Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Women Around the World: Ola Abu Al Ghaib

Transcript

Women Around the World: Ola Abu Al Ghaib · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I've
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: never told your production of iHeart Radio, and yeah, welcome
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to women around the world. This month month of July
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: is actually Disability Pride Month. And I didn't really know
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: what this existed until recently, did you? Annie? No? I
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: did not. In fact, you were the one that told
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: me about it. Yeah, and I'm not gonna lie. I
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: feel like a really bad ally and very able us
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and not knowing about this month. But we are here
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to correct that and make sure everyone else knows as well,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: because I think it's really important that we are continuing
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to have this conversation for disability rights and being advocates
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and allies for those as well. And that includes making
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: sure that our government is recognizing the needs and the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: rights of those who are disabled, including about insurance, which
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: that's a whole different conversation in itself, and how oftentimes
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: when disabled people get married, they lose their insurance and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: then they lose a lot of financial help and a
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: that they should have the rights to. I feel like
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: this should be a part of our responsibility as in
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: a country to actually help and advocate and seek to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: get health care for everyone, including and especially the disabled
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: community who are oftentimes discriminated against within the health care
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: industry in the first place. So Happy Disability Pride Months
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to all of our listeners and we hope you are well.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: And because of that, we also wanted to continue on
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and focus on disability rights advocates and we are talking
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: about an amazing advocate. Olah Abou al Gabe. Al Gabe
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: was born in Neblis and Palestine and at the age
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of twelve, she had an incomplete tetraplegi, a spinal injury
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: caused by two and due to this major health issues,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: became permanently disabled. So she did go through hardships in
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: many roadblocks, she was a fighter and refused to stop
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: moving forward. Because of her disability. Many of the schools
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: around her would not accept her, but she was able
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: to advocate for herself and convince her family to let
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: her live with an englishwoman and Bethlehem to attend a
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: private school. At the beginning, she was not allowed to enroll,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: but she was allowed to attend and listen, but soon
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: was able to earn high enough grades for her to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: start the school as an enrolled student. The cause of
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the school eventually would be too expensive for her family
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to be able to cover, but that would not stop her.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: She made her way to the Palestinian Ministry of Social
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Affairs to request the scholarship, but she had to get
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: even more funds, and while at school, she was able
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to connect with the German organization that advocated and assisted
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: disabled students and they were able to see how active
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: she was already in advocating for disability rights in her community,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and al Gabe was able to get a full scholarship
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: through them to help fund for these outside out of
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: just attending the schools, room and board and all of that.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And she never slowed down. While attending high school, she
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: worked with the physiotherapy department at Bethlehem University to include
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: disabled characters and children's stories to bring representation for other children,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and she pushed herself to become independent and defied people's
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: assumptions and biases about her disability. She continued to push
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: for change and disability rights. In college. She worked with
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a campus construction committee to make the campus more accessible
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: by working with the engineers at the university to change
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the campus set up, and she would go on to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: earn a master's and project management at the Berset University
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: at Ramala, and of course she continue to work managing
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: projects related to medical and rehabilitative services for the disabled,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: including working with a rehab center in Palestine in both
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: public relations and development. And she didn't just stop at
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: buildings and policies, but also with cars and teaching herself
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: how to drive when she was able to advocate in
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: getting a vehicle specifically geared for her are. She even
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: met with a former Palestinian president to get her license
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: because she was initially refused, so she worked and got
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I mean that's amazing, Yes, and her experiences have continued
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to push her to become the fierce advocate that she
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: is today. She has used her own winds and challenges
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: to fight for the disabled women in the Middle East.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: With almost twenty years of experience, she continues to use
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: her expertise in international development and inclusive social policies for
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: people with disabilities. She founded the Stars of Hope Society
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and six, which is an organization that
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: quote focuses on the empowerment of women with disabilities in
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the Middle East, and when she was awarded those Choka Fellowship,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: they wrote this about their organization quote Ola established Stars
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of Hope Society SHS and pursues a two pronged strategy. First,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: she advocates for the rights of disabled women, a new
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: concept in Palestinian society, the Levantine region and most of
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the Arab world, where disabled women are often kept hidden
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: from society. Second, provides direct individual services and training to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: empower disabled women to become active members in their communities.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Arranges and mobilizes disabled women by providing them with necessary
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: skills such as negotiation, presentation and communication skills. In addition
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to counseling, medical and rehabilitation services. To create awareness and
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: educated society, Ala developed national advocacy campaign that highlights discrimination
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: against disabled women and demonstrates their potential. But this is
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: just one of the many organizations she is deeply involved in.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: She is the Director of Global Influencing and Research at
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Leonard at Cheshire, which is an organization that supports individuals
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: with disabilities and living their best lives and advocating for
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: their rights and independence. Al Gabe also is Vice sharing
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the International Disability and Development Consortium and representing them on
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the policy board of the UN Partnership for the Rights
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: of Persons with Disabilities and in twenty nineteen, she was
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: appointed the manager of the Technical Secretariat of the U
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: N Partnership of Persons with Disabilities. That is quite a mouthful,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: but you know it's in pressent. It's true. And Yeah,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: she's someone who is not slowing down in any way
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to five quality and equity for women with disabilities. And yeah,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: continues to show and to ensure disabled women are more
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: visible and that they are empowered. Her record alone is impressive.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Her continued work, her fight from childhood to now, it's phenomenal.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I could not imagine trying to hunt down the president
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: because I couldn't get a license. Uh. That tenacity alone,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: it shows how amazing of a woman she really is.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: And she continues to push and being able to do
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: this internationally like she is a phenomenal individual making sure
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: that change happens is beautiful. I love it. Yes, Yes,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: this is one of our favorite things, these stories like
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: this And if there is someone we should be covering
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: in this segment, we would love to hear about them.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: You can send your suggestions to our email, which is
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Stephanie da mom Stuff at iHeart media dot com. You
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast on
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Instagram at Stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as always
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to our super producer Christina, thank you, and thanks to
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: you for listening Stuff I Never Told You prediction of
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcast from my Heart Radio,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.