Globally, on the 3rd of December, we observe the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.
Girls, young women (AGYW) and young gender-diverse people aged between 15 and 24 are three times more likely to have HIV than boys of the same age group in Eastern and Southern Africa as a result of multiple and intersecting forms of inequalities. However, the vulnerabilities and challenges AGYW and young gender-diverse people with disabilities experience are further compounded by myths and misconceptions; stigma and discrimination; harmful cultural and religious practices; lack of access to healthcare, services and information; barriers to education; and excluded from their families and communities.
Nyasha Museruka, ATHENA Network’s #WhatGirlsWant focal point from Zimbabwe, reflected on the challenges; barriers to healthcare services and care; discrimination; and isolation AGYW and young gender-diverse people with disabilities often experience.
“Misconceptions about disabilities that AGYW and young gender-diverse people often face include assumptions they cannot care for themselves, and cannot make their own decisions. AGYW and young gender-diverse people with one disability, such as speech impairment, may experience assumptions that they have other disabilities like an intellectual disability. Assumptions that they are more comfortable with ‘their own kind’ often isolate them. This means that they are frequently institutionalised. People think that the lives of people with disabilities differ totally from the lives of people without disabilities and that they are asexual or that they can cure diseases and viruses like HIV. This increases their vulnerability to violence.”
Misconceptions, stigma, and discrimination are dangerous. They are used to excuse violence; instigate violence and exclusion; increase inequalities; discourage people from thinking subjectively. Stigma and discrimination also prevent the production of accurate information and sharing it; working innovatively to increase accessibility and inclusion; and raise barriers to services and care.
When we think about gender inequalities, it is not enough to think about them within the binaries of girls and boys of men and women. We need to expand on the intersecting experiences and identities that everyone carries. Likewise, we need to consider how systems of power that fuel oppression and discrimination affect how AGYW and young gender-diverse people with disabilities experience the world and how they are treated.
Intersectional feminist leadership and politics that incorporate gender-transformative interventions, programming and resourcing approaches are critical for ending all forms of violence; achieving gender equity; improving access to services and care; protecting human rights and economic stability for everyone; and attaining universal healthcare and ending HIV as a global health threat by 2030.
Affecting change needs to be implemented from the bottom up as much as it needs to start at the top and move downwards. Funders, leaders and stakeholders need to think about who gets left behind, and whose needs and vulnerabilities they ignored when they do not think holistically. Ensuring that they themselves and everyone they resource and support work holistically to create cultures and environments that priorities everyone’s well-being and sustainable change.
“There is a need for inclusive programming from all partners. Disability mainstreaming is key to increasing access to healthcare for AGYW and gender-diverse people with disabilities. Raising awareness to everyone, including AGYW and gender diverse people with disabilities, is important.”
We cannot always wait for leaders to lead us in the right direction. Feminism results from the awareness of the violence of patriarchy that disproportionately burdens women and young gender-diverse people. Unfortunately, feminist movement building continues to navigate a world where we have to lead the change we want to see. However, even within our feminist circles, we are not always aware of when and how our work or politics are exclusionary.
“Feminist solidarity for people with disabilities is yet to manifest as most feminist movements often overlook the needs and vulnerabilities of AGYW and gender diverse people with disabilities.”
“When feminists cannot acknowledge AGYW and young gender-diverse people with disabilities, they perpetuate the violence that leads to their needs and vulnerabilities continuing to be ignored. It’s disheartening thinking about AGYW and young gender-diverse people who don’t have the exposure that I have now and the platform to share their experiences. It makes me wonder what will happen to them.”
Being a feminist and doing feminist work requires constantly learning, checking ourselves and our politics and thinking about what access, inclusivity and diversity mean. We need to ask ourselves who has access and what are we doing to improve that access within our individual capacity and feminist circles. What does inclusivity mean? Who is being included and why were they excluded? And how have we contributed to their exclusion? Are our spaces conducive to diversity and what does that mean beyond having unfamiliar faces in the room?
These questions should influence how we move from now on and engage with stakeholders. Our politics and activism need to take everyone into consideration and constantly strive to create more room for more voices and experiences. There are many things that set us apart and that need to be taken seriously. And there are many things that show how our struggles and experiences mirror each other. And that needs to be taken seriously too.
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Nyasha works as a primary school teacher and is studying towards a bachelor’s degree in inclusive education. She has served as a sector representative at the national AIDS council at Young People’s Network on Sexual Reproductive Health HIV and AIDS. She is currently serving as the chairperson of Signs of Hope Trust’s board, an organisation that serves and advocates for the wellbeing of people living with disabilities in Zimbabwe.