“Our generation is the bridge towards our rights”: Louna’s journey towards a more inclusive Lebanon

For International Youth Day, Louna Yammine, 29, reflects on the power of young women to challenge barriers, advance disability rights and help build a Lebanon where everyone can participate equally.

Louna Yammine, 29, is a graphic designer with LUPD’s Access Kitchen in Beirut and an advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities. Photo: UN Women/Lauren Rooney

Asked to describe her generation in Lebanon in a single word, Louna Yammine does not hesitate.

“Bridge”

“Our generation is the bridge towards our rights,” she says.

For Louna, the word reflects the role of her generation in continuing the journey towards equality -  advocating for their rights today while laying the foundations for a more inclusive Lebanon tomorrow. While progress has been made, she believes her generation must continue pushing for a future where the rights of persons with disabilities are fully recognized, respected and realized.

At 29, Louna is doing exactly that.

Every day at Access Kitchen in Beirut, women with disabilities work side by side to prepare hot meals for families affected by crisis while building their own economic independence. As a graphic designer and disability rights advocate, Louna contributes to this effort by using her creativity and lived experience to challenge stereotypes, promote disability inclusion and demonstrate that when barriers are removed, women with disabilities thrive as professionals, leaders and active contributors to their communities.

Louna's journey is one example of how the Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) programme is expanding opportunities for crisis-affected women across Lebanon. Implemented by UN Women in partnership with the Lebanese Union for People with Physical Disabilities (LUPD), with the generous support of the Government of Australia, the programme reaches 4,800 women through inclusive livelihoods, skills development and protection services, enabling women facing intersecting forms of discrimination not only to recover from crisis, but also to exercise their rights and lead in their communities.

Challenging barriers, not disability

For Louna, the greatest obstacle has never been disability itself.

“Disability is not the problem,” she says. “The problem is whether the environment is inclusive and respects persons with disabilities. This project proved that the problem is not the person with a disability. The problem is whether the environment is properly equipped.”

Her perspective reflects the daily reality of many persons with disabilities in Lebanon. While Law No. 220/2000 recognizes their rights, significant barriers continue to limit equal access to education, employment, public spaces and economic opportunities. Women with disabilities often face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, making meaningful participation even more difficult.

“As women in our society, we already face challenges, and for women with disabilities, those challenges are multiplied,” Louna says.

Speaking before the Lebanese Parliament during hearings on women's economic security, she described the stereotypes that women with disabilities continue to confront.

“From the beginning, society instills in us the idea that we cannot do anything, that we cannot be productive and that we are a burden on society.”

Louna has spent years proving those assumptions wrong.

Through Access Kitchen, she strengthened her professional skills, gained confidence and achieved financial independence. “It proved that we, as women, can work just as men do, even when we have a disability,” she says.

“Because of this project, I became personally and financially independent. I proved that I can enter the labour market just like anyone else.”

Leading humanitarian response

For Louna, Access Kitchen represents much more than employment. It shows that women with disabilities are not only recipients of humanitarian assistance, they are humanitarian responders and leaders in their own right.

At the Beirut kitchen, women prepare around 350 meals each day for displaced families and other crisis-affected communities. Across the three Access Kitchens in Beirut, Zahle and Saida, 140 women with disabilities prepare more than 750 hot meals daily, responding to humanitarian needs that have persisted since late 2023 while strengthening their own economic resilience.

Far from being passive recipients of assistance, the women working in the kitchens are humanitarian responders - supporting others while challenging perceptions about disability through their work.

For Louna, this shift in perception is transformative.

“Nothing about us should happen without us,” she says. “Even if at times we have to reclaim our rights, we must know that they are ours.”

Louna's experience illustrates what becomes possible when humanitarian action is inclusive by design. By creating accessible livelihood opportunities and placing women with disabilities at the centre of humanitarian action, the LEAP programme demonstrates that disability inclusion strengthens both crisis response and early recovery. Beyond supporting livelihoods, it enables women facing intersecting barriers to exercise their rights, contribute to their communities and lead recovery efforts with dignity.

Building a more inclusive future

Louna's message to young women, whether they have disabilities or not, is one of hope and determination.

“Do not lose hope,” she says. “Keep the spirit of advocacy and have the patience and determination to continue.” Her vision is simple but powerful: a future where rights no longer need to be demanded because they are fully respected. “I hope we reach a time when our rights become something self-evident,” she says. “They are our rights. We should not have to ask for them.”

This International Youth Day, Louna's story is a reminder that young women are not waiting for change - they are driving it. By challenging discrimination, strengthening their communities and expanding opportunities for others, they are helping build a more equal, accessible and inclusive Lebanon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Implemented by UN Women in partnership with the Lebanese Union for People with Physical Disabilities (LUPD) and with the generous support of the Government of Australia, the Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) programme expands opportunities for crisis-affected women facing intersecting forms of discrimination to access inclusive livelihoods, strengthen their skills and exercise their rights.

Through Access Kitchen, women with disabilities are strengthening their own livelihoods while helping feed crisis-affected families, demonstrating that inclusive humanitarian action is stronger when everyone has the opportunity to contribute. By bringing together women from diverse communities through shared work, learning and mutual support, the programme also strengthens social cohesion and community resilience.