From Lamentation to Transformation: Persons with disabilities will share COVID-19 reflections during webinar

On 22 October at 15.00 CET, persons with disabilities across the globe will share their experiences related to COVID-19 and the transformation that has come out of it during a public webinar entitled “From Lamentation to Transformation: Persons with disabilities in the context of the COVID-19.”

Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

20 October 2020

The webinar, first in a series of webinars on COVID-19 perspectives, will raise awareness on the issues and challenges faced by persons with disabilities during this pandemic and highlight hope through the stories, practical support, and social change as experienced by persons with disabilities.

“We are currently faced by a pandemic that has brought with it uncertainty and venture into the unknown. The idea of the unknown which is the oxygen of creativity is what persons with disabilities and their families have always faced and the transformation that has come out of this creativity is the resurrection hope that we want to share in this webinar,” said Anjeline Okola, programme coordinator for the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network (EDAN).

The webinar, which will be moderated by Rt. Rev. Dr Gordon Cowans, moderator of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, will also feature the following speakers:

Fabian Corralles Gutierrez, Baptist Church of Costa Rica, special education teacher, director of Oiz-cualitek and EDAN youth coordinator for Meso-America
Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, commissioner of Missions and Evangelism, member of EDAN, leader in her local congregation, lecturer on theology and disability, member of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee and global advocacy advisor-social inclusion at Sightsavers
Rev. Helen Setyoputri, Gereja Kristen Indonesia, pastor at Gereja Kristen Indonesia and a parent of a 10-year-old son with intellectual disability
Rev. John Donald Naude, Church of England, ordained priest and a renowned disability trainer in the UK and Europe.

Discussions during this webinar will propose practical actions and alternate ways of engaging people with disabilities and the challenges they face during the pandemic.

Link to join the webinar