Transcription of WHO video
What is disability to me? Feliza's story, Bolivia
World Health Organisation
The World Bank
The film starts with a black and white picture of a woman with long black hair tied back, sitting in a wheelchair in a courtyard with the sun streaming in. There are several pot plants around the courtyard. The woman is wearing a cream coloured top and long trousers.
The next scene shows the same person sitting next to an open window. A big tree is visible through the window. There is a plant on the windowsill.
This woman, called Feliza, speaks: 'Access is important for me because I have seen the difference that exists for people with disability, specifically the way in which they are treated.'
While Feliza is talking there is a scene of her being pushed along a pavement down a ramp and across a road. Next Feliza is travelling in a car and we see the view from a car wing mirror showing several cars on the road. Then out of the car window there is a row of open fronted shops with many objects hanging from the front entrance. There are two women holding hands with children rushing along the pavement, as well as two more people walking on the pavement.
The camera moves swiftly along the street, focussing for a moment on a man with a big brown hat sitting by the side of the road, crouched over a plate of food eating. A woman sits in front of him with her back to the cars. She is wearing a brown poncho and a black hat. They are sitting next to a trolley with a big white sunshade.
Feliza says, 'Before, I could do everything easily, but after my road accident my life changed completely. We became poor and I ended up living in this house, in one room with eight people.'
She points to a house from the car window. There are shrubs with pink flowers growing next to the road.
The camera goes back to showing Feliza sitting next to the open window.
'The hardest obstacle for my independence has been the attitude of the people. They think we can't do many things. Also, the steps and the architectural barriers.'
There is a picture out of the car window again of a woman standing alone next to a bare wall. She is wearing a brown hat, brown dress, brown strapped sandals and a pink apron.
Then there is another shot of the street, with many cars and signs hanging from shop fronts including one for coca cola, and one saying la milanesa.
'I had an experience in the Casa de la Cultura with the director. There were many steps and I couldn't enter so I sent someone to call for help and when the director came, surprised, he said "What's happened? What's happened? Why are you like this?" He thought that I was there to beg for money, and had not thought that I was working, or that I was doing other things.'
At this point the car is travelling along a street with large white buildings, with dark brown wood round the windows and doors.
Next there is another image of Feliza in her wheelchair being pushed by a young boy. She is using the ramps to cross the streets.
'Access is important for me in my city because I live here. I am here and I want to participate in my city. Therefore, it is because of this that I have worked with people with different disabilities to achieve better access and increased participation for people with disabilities.'
'With the campaign our biggest achievement was that they have constructed 275 ramps in Sucre and it was for the first time and therefore we were very happy. We have made the subject of disability visible through the ramps.'
There is a close up picture of a ramp. Then Feliza arrives on the pavement looking at a mural painted on a white wall. On the bottom right there are the letters a, b, c in black with a hand above the letters showing the sign language letters. There is a brown wall painted along the length of the mural. A man is standing looking over the wall. Behind the wall there are some people playing football. Next to this there is a blackboard with the word 'identity' written on it. A woman is looking over the wall into a mirror seeing a reflection of herself as a teacher. The paint work is quite faded.
The camera jumps to another mural next to the first one. A man sits in a wheelchair at the end of a winding road. There are several figures in front of him along the path, including a small figure, a man using a white cane, and a man wearing a brown poncho at the front of the path. They are all going into a house in the shape of the outline of the country of Bolivia. The countryside is barren where the path starts but another path leads out of the top of the house. A van with dollar signs on the back is driving along this road towards a big house. There are trees around this house.
Feliza continues talking: 'The role the murals have played has been important because it has raised awareness amongst people, who live in Sucre, because it has shown the rights of people with disabilities, the right that we have to access education, health, sport, culture and all that you do within society.'
Then the camera moves to the first mural with the woman looking at the teacher in a mirror.
Feliza asks, 'Estrella, what was your role in the mural?'
Estrella, a woman with long hair in a pony-tail, and her eyes shut: 'I made a figure out of clay. I wanted to represent a blind person in the street, moving about easily. Well, although we need help, we can do it.'
Feliza speaks again, 'Of course, thank you, and you Maria Victoria?'
The camera focuses on Maria Victoria, a woman wearing a white jumper, her fringe falls across one eye. She says, 'Also blind people go to school, to various institutes, although it takes us a little time to learn. But also they can do sport.'
Next a woman with long black hair and wearing a beige jumper, stands in front of the mural and signs to the camera. 'I painted this mural because I had a vision that all the people without hearing impairments could study, could enter university and could become professionals and I saw that as a deaf person, I should also be in university. So I went to study, graduate from college and now I see the necessity to go to university.'
Feliza is now standing with a group of people looking at the mural. She says, 'In the future I think that people with disabilities, we are going to participate more. I have a strong belief in young people with disabilities and I therefore want to support the development of leaders.'
In the background there are images of a town park with people standing around a central statue, children playing, lots of pigeons.
'I want to live my life like any other woman. I want to have the same rights as other people. I want people to see me as I am, a human being, a woman, and not a person who is ill, because I am not ill.'
Finally Feliza speaks straight to the camera:
'This is disability to me. What is it to you?'
Feliza smiles at the camera.