WUNRN
http://www.cbm.org/Women-with-disabilities-are-women-too-480974.php
WOMEN & GIRLS WITH DISABILITIES MUST BE INCLUDED IN
THE WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOVEMENT & IN THE POST-2015 AGENDA FRAMEWORK
©
CBM/Hayduk
Jamila,
who has untreated club feet, gets a push through the sand from a young woman in
Kiota, Niger.
Stephanie Ortoleva speaks to CBM about why women and girls with
disabilities must be included in both the disability and women’s right
movements and the post 2015 framework.
What
in your opinion are the top 3 issues for women and girls with disabilities?
Of
course there are many issues and many of them are common to all women and girls
but there are some that are specifically important to us where we experience
them more intensely. I would start with gender based and sexual
violence against women and girls with disabilities and not only
thinking of this in terms of domestic violence and intimate partner violence
but also other forms of violence that are put forward by or perpetrated by the
government itself at some of the educational and health institutions in which
women and girls with disabilities find themselves situated. We need to think of
violence in a very systemic and pervasive way. Another area of great importance
is legal capacity and decision-making power whether
it ranges from our control of our own choices in areas such as healthcare e.g.
forced sterilization and forced treatment. The other important issue among the
three not to rank them against each other would be education as education is so
often a key toemployment and economic opportunity. Often the denial
of education for women and girls with disabilities especially in segregated
facilities deprives us of the keys to our economic empowerment and our own
independence. The barriers to education faced by women and girls with
disabilities include the attitudes of
others toward our ability to learn but also for other factors, for example
parents may feel that their daughter will be assaulted or attacked to simple
basic things such as not having access to basic hygiene in a school setting,
for example access to menstrual pads and other devices. So there are a whole
variety of issues that cause barriers for us in going to school.
How
important is it for women with disabilities to work in leadership positions?
This is
a great question as it brings to the forefront that we don’t only want to be
leaders in the disability rights movement but rather in the general women’s
rights and human rights movements and of course the development movement. The
importance of this stems from the fact that persons with disabilities and in
particular women with disabilities arethought of in terms of
‘protection’ rather than positions of leadership and decision-making and
indeed designers of inclusive programmes. This is important for 2 reasons
firstly, it is essential that development and human rights programmes reflect the needs of women and girls with
disabilities but secondly so that there is an integrated and intersectional
approach. For example, women’s programming will include women
with disabilities rather than having a special pull out programme for women
with disabilities where women with disabilities can only get healthcare in one
place while so-called ‘regular’ women can get healthcare over here. The
challenges are both attitudinal and educational
barriers. The opportunities are beginning to emerge and we need to
make them happen. I thought it was very interesting that the position of the
special rapporteur on disability was originally located in the economic and
social council of the UN. Now that the position is in the human rights
council, it is in a much more empowered position and is held this year by a
woman with a disability.
Are
the voices of women and girls with disabilities adequately represented in the
women’s rights movement and in the disability rights movement?
Well my
previous answer indicates that our voices are not adequately reflected.
Our creativity and ideas are not always included and it is not only in disability
programming but also in the area of human rights generally. We are starting to
see women with disabilities who do very powerful and amazing things that put
them in positions of danger. We are actually now beginning to see them as human
rights defenders and not just as disability rights activists because we are
seeing the threats and intimidation emerge as they are in positions of power.
I have gone to the Commission on the Status of Women both in my
previous position in the U.S. government and now because of my position as the
founder of Women Enabled
International. In the earlier years, just 5 years ago,
you would see only a few women with disabilities there, you would see no side
event on women with disabilities or women with disabilities on other panels.
This year I am on several disability-focused side events and I am on a panel
about witchcraft accusations against women and children and I am speaking from
the perspective of women with disabilities. A few years ago this never would
have happened, women with disabilities would not have been invited.
Additionally, other disability rights organizations are now also sponsoring
side events on women with disabilities so that is some progress.
We do have a way to go in having an impact on the CEDAW
committee, when they do general comments, we get a little more inclusion due to
our advocacy but we still have a long way to go and of course we are not named
in CEDAW, so it makes it a little bit more difficult to make the CEDAW
Committee move forward on inclusion of women with disabilities. What is
interesting is that if you do read the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action from 1995, due to the activism of a cadre of disabled women
who went to Beijing there are some good provisions in the Beijing Declaration
which we need to use in our advocacy.
What
are the challenges for the voices of women and girls with disabilities within
the disability movement?
That is
really an interesting question as there have been many cases where groups of
women within a disability movement organization who have found it necessary to
leave the disability movement and found an organisation that focused on women
and girls with disabilities. This has happened in Australia and the UK, for
example. Some actually withdrew from the disability movement as they felt it
was male dominated. I will always remember a visit I did with in my
previous role where I visited a disability organisation in a Middle
Eastern/North African region and the women with disabilities were there to get
the coffee and literally did not speak unless spoken to and their needs were
not addressed I learned.
We have found these problems in many of other social movements
and not just in the disability movement. For example in the U.S., a lot of the
disability movement stemmed from Vietnam war veterans and mainly male
leadership.
How
do you think the women’s movement could work with women with disabilities as first
steps?
There
are many issues we can work on. It is important to recognize though that we
just can’t go to organizations in the women’s movement and say you need to work
on our issues. The approach, which I found to be more productive, is to
determine what are the issues that we can work on together, that are of mutual importance but also to stand sometimes with
the women’s movement on what their priorities are. What we really have in
common with the women’s movement is issues around war and peace, sexual and reproductive health and
services and I think economic advancement and the
traditional roles that women have assumed. For example, women as caregiver,
some of the complexities, there is mutual support for joint activism. For
example women and care giving work, if a woman has a lot of responsibility
around childcare and one of her children has a disability and may require
additional care/assistance, these are not compensated for. Also women fulfill
the role of personal assistants for disabled women, as we get older. So these
are issues shared and common among us.
What
is your wish list for women and girls with disabilities in post 2015 framework?
One of
the very important things is that we need dis-aggregated data on
women and girls with disabilities based on age, race, ethnicity, indignity,
etc., and also on the type of disability. There doesn’t seem to be a way to
bring together the women with disabilities and women generally who all want
their issues reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. We must avoid a dividing strategy among the different
groups such as women with disabilities and women. I think the SDGs are a
perfect example. Women with disabilities are women too – we will not be the
forgotten sisters in the dialogue!
Bio
©Tom
Olin - Stephanie Ortoleva
Stephanie
Ortoleva is a highly recognized and published author, researcher and
international human rights lawyer, consultant and advocate on issues of women’s
rights, disability rights.