Executive Summary of Preliminary Report

After many weeks of not hearing from me, I am happy to inform you that my time of absence was mostly well-spent. I have completed the first of several works about my project in Panama. My first work is a 30 page report to the Uganda Albino's Association. This report is meant to build upon my first paper Oppression Through Omission: The Human Rights Case of Persons with Albinism in Uganda, and to present the people of Guna Yala, Panama as a positive example of how Uganda might change their negative perception of albinism.

Following this report, I will begin writing an academic paper on the topic that will go into more depth about the subject. I also hope to write more blog posts and journal articles investigating the multiple facets of this project.

If you are interested in reading the report, it is available through Google Documents.
I appreciate any and all comments, questions and suggestions you might have. Also, if there is something in particular you would like to see a blog post written about, please let me know. You can leave comments on the blog or you can email me at kllyalln@gmail.com

To give you a sample, here is the Executive Summary of the report:

In the preceding report from 2010, Oppression Through Omission: The Human Rights Case of Persons with Albinism in Uganda, the status of persons with albinism in Uganda was explained as a human rights concern necessitating action of the Ugandan government. The report outlined the medical and social issues facing PWA and defined PWA as socially disabled as a result of commonly held prejudices and discriminatory practices. The paper called for a change in Uganda’s definition of disability in its 2006 Persons with Disabilities Act, in order to incorporate the internationally accepted definition of social disability.

Since 2010, awareness of the issues facing PWA in Uganda and east Africa has spread around the country, continent and world. The killings and illegal trade of body parts in the Lake Victoria region of east Africa have decreased but still continue. In October of 2011, the Ugandan government began working toward changing the Persons with Disabilities Act to include PWA, among other groups. Though the change does not recognize social disability, it has the potential to allow PWA to fight discrimination and access resources as a defined category under the law. However, discrimination of PWA threatens to undermine the importance of this legal change as well as the work of UAA and other organizations working with PWA. For this reason, this report claims social discrimination to be the greatest threat to the livelihoods of PWA.

The population of Guna Yala Panama was chosen as a comparative point of study because of its contrasting mentality towards PWA. Within Guna Yala, PWA are accepted members of society who attend school, hold positions of power, marry, have children, and live well beyond the age of 30 years despite their geographical position on the equator and limited access to resources such as sunscreen, covering clothing, and dermatologists. What makes the study more relative to the problems of Uganda is that the acceptance of albinism within Guna communities marks a significant mentality change that occurred within the last century. The history of albinism in Guna Yala, shows how many communities and a population of people were capable of embracing a group of people once killed and rejected.

This report outlines potential programs meant mimic the conditions that have positively impacted PWA in Guna Yala. The suggested actions and policies of this report are meant to complement and expand on work already being conducted. It is not meant to be a comprehensive plan of action, merely a guide to improving and perhaps redirecting the focus of current initiatives.