rates of poverty. The resolution
of this vicious circle is, without a doubt, a pending challenge of
our democracies."
The President of ORITEL, Mario Kreutzberger, a
television presenter known as Don Francisco, acknowledged that
despite persistent challenges, "there has been progress in many
Latin American countries that have already adopted legislation
designed to expand the inclusion of people with disabilities." In
this regard, he highlighted the impact that telethons have had, and
thanked the OAS for joining forces with ORITEL to launch, "the first
regional campaign for the inclusion of people with disabilities."
The Acting Director of the OAS-SEDI Department
of Social Inclusion, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, the area responsible
for supporting the campaign in the Organization, said that the
spots, tutorials and the application for mobile phones, which
address strategic issues for the inclusion of people with
disabilities into society such as work, leisure, and education,
among others areas, are already being broadcasted by television
networks. Muñoz-Pogossian said that these tools will also be shared
through the "use of electronic media and social networks, in
addition to launching the campaign through both entities’ media
contacts in the region."
The spots and the "Limitless App" application are
available on the pages of the
OAS and
ORITEL (Spanish only).
Source: OAS/OEA TV on Vimeo.