Carmen (Ms Carman YAU, Chairperson, Association of Women with Disabilities Hong Kong), Distinguished guests and friends,

Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us today. On behalf of the EOC, I would like to thank The Association of Women with Disabilities Hong Kong for inviting us to co-host this conference, which cannot be more timely as COVID has had a disproportionate impact on the everyday life of women, people with disabilities, caregivers and, indeed, women carers who live with disabilities themselves.

As a statutory body, we at the EOC are perhaps best known by the public for enforcing the anti-discrimination laws in Hong Kong and handling complaints. While such laws are based upon the notion of what we call “protected characteristics”, such as gender, disability and family status, what often happens in real life, in actual human experience, is that different facets of identity rarely exist on their own; rather, there is a constant interplay between identities as they reinforce or shape each other, forming the person as a whole.

This is the starting point we envisaged for the conference today. What does it mean to be a woman, a carer, and a person with disability at the same time? What unique challenges arise when rigid gender roles and barriers in the environment are combined with the stress of looking after one’s family? Most importantly, how can we develop public policies and social services that are more attuned to diverse needs?

I am certain we are all looking forward to hearing our distinguished speakers share their insights into these questions. Hailing from different parts of Asia and different disciplines, they will give us an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of ongoing challenges facing women carers with disabilities, as well as effective avenues for change.

Meanwhile, the EOC has also been doing its part in policy advocacy. Just last September, we made a submission to the Legislative Council Panel on Welfare Services about enhancing carer support in Hong Kong. One of our key recommendations is that recipients of the Disability Allowance shouldn’t be automatically ruled out as “fit and capable” carers and thereafter disallowed from applying for support under the“Pilot Scheme on Living Allowance for Low-income Carers of Persons with Disabilities”. As evidenced by our conference today, many people with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, can and do assume caring responsibilities in the family. Such rigid eligibility rules are indeed antithetical to the intersectional nature of human experience I pointed out earlier.

Before I end, I just want to quickly mention that this conference is in fact part of the celebratory programme for the EOC’s 25th anniversary this year. We were established in 1996 under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, and over the next couple of months we will be launching a series of events to celebrate the milestones we made over the years. Do check out our website for more details.

With that, I would like to welcome you all once again and thank you for your support. Here is to an afternoon filled with inspiring and meaningful dialogue. Thank you very much.