Disabled Women

Disability Awareness in Action
Resource Kit No. 6

Download the "Disabled Women Kit" as a PDF file (120 KB)

---

Strategies for Change

General

• Press for rights for disabled women at international level and in individual countries.

• Raise international, regional, national and local awareness of the issues affecting disabled women.

• Increase participation of disabled women in their communities and within disability organisations.

• Include disabled women development in the mainstream women’s movement to ensure full participation in development.

• Change societal attitudes and prejudices, and those of families and governments which stereotype disabled people.

• Increase the opportunity for education and training for disabled women.

• Increase access to services, facilities and transportation.

• Families with disabled members should be provided with education about the needs and rights of disabled women, and resources should be available for support in the community.

• Disabled women should be encouraged to form local groups and self-help organisations, which will help them increase their self-esteem.

"Every day I discover something new. Through the organisation I not only learned my rights but also my obligations to other disabled people and to my country." Diariétou.

"Designers, architects, builders and engineers should keep in mind that disabled people also live in the city and that they have needs such as wheelchair ramps, designated parking spaces and special access. We are all part of society. " Paulina.

Organise media campaigns to make the public aware of the needs and abilities of disabled people. " Marie-Therese.

International Action
Use the following documents to work for disabled women’s rights. All articles in these documents are of relevance to disabled women in certain circumstances. We have given you any articles or clauses that specifically mention women or disability.

• The UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Disabled women and their organisations should be continuously consulted in the national and international follow-up.

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Articles 2, 7, 10.

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Articles 2, 5, 6, 23, 26.

• UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

• Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Articles 2, 23, 24d.

• International Labour Organisation Convention 159 Concerning Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons)

• ILO Recommendation No. 168 on the same subject

• European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Articles 12, 14.

• European Social Charter: Part I and Articles 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 15, 17.

• European Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights for Workers

• Florence Agreement and its Protocol on the importance of educational, scientific and cultural materials.

• UNESCO Salamanca Declaration on Special Needs Education

You can get copies of all United Nations documents from your national UN information office or from the relevant agencies.

Regional Action
To meet the challenge of including disabled women in society is beyond the capacity of any one organisation. It is crucial that the priorities of disabled women be addressed in partnership between development agencies, the regional bodies, national governments, women’s organisations and disability organisations.

• Organisations of disabled people should unite on policy issues to have a strong impact on governments and societies and to emphasise an inclusive approach in all areas of equalisation of opportunities.

• Disabled women should meet at a regional level to discuss issues of common concern.

National Action
All states have a responsibility to create the legal base for achieving the objectives of full participation and equality for disabled women and men, in accordance with Standard Rule No. 15.

Legislation should not discriminate against disabled people and should include aspects such as social security, environmental access, transport, medical and technical facilities. It should take into particular consideration the needs of disabled women as a legal right.

• Disabled women can use any non-discrimination legislation relating to gender.

• You can use international instruments, such as the Standard Rules, at national level.

• You can combine disability and women’s issues to lobby government.

• Organise representation on national committees and focal points for women’s issues, set up as part of the Convention on Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women, and for disability issues, set up in accordance with the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. National focal points can link with others in a regional network.

• In accordance with UN Standard Rule no. 17, national disability committees should be strengthened, if necessary, or established where they do not exist. Disabled women and their organisations should be active members.

• Disabled women should be actively involved in both disabled people’s self-help organisations and women’s organisations. Organisations of disabled persons at national and regional level should encourage the establishment of sub-committees of disabled women or independent disabled women’s groups.

• Disabled people’s organisations need to set up effective partnerships and cooperation with one another and with other organisations outside the disability movement, whether at the local or national level, including human rights bodies, women’s organisations and groups concerned with bioethical issues.

• There should be a stronger presence of disabled women in national delegations to international meetings, committees and commissions concerning issues of either women or disabled persons.

• The participation of disabled women should be generally encouraged, not just supported when topics related to them are specifically on the agenda.

• Governmental and non-governmental national, regional and international women’s organisations and bodies should include disabled women and issues related to them within the general women’s movement, implementing action plans according to the present recommendations, as well as the Platform for Action from the UN Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

Organisational Action

• Coming together as part of a disability organisation or a women’s organisation is essential to work effectively at local, national, regional or international levels.

• Work with other women’s groups.

• Ensure that any organisations you join have by-laws or guidelines that guarantee the representation of disabled women.

• Ensure that organisations have projects specifically focused on disabled women.

Individual Action

• If there isn’t one, or not one that expresses your views, set up a disabled women’s network, perhaps using a regular newsletter, in your city or country.

• Pass this resource kit on to a neighbour, friend or organisation - or copy parts of it to councillors, members of parliament or members of government.

• Build networks for disabled women and links with the mainstream women’s movement.

• Support other women and encourage their development.

• Write to the UN Commission on the Status of Women about the inclusion of disabled women.

Training

• Disabled women should be encouraged to participate in training programmes within national bodies that organise leadership and management development. Programmes should also be designed specifically for disabled women, as well as be considered an integrated part of existing women’s training programmes.

• Leadership training seminars, educational programmes and job training programmes for establishing cooperatives and income-generating activities should be organised at local levels, including rural areas, to increase disabled women’s awareness of their own situation at the grassroots level and to stimulate their active participation.

• Special mentor programmes should be started and supported at local and regional levels, where women within the disability movement consciously support each other through the various phases of life in their personal development and empowerment.

• Various regional organisations as well as the UN system should assist disabled women in developing leadership skills through the elaboration of model curricula by ILO and UNESCO to be used at various levels of leadership in all countries and through technical cooperation. All efforts should be made to have disabled women as trainers.

Funding for Change
Organised activity cannot be effective if it is unsupported. The Standard Rules specifically encourage member states to fund disabled people’s organisations.

• The UN, specialised agencies and various other international, national and local donor agencies should also include funding of programmes for disabled women among their priorities. Mainstream funding programmes should earmark support for projects related to disabled women.

• When priorities do exist in favour of disabled people or women, favourable considerations should be given to the inclusion of programmes or components of programmes for disabled women.

"Although there is a law on disabled people in my country, it is not put into practice. Nothing is done in our favour. . . I participated in a seminar on disabled people which took place in Strasbourg. I am a member of the Bucharest branch of the National Society of Disabled People in Romania. That journey was a great experience. I will never forget those days spent in Strasbourg. I made some friends." Carmelia.

"The Government’s way of solving the economic crisis is to put lots of people out of employment, starting with disabled people. I am one of them and there is no organisation or law to protect me. This is the case for all disabled people in Portugal . . . If I lose my job, I will receive only half my current salary - which means l won’t be able to afford my house and will have to move to an institution. I would rather die than let that happen. " Portuguese disabled woman.

"My friends don’t go to theatres, cinemas and shops if they aren’t accessible. They protect my rights but my government doesn’t. We must end the apartheid we are living with." Sharon.

"Inclusion will not happen unless all disabled people, including disabled women, have equality." Rita.

Research
We need to have the facts and figures to support our demands for equal opportunities. These facts and figures must be accurate and based on our own experience.

• National governments should take early steps to incorporate the collection of gender- specific data on issues related to disability in existing statistical series. Moreover, each country should undertake nationwide surveys on disability to investigate the incidence of impairment in the country, its major causes and measures taken by individuals or families to deal with the situation.

• Of great importance is a model questionnaire for this purpose by the UN Statistical Office to highlight the issue of disabled women and which obtains such information as income level, employment and educational attainment, among others. Such a survey allows an analysis of the national situation and permits regional and international comparisons. It would also be advisable to have personnel trained in data collection on disabled women involved in household surveys and censuses.

• The revision of the International Classification of Impairment, Disability and Handicap (ICIDH) should in every respect take gender-specific differences into account. In all aspects - impairment, disability, participation, environmental factors - the situation of disabled women and men is likely to differ. Manuals and any accompanying guidelines should all make reference to gender specific aspects of disability.

• Any development programme for disabled women should investigate the actual living conditions of disabled women both in urban and rural areas. Furthermore there should be research on the ways and means of improving the status, raising the living standard of disabled women and providing necessary facilities to them. Research should be stimulated and grants given to researchers in a large number of subject areas to investigate the situation of disabled women.

• Descriptions about their situation provided by disabled women themselves should be the most important source of information. Women’s own interpretation and documentation of their experiences, which is now underway, can be the start of a worldwide research project on disabled women. It is suggested to gradually create an international network linked to the national focal point on disabled women.

• Other socio-economic and political studies concerning the social situation of disabled women should be encouraged.

• Particular attention should be given to the exchange of research experiences. In this context special attention should be given to recruit and educate suitably qualified disabled women as researchers.

• Research should be done on the situation of disabled female migrants, refugees and other homeless people.

• Large-scale research is also necessary to investigate the amount and kind of violence disabled women encounter.

Action for Change

There are thousands of successful projects which have made a profound difference to disabled women. We have focused on the activities or characteristics of a few of those known to us. Each of the solutions given here affect disabled women at a local level. They are appropriate, cost-effective and empowering.

Income Generation
Income generation is the solution to poverty for disabled women. Through projects that generate a livelihood for individuals, disabled women are able to contribute to the economy of the community. Income generation projects bring improvements to all aspects of disabled women’s lives. They increase skills, allow social interaction and independence, give a new role and status to disabled women within family and community. They require funding to start and expand but returns are considerable, not just in financial terms.

Community-Based Services
Community based services are based on the idea of community development: when individuals are empowered to take action to improve their own lives, they become contributors rather than a drain on resources and the entire community benefits.

For example, a road that is improved to help villagers who use a wheelchair or scooter for mobility also helps people who ride bicycles, delivery people who use animals to carry heavy loads, and elderly people who have difficulty seeing and walking. An improved system of early detection of impairments ensure that children who might, through neglect, be more severely impaired are identified and treated as early as possible and to the fullest extent possible, thereby utilising fewer of the scarce community resources. The visibility of these children helps them to become "salespersons" of health services to parents who might not otherwise seek help.

Appropriate Technology
The basic idea of community-based services and independent living applies to appropriate technology: disabled people are involved at all levels in policy-making and service provision. Through technology programmes, they not only get appropriate appliances for their individual use but also employment - not "sheltered", poorly-paid employment but dignified, useful work in a supportive environment.

Naturally, all technology should be appropriate to individual use and to the environmental context. It should take into consideration the socio-economic, cultural and technical aspects of the whole community. There are now a huge range of organisations producing technological support for disabled people. This work is enormously important in liberating disabled women and in providing models for work worldwide.

Empowerment
Empowerment involves disabled women understanding their right to be citizens and being given the tools for equality and participation. It is achieved principally through disabled women coming together to share their experiences, to gain strength from one another and to provide positive role models. It means breaking away from an identity of grateful passivity and finding the will and the power to change one’s own circumstances. This is not an easy or comfortable process for disabled women or for the wider community. However, it is an essential component in the struggle for full participation and equality of opportunity.

Independent Living
Independent or self-determined living is the direct result of the self-advocacy of disabled people and is usually operated through local, non-residential centres of enablement. It is fundamentally important to stress that these centres are under the direct control of disabled people themselves, to provide the necessary support and services they require to lead fully independent lives, and to become fully participating members of an integrated community.

The role of centres of independent living is not to repeat existing services where these are satisfactory. Research, linked with practical experience, has shown that there needs to be a major re-direction of resources in terms of planning, design and service delivery for, and by, disabled people. Independent living can also become a focus for developing services with existing agencies. Empowering disabled people in this way leads to more efficient expenditure of resources and, at the same time, increases disabled people’s skills and enables them to lead an improved quality of life.

Education and Information
Accessible and relevant information on every subject is vital to disabled women. Similarly, accurate information about disability issues is vital to the community as a whole. The majority of disabled women do not receive an adequate education, due to access difficulties and prejudice, and this contributes considerably to their marginalisation and exclusion. These barriers can be overcome. Investment in disabled women’s education benefits the whole society.

The power of the media to shape attitudes and beliefs is difficult to judge. What we do know is that television, radio and newspapers are powerful ways to convey ideas and to break down prejudices between people living a continent apart - and those living on the same street.

The development and expansion of information technology, much of it financially inaccessible to disabled people at present, could nevertheless liberate millions. Communications systems allow a few of the most severely disabled people to interact with those around them and in some cases to work. Talking computers allow people with visual impairments to gain employment.

The Standard Rules set down measures for member states to work towards the integration of disabled people. Integration cannot operate by adapting disabled people to existing structures, the basis of so much of what is called "rehabilitation". Integration occurs when societies begin to celebrate, not isolate, differences between people. It is based on mutual support and understanding and a sharing of resources and facilities among the many not the few.

Integration
Disabled women must be considered in all mainstream policy decisions and programmes. They form a significant part of every other group in society - such as refugees, children, racial minority groups. At present, disabled women are totally ignored, sometimes even in special disability policies, where these exist at all. Until disabled women are seen as an integral part of their communities and societies, with adequate provision for their needs within a community setting, the vast majority of the world’s disabled women will remain isolated and destitute.

Examples
Most projects show some, if not all, of the elements described above.

• Ramu is the leader of an Indian sangham [cooperative] and lives with her daughter, aged eight. Her husband has left her. She applied to the government for a loan to buy a pair of goats. Initially it was refused but with pressure from the sangham it was eventually granted. Ramu explains:

  "By myself I did not have power to persuade the bank to give me a loan for the goats, but when the sangham came in behind me, they eventually agreed The sangham gives me energy and strength. But it is not only because we can get loans through it. we are more confident in ourselves now. And because we are in a group, the other people in the village respect us more now. Before, we were just forgotten individuals. Now, we are people who can do something."

• For disabled women, illiteracy leads to low self-esteem and drastically restricts the opportunity for social participation and employment. In 1991 ,ACOGIPRI, a self- advocacy organisation in El Salvador began a literacy project for disabled women. It has reached hundreds of disabled women from central American countries. The articles and poems written by these women show that they have developed self- esteem, raised their status within their family, community and organisations. Their chances of skilled employment are also considerably increased.

• While 20 million people in developing countries need wheelchairs, less than I per cent own or have access to them. The Wheeled Mobility Center (WMC) in California aims to improve the mobility of disabled people worldwide. It does this by exchanging wheelchair designs and manufacturing technology with mechanics and small machine shops around the world, thus disseminating the specific skills required for building wheelchairs.

  Since 1980, the WMC has helped to start 30 wheelchair production shops in 25 countries;over 250 mechanics have been trained and more than 10,000 wheelchairs have been produced. The WMC is also the communications hub of the whirlwind Network, a web of independent wheelchair production shops in developing countries.

  Since the WMC’s start in 1980, women have been the source of critical design breakthroughs and provided leadership that kept shops stable in difficult times. However, women have often become marginalised in the male-dominated trade of wheelchair building. The WMC founded Whirlwind Women in 1994 to encourage women’s participation in wheelchair design and manufacturing. Whirlwind Women has conducted training seminars in basic shops skills such as measurement, metal working and welding.

• In Nicaragua, there is a programme for the integrated development of disabled women, consisting of nine projects throughout the country. These projects include the ’New Hope’ coffee shop, literacy work, technical aids and training, a chicken rearing project, work with the local department of health and awareness-raising. In March 1995, women from each project met in Managua to share development experiences and ideas.

• There are many national disabled women’s networks. For example, disabled women in Uganda have formed a network representing and coordinating disabled women’s work. It is a resource for development work with disabled women. It keeps up to date with international events and action relating to disabled women. In addition, many organisations at local, national, regional and international levels have set up women’s committees, such as the Deaf Women’s Wing of the Kenya Association of the Deaf.

• Parentability is a British project supporting disabled people in pregnancy and parenting. It is part of the National Childbirth Trust and provides networks of information and support. One of Parentability’s projects "Images of Disabled People as Parents" involved collecting positive images of disabled people for use in publications and as an exhibition.

Resources

AHRTAG, AIDS Action, published in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. From AHRTAG, Farringdon Point, 29-35 Farringdon Road, London EC IM 3JB, United Kingdom. Fax: +44 171 242 0041. E-mail: ahrtag@gn.apc.org

AHRTAG, CBR News. From AHRTAG, Farringdon Point, 29-35 Farringdon Road, London EC I M 3JB, United Kingdom. Fax: +44 171 242 0041. E-mail: ahrtag@gn.apc.org

AHRTAG,Women and HIVMIDS: an international resource book, 1993. From IT Publications Ltd.,103-105 Southampton Row, London WC I B 4HH, United Kingdom.Tel: +44 171 436 9761. Fax: +44 171 436 2013. E-mail: itpubs@gn.apc.org

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, It’s About Time! Human Rights are Women’s Rights, 1995. 152 pages. ISBN 0-939994-98-4. US$8.95. English only.

BOYLAN, Esther, Women and Disability, Zed Books, London, 1991. English only.

CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE LAW AND POLICY,Women of the World: Formal Laws and Policies Affecting their Reproductive Lives, 1995. 40 pages. US$5. English only.

CENTRE FOR THE REHABILITATION OF THE PARALYSED, BANGLADESH, ’Low Trolley, High Spirits’, a video about disabled women in Bangladesh. From Wendy Best, CRP Development Officer, ’Monksmead’, 27 East Street, llminster, Somerset, TA 19 OAN, United Kingdom.Tel: +44 1460 53247. Fax: +44 1460 52436. UK£5 for hire.

COLERIDGE, Peter, Disability, Liberation and Development, Oxfam Publications, Oxford, United Kingdom, 1993. English only.

DEGENER,Theresia, and KOSTER-DREESE,Yolan, Human Rights and Disabled Persons, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1995.

DESPUOY, Leandro, Human Rights and Disability, 1994. Unired Nations. Available in all the United Nations languages.

DISABLED PEOPLES’ INTERNATIONAL, DPI Women’s Kit. English only. From DPI Headquarters, 101-7 Evergreen Place,Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 2T3.

DORKENOO, Efua, Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation, The Practice and its Prevention, 1994. Minority Rights Group, 379 Brixton Road, London SW9 7DE, United Kingdom. ISBN I 873194 60 9. UK price £ 15.95. English only.

ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific),Asian and Pacipc Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002:The Starting Point, United Nations, NewYork, USA, 1993.

FLETCHER,Agnes and HURST, Rachel, Overcoming Obstacles to the Integration of Disabled People, a UNESCO sponsored report, 1995.Disability Awareness in Action, l l Belgrave Road,London SWIV I RB, United Kingdom. lSBN I 898037 15 9. English only.

MEDLEY, Rodney and DORKENOO, Efua, Child Protection and Female Genital Mutilation, 1992. FORWARD Ltd., 38 King Street, London WC2E 8JT, United Kingdom. ISBN 0 9519246 0 5. £3.85. English only.

HESSISCHES KOORDINATIONSBURO FUR BEHINDERTE FRAUEN, Literatur von, für, über Frauen mit Behinderung: Eine Bibliographie, a list of relevant German publications. From: Hessisches Koordinationsbüro für behinderte Frauen, JordanstraBe 5, D-34117 Kassel, Germany.Tel: +49 5 61 72 88 522. Fax: +49 5 61 72 88 529. German only.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women’s Rights, 1995. 458 pages. ISBN 0-300-06546-9. US$ 15. English only.

L’INSTITUT ROEHER INSTITUTE,Violence and People with Disabilities:A Review of the Literature, 1994. National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Family Violence Prevention Division, Health Programs and Services, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K I A I B4, Canada. ISBN 0 662 22712-3. English and French.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S TRIBUNE CENTRE, Rights of Women: An Action Guide to the UN Conventions of Special Relevance to Women,1996.120 pages. US$ 15.95. English only.

MORRIS, Jenny, Pride Against Prejudice, l991.The Women’s Press, London, United Kingdom. English only.

MORRIS,Jenny, Encounters with Strangers: Feminism and Disability, 1996.The Women’s Press, 34 Great Sutton Street, London EC I V ODX, United Kingdom. ISBN 0 7043 4400 9. UK price £8.99. English only.

RAINBO, Female Genital Mutilation (2nd Edition),1995.48 pages. UK£9.95. English and French.

SAXTON, Marsha and HOWE, Florence, editors,With Wings: An Anthology of Literature by and about Women with Disabilities, 1987. The Feminist Press, New York, USA. English only.

SECRETARIAT OF THE EUROPEAN DAY OF DISABLED PERSONS, Towards equalisation of opportunities for disabled people: into the mainstream?, l996. From Secretariat of the European Day of Disabled Persons, address above. English and French.

UNIFEM/UNICEF, Advocacy Kit on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1995. 45 pages. US$5.95. English, French, Spanish.

UN PUBLICATIONS, The World’s Women:Trends and Statistics, 1995.188 pages. ISBN 92-1-161372-8. US$15.95. English, French, Spanish.

UN PUBLICATIONS,WISTAT: Women’s Indicators and Statistics Database, 1995.Version 3, CD- ROM. ISBN 92-1-161375-2. US$149. English only.

WESTCOTT, Helen L., Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities, 1993. National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 67 Saffron Hill, London EC I N 8RS, United Kingdom. UK price £6.99. ISBN 0 902498 40 1. English only.

WORLD PRIORITIES,Women:A World Survey,1995.48 pages. ISBN 0-918281-10-5. US$7.50. English only.

ZEMP, Aiha and PIRCHER, Erika, Weil das alles weh tut mit Gewalt - Sexuelle Ausbeutung von Mädchen und Frauen mit Behinderung. From Medieninhaberin: Bundesministerium fur Frauenangelegenheiten, Balihausplatz I, 1014 Vienna, Austria. German only.

Contacts

Disabled Peoples’ International Women’s Committee, Justine Kiwanuka, 101 - 107 Evergreen Place,Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 2T3.Tel: + 1 204 287 8010. Fax: + 1 204 453 1367. E-mail: dpi@dpi.org Or Anneli Joneken, Kistavagen 7, S-192 67 Sollentuna, Sweden. Tel: +46 8 7546420. Fax: +46 8 6268567, e-mail: anneli@joneken.se or PO Box 22114, S-104 22 Stockholm, Sweden.Tel: +46 8 652 0720. Fax: +46 8 651 8905.

Division for the Advancement of Women, Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna,Vienna International Centre, PO Box 500,A-1400Vienna, Austria.Tel:+43 1 21131 4248.Fax:+43 1 232 156.

DISWEB, the European Network of Women with Disabilities, Elisa Pelkonen, Chair, Mariankaro 24 E 40, FIN-001 70, Helsinki, Finland. Tel: +358 9 1357925. Fax: +358 9 68501199, or Dolores Schembri, Secretary, 4 Busewdien RD,Wardija St., Paul’s Bay, Malta.

IMPACT, the international initiative against avoidable disablement. C/o WHO, 20 Appia Avenue, CH- 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland. Tel: +41 22 791 3732/3. Fax: +41 22 791 0746.

Inclusion International, Galeries de la Toison d’Or, 29 Chaussée d’lxelles, #393/32, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.Tel: +32 2 502 77 34. Fax: +32 2 502 28 46.

INSTRAW, International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, PO Box 21747, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Mobility International USA, PO Box 10767, Eugene, Oregon 97440, USA.Tel: + 1 503 343 1284. Fax: + 1 503 343 6812. E-mail: info@miusa.org

NOSEVI, the Network of Disabled Feminists Against Sexual Violence, Dinah Radtke, Zentrum für Selbstbestimmtes Leben Behinderter e.V. Erlangen, Marquardsenstr.21, 91052 Erlangen, Germany. Tel: + 49 91 31 205022.

UNIFEM, United Nations Development Fund for Women, 304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA.

United Nations Children’s Fund, 3 UN Plaza, NewYork, NY 10017, USA.

UN Working Group on Traditional Practices, UN Human Rights Center, Palais des Nations, CH- 1202, Geneva, Switzerland.Working group on female genital mutilation at international level.

Women’s Committee, Asian Blind Union, Mrs Anurdha Mohit,The National Association for the Blind, Sector 5, R.K. Puram, New Delhi - 110 022, India.

World Blind Union, c/o CBC ONCE, La Coruna 18,28020 Madrid, Spain.Tel: +34 1 571 36 85. Fax: +34 1 571 57 77. Women’s issues: Kristina "Kick" Nordstrom, Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired, 12288 Enskede, Sweden.Tel: +46 8 39 90 00. Fax: +46 8 39 91 77.

World Federation of the Deaf, 13D, Chemin du Levant, F-01210, Ferney-Voltaire, France. Fax: +33 4 50 40 01 07.Women’s issues:Anne MarieWikstrom, Granvagen 9, S-793 33 Leksand, Sweden. Textphone: +46 247 12186 or +46 247 64112. Fax: +46 247 14165.

World Federation of Psychiatric Users, PO Box 46018, Herne Bay,Auckland, New Zealand. Tel: +64 9 378 7477. Fax: +64 9 360 2180.

We came here because we are women.
We came here to expose our abilities.
We came here to share our experiences.
We came here to strengthen networking among women with disabilities and other women.
We came here to make ourselves visible.

Now we are leaving with our expectations partly met:
We have made some impact.
We have made people aware of us.
We have socialised and gained contacts all over the world.

But we are aware that there is a lot more work to be done
before we achieve our basic goal
of equality with women in general in our respective countries.

Watch out!
Women with disabilities are on the move!

from Women Walk on Water, published by the delegates of the Swedish Handicapped InternationalAid Foundation (SHIA) to the 4th World Congress on Women, Beijing, China, September 1995.

"Half a billion voices raised in unison
for emancipation will not be denied"
Justin Dart

ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED
Disabled Peoples’ International
IMPACT
Inclusion International
World Federation of the Deaf

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Chair: Joshua Malinga
Vice Chair: Murray Holmes
Treasurer: John Chillag
Jane Campbell
Mary Holland
Sir John Wilson

DIRECTOR
Rachel Hurst

Office
11 Belgrave Road
London SWIV IRB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 171 834 0477 (voice)
Tel: +44 171 821 9812 (text)
Fax: +44 171 821 9539
E-mail: DAA_ORG@compuserve.com

All DAA material is available
in English, French and Spanish,
in large print, on audio-cassette,
in ASCII on computer disk and in English braille

---

Contents Disabled Women

---