ULAB team runs disability awareness campaign as part of global Facebook competition

A group of students from the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh are running a campaign to raise awareness of disabilities as part of a global competition called “Peer to Peer: Facebook Global Digital Challenge” organised by EdVenture Partners, US and Facebook.

This year, 50 teams from 33 different countries are taking part in the competition.

Student teams are tasked with countering the “pervasiveness of hate and extremism on social media in ways that are credible and authentic to their peers and communities”, according to a statement from ULAB.

Each of the teams will set up a Facebook page where they post audio-visual content for their campaigns.

These are made public and the three top teams will win prizes.

The ULAB team, ‘Team One’, is running a campaign called ‘Disability Matters to Me’. Their campaign aims to “promote awareness on the different types of disabilities and to reduce hatred and hate-speech both online and offline against people who have some form of disability”.

The team is comprised of Md Al-Arifin, Anika Bushra, Hasibul Islam Shanto, Fareeha Nawsheen Rahman and Shahabul Alam Sajib.

‘Team One’ has produced informational articles and videos for their Facebook page and website. They also interviewed members of the Bangladesh Wheelchair Cricket team and shared the video of the interview online.

ULAB says they have received a lot of positive feedback for this campaign.

In addition to online activities, the group has also held an hour-long programme on the university’s radio station and held dialogues at ULAB and Queen’s School and College as part of the campaign.

The team plans to continue its campaign past the end point of the competition because they believe in the importance of the campaign and its social message.

“The team wants a country where everyone and everything is disability-friendly, and where all citizens understand the various disabilities that exist and do not discriminate against disabled people but treat them with respect and empathy,” ULAB said in a statement.

“They added that in the end, all they want is to end the hate and bring love and kindness because only that can bring in peace and equality.”

Their campaign was conducted with support from Dr Nafeesur Rahman a disability and development consultant with close to three decades of experience in this field in Bangladesh.