Unite to Thrive: Milestones of Indonesia’s Disability Rights Movement

This Disability Pride Month, we bring you energizing updates from Indonesia’s vibrant and growing disability rights movement. Today, we have much to celebrate. Emerging youth voices and intersectional feminist leadership are challenging the status quo, shifting power and building a just Indonesia. United and diversified, we are a force to reckon with! Watch our fiery video, Dream, Diversify, Unite, to learn why.

I am thrilled to share our 2024 celebratory milestones:

• Earlier this year, 18 DRF grantees converged in Jakarta to build unity and learn from the rich expertise embedded within Indonesia’s disability rights movement. This gathering brought to life that disability rights activists are growing in strength, from Java to West Papua. We thank the Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities (HWDI) for co-hosting this powerful gathering.
• We are thrilled to see the founding of PELITA, a DeafBlind organization of persons with disabilities centering the lived experiences of youth with DeafBlindness.
• Thanks to the advocacy of Indonesia Mental Health Association (IMHA), there’s increased visibility of women with psychosocial disabilities who are destigmatizing mental health and advocating for independent living and bodily autonomy of all persons with disabilities. 
• IMHA also briefed the Human Rights Committee on the institutionalization of persons with psychosocial disabilities in Indonesia. Their advocacy resulted in recommendations to align laws with international human rights standards, referencing WHO and UN Human Rights’ 2023 guidance on mental health, human rights and legislation.
• Indonesia’s youth with disabilities are driving their own agendas and reclaiming their stories. Self-advocate Morgan Maze of YAPESDI spoke at the World Down Syndrome Congress in Brisbane, and Ati Maulin representing Indonesia Mental Health Association spoke at a side event at the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) in New York. Ati urged states to recognize the agency and lived experiences of women with disabilities to access inclusive care and support systems so they can lead independent lives and thrive.Watch this video of Ati and other DRF grantees sharing their perspectives on rights-based care and support systems at CSW68.
• This year, Indonesia held its general elections in February. DRF grantee, Pusat Pemilihan Umum Akses Disabilitas (PPUAD), advocated for inclusive elections by training election officers and disseminating guides on accessible elections. “We need accessible elections for all!” said Ariani Soekanwo, the spirited chairperson of PPUAD.

Watch our video: Dream, Diversify, Unite!

Looking to the future, we will continue to listen to the long-term solutions of Indonesian disability rights organizations to shape DRF’s responsive and innovative resourcing strategies. Stay tuned for updates, and thank you deeply for your solidarity and support.