For sustainable disability inclusion to become a reality, advocacy must move beyond awareness campaigns and evolve into a coordinated effort capable of influencing policy, reshaping institutions, and transforming societal attitudes. This was the central message that resonated throughout the two-day Rights in Action (RiA) Workshop held from 22–23 July 2026, bringing together Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), disability advocates, programme implementers, and civil society actors to strengthen their collective capacity for rights-based advocacy.
Organised by the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) under the Rights in Action (RiA) Project, with support from the Embassy of Finland in Nigeria and CBM Global Disability Inclusion, the workshop served as a strategic platform for reimagining disability advocacy as a vehicle for systems change, one that is rooted in evidence, driven by collaboration, and centred on lived experiences.
Across two intensive days, participants explored practical approaches to coalition building, stakeholder engagement, disability-inclusive programming, public policy advocacy, accessibility, inclusive communication, and leadership, examining how power operates within society and how advocacy can effectively influence decision-makers to deliver lasting change.
Building Influence and Co-Creating Change
Facilitated by Aver Akigir, the opening sessions challenged participants to rethink the core purpose of advocacy. Rather than treating advocacy merely as speaking out, the discussions positioned it as a deliberate process of understanding, navigating, and influencing political authority, financial resources, technical expertise, and community trust. While civil society organisations can generate ideas and champion reforms, sustainable progress depends on building strategic relationships that drive government ownership and institutional commitment.
A central themes of the workshop was participatory programming. Participants were urged to abandon traditional, top-down approaches where interventions are designed on behalf of communities. Instead, programs achieve credibility and long-term impact when co-created alongside persons with disabilities throughout the entire project cycle, from identification and design to monitoring and evaluation. Using practical healthcare examples, the facilitator illustrated how authentic testimonies from women with disabilities communicate structural barriers more effectively than statistics alone.
Documentation, Coalitions, and Inclusive Design
Beyond policy engagement, documentation was reframed as a strategic advocacy tool that preserves institutional memory, demonstrates accountability, measures impact, and builds digital visibility across media platforms to attract future partnerships.
The workshop also emphasized that fragmented advocacy struggles to achieve structural reform, positioning coalition building as the engine of systems change. High-performing coalitions require shared vision, mutual accountability, transparent communication, adaptive learning, and ongoing relationship management.
Furthermore, accessibility must never be an afterthought. Delivering equitable participation requires integrating accessible venues, Braille materials, inclusive communication, cross-disability representation, and active participation of women with disabilities directly into planning, budgeting, and execution from the outset.
Reframing Disability Through a Rights-Based Lens
Facilitated by Uche Andrew, Disability Inclusion Advisor at JONAPWD, the second major session shifted the framework from charity and medical models to the social and human rights models enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). This perspective reframes disability not as an individual limitation, but as the result of environmental, institutional, communication, and attitudinal barriers that impede full participation in society.
The facilitator introduced two practical equations to analyze exclusion and inclusion:
Impairment + Barrier = Disability
Impairment – Barrier = Inclusion
These frameworks demonstrate that removing barriers creates equal opportunities for participation without needing to alter an individual’s impairment.
To uphold human dignity and prevent degradation, organizations must align with UNCRPD communication standards by using respectful, person-centred terminology. Rather than using shorthand abbreviations or outdated labels such as “PWD” or “the disabled,” advocates and practitioners must write terms in full, such as “persons with disabilities,” “person with a visual impairment,” or “person with a physical disability”, ensuring language recognizes the individual first. Written, signed, and non-verbal language must consistently reflect dignity, build trust, and foster genuine belonging across all public, digital, and programmatic materials.
Turning Advocacy into Public Policy and Governance
The final phase of the workshop focused on navigating the policy lifecycle, from agenda-setting and problem definition to securing government commitment and institutionalizing permanent funding. Relying on temporary project-based funding limits sustainability; true inclusion requires dedicated budget lines across education, health, infrastructure, and social development ministries.
Participants analyzed visible, hidden, and invisible power structures to design strategies capable of tackling legal barriers, institutional gatekeeping, and deeply rooted social stereotypes. Grounded in this systemic understanding, five key reflections captured the core takeaways of the two days:
- “Without the community, your advocacy is meaningless.”
- “Knowledge is power, but lived experience gives knowledge credibility.”
- “Strong relationships build strong movements.”
- “Advocacy works better with the right actors. Together we can change systems.”
- “The first point is agenda setting, where we identify the problem. That’s when we bring our own solution and policy proposal before seeking government and donor commitment.”
- “For autism, learning disabilities and mental health conditions, support is lifelong. Governments must understand why such investments deserve long-term commitment.”
- “The advocacy we do as individual organisations is not enough. We need coalitions that can attract government action and mobilise greater investment for disability inclusion.”
- “Success is measured not only by the results achieved but by how ethically people work together to achieve them.”
Looking Ahead
The Rights in Action Workshop provided a strategic roadmap for transforming policy commitments into measurable, sustainable outcomes. Achieving lasting change requires moving beyond isolated projects toward sustained cross-disability partnerships, institutional reforms, dedicated public funding, and the continuous, meaningful leadership of persons with disabilities at every level of decision-making.
