Why is inclusivity important to us?
One of our main goals with this project is to be able to get the information about the importance of raising awareness of antibiotic resistance and its effects to as much part of the population as possible. This statement and key objective includes population sectors such as children, elders and people with disabilities. As previously mentioned, we got to work with children in our science classes, which was a great opportunity to bond with them while implementing a strategy to get them involved in the creation of our book. This part of our project has become a priority to us as it allowed us to work with people outside of the scientific community, which is why we searched for additional ways to expand its scope.
Course of action
It has caught our attention that people with disabilities are more likely to be in a disadvantaged position in which they don't have equal access to information as the rest of the population, especially those with a visual or hearing impairment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally, there are at least 2.2 million people that have a near or distance vision impairment, ranging from mild impairment to blindness [1].
This is a fact that can't and shouldn't be overlooked, which is why we, as a team, are in the process of printing our children's book in braille with Ver Contigo AC. This is an association that looks forward to creating a network to favor inclusion for visually impaired people, creating a national culture of inclusion with the objective of achieving social wellness for these people [2]. The association has already been reached out to begin the printing process, which is very exciting for us. Having this possibility will allow us to share our work and spread the information among these groups of people that normally wouldn't have access to information about antimicrobial resistance in a country whose culture demands it. This will ideally guarantee a better understanding of the problem and will lead to proper education for future generations.
References
1. WHO. (2021, October 14). Blindness and vision impairment. Who.int; World Health Organization: WHO. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/blindness-and-visual-impairment
2. Ver Contigo, a.c. Instituto de Asesoría y Capacitación en Salud Visual. (2020). Vercontigo.org. https://vercontigo.org/