Disabled Women And Independent Living in Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa and Uganda.

by Corbett Joan O'Toole for Mobility International USA (MIUSA)

1.0 Introduction

"Around the world, women make up just over 51% of the population. However, due to numerous societal standards, they continue to be left out of the decision making processes. This reality is especially true of women with disabilities in cultures where the role of wife and mother is considered to be the primary role for a female." Irene Feika, Deputy Chairperson of Underrepresented Groups, Disabled People International.

Disabled women are an important part of the liberation movement for people with disabilities. But far too often, they are relegated to the "wife" roles in existing organizations (e.g. doing mailings, answering telephones). Their issues are largely ignored by mainstream groups -- both disability groups and women's groups. One simple and typical example of this is in the January 1999 issue of Equity, the newsletter for the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPD) in India. Even though India has a long history of working on disability rights, this national organization's newsletter showed 22 pictures of men. Eleven of these men were shown with captions such as "Inaugurating the Convention" and they were individually named in the captions. They were shown at speakers' tables with organizational and conference banners behind them. Six women were shown in two pictures. Only one woman, an apparently non-disabled member of government was identified by name and she was shown at a marketplace. The other five women were grouped in a casual setting with five men and captioned "Smiles and Flowers". None of these women were identified by name in the caption.

Although this may seem to be of minor importance, the pattern of ignoring and isolating disabled women is repeated throughout both national and international publications and websites of people with disabilities. "Even within the ranks of DPI, disabled women are not represented equally. They may be co-opted in, however, the time is long over due for disabled women to be equally elected at decision making levels of the organization." Irene Feika, Deputy Chairperson of Underrepresented Groups, DPI

With the realization that their future lies firmly in their own hands, women with disabilities around the world are focusing their enormous strength and emerging resources to directly change the picture.

Since the beginning of the current movement for Independent Living, women with disabilities have been active organizers and advocates for the rights of all people with disabilities. But as some women realized that disabled women's issues were being overlooked, they began to organize for specific issues of critical importance to disabled women. Here is a brief timeline of some significant international efforts:

1995 International Symposium on Issues of Women with Disabilities, preceding the UN Fourth World Conference and NGO Forum on Women in Beijing China, coordinated by Mobility International USA (MIUSA).

1995 Disabled Women's Caucus at the NGO Forum and the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, coordinated by an international caucus of disabled women leaders, calling themselves "Women's International Linkage on Disability".

1995 "Leadership Development Strategies for Women with Disabilities: A Cross-Cultural Survey", by Laura Hershey and Robin Stephens for MIUSA, reported findings from research conducted at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

1997 Mobility International USA (MIUSA) coordinated the International Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability, bringing together 35 women with disabilities from around the world for an intensive two week leadership training program in the US.

1997 The International Forum on Issues of Women with Disabilities, coordinated by the World Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation International, with support from the US Departments of Education and Health and Social Services.

1998 MIUSA International Symposium on Microcredit for Women with Disabilities, held in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

2000 MIUSA Global Options for Women with Disabilities in Leadership and Employment, Eugene, Oregon

These efforts focused specifically on women with disabilities. However, disabled women are also an integral part of non-gender-specific disability organizations, although, as Irene Feika of DPI points out, not without problems. "Women with disabilities can start the process by forming disabled women's groups, they need to include female youth whenever possible. Once formed, the disabled women's organizations need to network with other women's organizations in order to gain their support on women's issues. It will not be an easy task, as, some disabled men perceive the forming of a disabled women's group as a threat to the organization in general. This need not be the case and as women with disabilities we can assist and encourage disabled men to understand our issues and thus become supportive of us."

Within the women's movement, there has been even less attention paid to the issues of women with disabilities. During the UN Fourth World Conference and NGO Forum on Women there was a great deal of activism by women with disabilities. After the Conference, much was written about disabled women and their issues in women's presses worldwide. But surprisingly little of substance has emerged in subsequent years from international women's movements to include women with disabilities.

In addition, within disabled women's organizations the focus seems to be on organizing and advocating for women with physical or visual disabilities. There is very little attention paid to women with other disabilities even to the point of lack of access for women with other disabilities (for example, the absence of sign language interpreters).

Two issues that emerge as critical, but that are rarely discussed by disabled women's groups are landmines and AIDS. There are estimated to be 110 million landmines waiting to explode. As people repopulate former military areas, the number of deaths and disabilities due to landmines are rising. In some cultures, the woman and young girl's role still includes the daily walk to retrieve water, a walk that may take them miles away and through mined areas. Given women's lower perceived economic status, it is common in some regions for women and young children to be sent ahead of a non-disabled man when walking through a landmine area. Yet there is almost no discussion in disability or disabled women's communities about this threat.

AIDS poses an even bigger threat to disabled women. It is estimated that as much as 20 percent of the population in many African countries is already infected by AIDS. Given the extremely poor health care and lack of appropriate AIDS prevention information received by women with disabilities all over the world, the AIDS rates are expected to be very high. Yet, again, neither disability nor disabled women's organizations are seeing this as a priority area. Even in South Africa, which has a very high rate of AIDS, extending civil rights protections to people with AIDS is still controversial as seen in this news brief: "South Africa Re-drafts Anti-Discrimination Law: Up against a constitutional deadline of February 4, South African politicians worked throughout January to finish fine-tuning the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Bill. The bill bans discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, martial status, ethnic or social origin, color, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, belief, culture, language and birth. One point of contention is whether or not people with HIV/AIDS will be covered."

The disproportionate impact of AIDS on women in Africa is summarized in this article from the IDEAS 2000 Webzine "Disability World".  The current news out of Africa about AIDS darkens almost daily, with specters of growing numbers of orphans left behind by dying parents, and large percentages of the workforce found infected in many countries. The newest twist on the story is the realization that due to long-established gender-based discrimination and some dangerous new myths, women and girls are being victimized far out of proportion to their numbers. In some countries, such as South Africa and neighboring Namibia, it is becoming clear that infected girls aged 15-19 outnumber infected boys in the same age group by a factor of six to eight. A recent meeting of the International Labor Organization in Namibia that examined these topics caused Mary Chinery-Hesse, Executive Director of the Social Protection Section, to state: "Any new strategy for combating HIV/AIDS must include elements addressing gender as a critical issue... Women need voice, women need choice. Only then can we help to stop AIDS." (ILO periodical, World of Work, No.32 1999)

In general, the burden of work for women with disabilities falls squarely on the shoulders of disabled women themselves. There is precious little support from major (and funded) disability groups. Within major international and national disability groups, some disabled women have created "Women's Committees" or women's sections of publications so that disabled women's issues can be addressed and information and resources shared. It is unclear what percentage of these international and national groups have resources specifically available to women, but it is clear that they are significantly disproportionate to the number of resources that are available to disabled men worldwide.

1.1 What are women doing that is exemplary?

Women with disabilities have been an integral part of the history of movements for disability rights. MIUSA's 1995 international survey of women with disabilities in leadership study found that a group of 30 disabled women leaders were filling 55 separate leadership jobs in disability, disabled women and women's organizations and committees. (Hershey and Stephens, 1995). In spite of their contributions, however, disabled women's issues were largely ignored and their accomplishments minimized.

More recently, disabled women are not only taking active and leading voices in disability movements all over the world. They are also creating autonomous organizations and committees focused on disabled women's concerns.
In 1999 Dinah Radtke of Germany, the new chair of the DPI Women's Committee, stated: "It makes me feel proud that I belong to this worldwide group of disabled women. It also reminds me of when I was a little lonesome girl and very unhappy with my progressive disability and sad perspectives. But now I am no more lonesome and unhappy. We are now powerful, smart, effective leaders of our own movement. We have now knowledge and power and connection and hope to offer to each other. In a way, we do that whenever we meet a young disabled girl or woman and offer her a new way of facing the discrimination, with new knowledge and resources and a whole world of other strong disabled women connected and supporting each other".

These efforts are not without struggle. Disabled women's issues are still seen as a small part of the struggle for independent living in most national and international disability organizations. Yet the disabled women's community is becoming increasingly sophisticated about articulating its issues. Disabled women have created goals that were included in diverse resolutions from the UN Women's Conference "Platform for Action" to individual country and organizational plans for remediating long-standing discrimination against women with disabilities.

One example is the 1998 Disabled Peoples' International Women's Committee's Action Plan for the DPI Women's Program into the next millennium: 1. Amendments to the DPI constitution to guarantee equal representation of women in all DPI structures and DPI decision making boards as well as equal representation of all different disabilities. 2. Strengthen the networking process of the DPI Women's Program by creating educational programs for women, such as training in use of computers and e-mail packages, writing proposals, and training of trainers. 3. Formulate development programs for women in the developing world, which would include leadership training and empowerment as well as fighting illiteracy. This should also include the economic empowerment of disabled women. 4. Strengthen the DPI Regional and National Women's Committees through the support of DPI regional offices. Enforce the development of disabled women at the grass-root level. 5. Evaluate the UN Beijing Platform for Action and its benefit to disabled women, and plan for the Beijing Plus Five in the year 2000. 6. Awareness raising and education on Bioethics and its discrimination effect against disabled people. 7. Organize a seminar on Bioethics in Brazil, Latin America. (Editor's note: this meeting since took place in England in February 2000 and a report appeared in the March issue of DisabilityWorld)
8. Women Committee meetings should include new women who are not yet members of the committee.

The 1995 MIUSA report (Hershey and Stephens) on disabled women and leadership found that: "there are few ready-made opportunities for disabled women to become leaders. There are some -- especially within mixed disability organizations which welcome or at least tolerate women's contributions. And in some countries, disabled women may even hope to play a key political advocacy role, or even attain political office. But by far the largest number of responses indicated that "no/few opportunities" existed for disabled women who want to be leaders. As several of the respondents noted, and even more have demonstrated in their own actions as founders, disabled women may need to create leadership opportunities, both for themselves and for their communities."

Hope for the future lies in the successes that disabled women have already experienced. The International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities was one of the most heralded, far reaching and successful events thus far. Held near Washington, DC, the Forum attracted legislators, artists, advocates, organizational executives, trainers, international assistance experts and grassroots development specialists from around the globe. It was a success by all measures. All the world's cultures and regions were well represented in the group of 612 participants from 82 countries and territories. The Forum was the highest level event ever held that focused on the needs and achievements of disabled girls and women, attracting the participation of four U.S. Cabinet members, sponsorship of two United Nations agencies and three international organizations, and the support of more than 20 U.S. government departments and more than 20 corporate and non-profit organizations. Held under the Honorary Chairmanship of U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Forum received a letter of support from President of Ireland Mary Robinson and was addressed by Parliament members from South Africa, Finland, Tanzania and Uganda. The fallout from the International Forum and the ongoing commitment of disabled women worldwide are changing the face of the disability and women's movements.

2.0 Overview by Country

This section examines how women with disabilities are faring within the overall independent living efforts of their country. The main body of this paper explores and examines disabled women's situation in each country in two ways: · How are disabled women participating in the mainstream disability movement? (Identified by the country/continent name followed by Disability Movement. For example, "Africa Disability Movement") · What is the exemplary work being done by women with disabilities? (Identified by the country/continent name followed by DISABLED WOMEN. For example, "Africa DISABLED WOMEN")

The sections are organized alphabetically by continent as follows:

Africa (South Africa, Uganda); Asia (India, Japan, New Zealand); Europe (Great Britain, Germany, Russia); and South America (Brazil, Nicaragua)

2.1 Africa-- Disability Movement

Africa faces persistent and insidious problems in basic survival for all people with disabilities. A BBC report states that "War, poverty, lack of health care and lack of decent working conditions and safety regulations are the fundamental causes of most disabling impairments. Of Africa's 50 million disabled people, nearly all have been disabled by the conditions in which they live. Of these 50% are women." As Adewale Maja-Pearce reports: "When I visited Adedimo's headquarters last April, I was told that the centre had only been able to train 500 people so far because of the lack of resources. This is a familiar problem all over Africa, which is why most disabled people in African cities are beggars. In fact, the majority of the continent's disabled - up to 70 per cent - live in the rural areas without access to running water, electricity, health clinics, good roads, functioning telephones and all the rest of it. The poverty of the continent, in other words, is reflected in the plight of those least able to fend for themselves.
The problem is circular: poverty means few resources; few resources perpetuate poverty at the same time as they cause disability."

Within Africa there is enormous disparity between countries. A simple example is in sign language. In Uganda, a recognition of sign language as a valid language is written into the Constitution. Yet in South Africa, which has far more resources, sign language was explicitly left out of a government document that officially recognized eleven languages, even though sign language had a larger number of speakers than many of the languages on the approved list.

2.1 Africa÷Women with Disabilities

"The majority of [disabled women] have never had the chance of attending any formal education. We still have a long way to go, in terms of creating the sort of atmosphere which can enable disabled women to have the self-esteem and confidence of speaking in public about those issues which really affect them."
Maria Rantho of South Africa.

Throughout Africa disabled women are trying to make progress. As Shanaaz Majiet, a lawyer from South Africa says: "Africa also needs to recover from and to repair itself from issues around dictatorship, bad governance, misadministration and corruption, and look at what this all means for post-20th century agendas regarding human rights. Also we need to look at the 21st century and how we, the disability movement, are going to start to take up and position ourselves around the issue of poverty -- not just poverty alleviation but also poverty eradication. Where and how disabled woman, disabled children and disabled men fit into that reality is an important issue."

On the other hand, both Uganda and South Africa were reported to be nearly one-third of the way towards the implementation of the UN's "Standard Rules on Equalization of Rights of Persons with Disabilities". A continent-wide "African Decade of Disabled Persons" 2000-2010, was launched on 3 December 1999. Some regional programs provide effective coordination across national boundaries, for example, the Southern African Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD).

Disabled women in Africa face numerous challenges, as described by SAFOD's Regional Development Programme for Women with Disabilities SAFOD Programme: "In the absence of well coordinated government policies aimed at integrating disabled people in mainstream activities, disabled women live under extremely difficult conditions, for not only are they women but they are also disabled mothers as well. The women with disabilities in Southern Africa region are discriminated against. Negative discrimination deprives disabled women of vital life experiences, therefore denying them the opportunity to participate fully in community affairs. Neither do they achieve equality of opportunity."

2.2 South Africa÷Disabled Women

South Africa has an interesting history in regards to women with disabilities. It had, in Maria Rantho, one of the first disabled women sitting on a Parliament. Dorothy Musakanya, SAFOD Regional Women's Development Coordinator states: "South Africa is at an advanced stage in terms of formulation and implementation for the benefit of especially women with disabilities. Women with disabilities are being integrated into the mainstream society, but there's still a need to focus on women in rural areas who are still being marginalized. Awareness should be raised to highlight the plight of women with disabilities in rural areas.

Within the proposed 1996 Integrated National Strategy of the Government of National Unity, disabled women identified barriers: "Women with disabilities have been doubly discriminated against - both on the basis of gender and disability. Some of the key areas of concern to disabled women include:

• Education: Disabled girls are less likely to attend school than disabled boys.
• Employment: Disabled women are less likely to be granted loan facilities, be employed or gain access into training programmes.
• Violence: Women and girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to violence, especially within the home situation. Sexual abuse is quite common, especially among women with mental and/or hearing disabilities. Abuse by physicians and care-givers, e.g. forced sterilization, is common.
• Health services: Refusal of health workers to advise disabled women and girls on appropriate family planning services and methods.

• Public education and awareness programmes to promote positive perceptions on the potential of disabled women in society
• Career-oriented education for disabled women
• The right to control their own fertility
• Legislative provisions to promote and protect the human rights of disabled women
• Accessible, well-equipped resource centres and clinics that will provide information on issues affecting disabled women
• Provisions in the social security system that will deal specifically with the needs of disabled women, especially young disabled mothers
• Development of specific measures to redress the social and economic exploitation of disabled women in rural areas and informal settlements.

The DWDP was initiated against a background of the non-involvement of disabled women in the mainstream activities of women. The Decade of Women did not result in any significant improvements in the status of disabled women and it is hoped that through the DWDP disabled women will achieve recognition and have their rights protected and respected.

The DWDP also addresses the need to improve and increase the range of projects available to women entrepreneurs. Traditionally, disabled women have been made to work on inferior project ideas such as craft and knitting. In recent times, these women have asserted their right to undertake more profitable projects that increase income security and create gainful employment for the benefit of themselves and their families. The DWDP creates the necessary enabling environment for disabled women to address all these issues with the ultimate aim of eventually changing these factors in favor of disabled women. The programme is also aimed at creating an environment for the effective provision of services and resources to women with disabilities, in order to positively change their status, level and extent of participation in mainstream development and to achieve increased equal opportunity.

DWDP is not the only effort on behalf of women with disabilities in South Africa but it is significant because it is based in the national organization and disabled women's issues are incorporated into government and policy discussions on disability.

2.3 Uganda÷Disability Movement

As the March 2000 issue of DisabilityWorld reports: "Disabled Ugandans tend to be the poorest citizens due to their lack of a proper education, and discrimination by employers. In one educational district, a study found that most of the children with disabilities were not in school, and disabled employees are usually the last hired and the first fired."

"After a long period of political turmoil, Uganda has attained a status that is perhaps unique among nations. The new Ugandan constitution, written in 1995, requires that five national members of Parliament have disabilities, and thousands of other disabled people have been elected at all levels of the government. Members of Parliament (MP's) representing disabled people see their role as advocating for the interests of people with disabilities. Their priorities include improving quality of housing, transportation, health care, education, employment, and social services for disabled people. Disabled MP's propose policy development and reform, influence resource allocation, and promote removal of barriers that prevent disabled people from enjoying benefits and rights.
"In five years, MP's have been successful in ensuring that disabled people's concerns were addressed in several major laws, including the Local Government Act 1997, The Children's Statute 1996, Uganda Communications Act 1998, Uganda Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998, Ugandan Institute of Special Education Act 1998, and the Movement Act 1998. One recent law proposes that employers be required to recruit disabled people."

The 1999 International Summit Report on Uganda describes municipal level organizing: "In Uganda's capital, Kampala, begging was recently forbidden by the City Council. In response to demands of disabled beggars for something in return, the City Council made available a piece of land next to the Kampala bus park, and eighty people formed the Kampala Disabled People's Business Association, which now leases plots to other business people and runs a rotating loan scheme for its members, generating income for over 200 people."
Disabled people in Kampala also manufacture wheelchairs, make and sell traditional crafts, and take part in small businesses.

2.3 Uganda÷Disabled Women

Uganda has a unique history in regards to women with disability. One of the first southern hemisphere countries to create an organization run by and for women with disabilities, it continues to provide important leadership and training for other emerging women's communities around the world - the long standing (and recently renamed) National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda (NUWODU).

Following is a perspective on the situation of women with disabilities in Uganda, based on information provided by Macline Twimukye of the National Union of Disabled People in Uganda (NUDIPU).

"The National Disability movement focuses on the economic empowerment of women's decision making, creation of awareness about the abilities and potential of women with disabilities. These include having women's committee in all district Union of the national disability movement. Women with Disabilities have been integrated in programmes and activities of the National disabilities movement, for instance they are members of Board of Directors, and the secretariat. They have engaged in craft and agriculture activities such as poultry keeping, mushrooms growing , cultivating of crops etc. They own some business and others engage in tailoring. In general women with disabilities are integrated in the programmes of the National Disability movement. They participate in training programmes on economic empowerment, to improve on their business, capacity building, etc."

Uganda also has strong disabled women in leadership as Members of Parliament, who through hard work and patience have succeeded in winning some major concessions on behalf of disabled persons, including the appointment of a Minister of State concerned with people with disabilities and also succeeded in revising constitutional provisions.

The most positive changes for women with disabilities in Uganda have been the advancement of women with disabilities in the system to advocate for the rights of disabled women, instead of depending on others to advocate on their behalf. This has happened due to the animation work of Action on Disability and Development (ADD), which led to the formation of a purely disabled women's organization, the Disabled Women Network and Resource Organization in Uganda (DWNRO), local groups of women and other disability organizations. Government and other motivators have been willing to listen to coalitions of women with disabilities. Women with disabilities have advocated for economic empowerment and the inclusion in microcredit programs. Leadership programs such as Mobility International USA's Leadership Institute and the creations of networks will go a long way to ensure this advocacy work is done and results achieved.

Of particular note is that the Ugandan disabled women's movement has focused extensively on economic development projects. In partnership with ADD, Whirlwind Women and other international partners, Ugandan women have made economic self-sufficiency a top priority. Facing enormous poverty, lack of education, single parenting, and little access to the limited available training, disabled women in Uganda see themselves and their potential for generating income as their most powerful resource.

Some examples: The National Union of Disabled People in Uganda (NUDIPU) has established a loan scheme for women with disabilities, launched during a five-day Start Your Business (SYB) workshop aimed at empowering disabled women with business skills. The workshop enabled women to use loans properly and refund the money to NUDIPU. (DisabilityWorld, March 2000). The Uganda Disabled Women Association operates a revolving loan scheme with the goal of initiating small businesses. Another relatively new independent living organization is Mobility Appliances by Disabled Women Entrepreneurs (MADE) which has received training from Whirlwind Women of Whirlwind Wheelchair International (a US-based NGO) in building locally appropriate wheelchairs. A needs- assessment revealed that approximately 200,000 Ugandans need wheelchairs and the number continues to rise as landmines in the north of the country injure people daily."

One disabled woman leader frames it this way: " My experience has been of perseverance, right from school. Women with disabilities must be able to challenge all what is thought that they cannot do. In the disability movement I saw that women with disabilities were oppressed, that there was a need to form a purely women with disabilities organization. This was not easily accepted in a male dominated environment. But once one is clear of one's goals you should work towards achieving them. Women must aim to be knowledgeable, that is when they can challenge the world and go out to show their abilities."

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2.4 Asia÷Disability Movement

Asia has had consistent, if uneven, growth in developing a disability movement. Yet as this chronological table of events on independent living movement in Asia the growth has produced amazing results:

• Asia 1975: First Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled
• Asia 1976: Asian Federation of Deaf
• Singapore 1981: Establishment of Disabled Peoples' International (DPI)
• Pakistan 1981:  National Council for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons  ·
• Philippines 1983:  National Congress of Disabled Persons
• Thailand 1983:  National Association of the Deaf and the Association of Physically Handicapped founded
• China 1984:  China Welfare Fund for Handicapped (forerunner of China Disabled Persons Federation)
• Japan 1986:  First Independent Living Center established in Tokyo
• Indonesia 1987:  Disabled People's Association founded
• Korea 1988:  Paralympics held in conjunction with the Seoul Olympics, · Thailand 1992: "Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons" was adopted by UN-ESCAP at its General Assembly, in which DPI member organizations in Asia played vital role
• Japan 1992: The first Independent Living Study Program in Japan was organized by the Catholic Association of Disabled Persons, now organized annually
• Philippines 1994 : The first Asia-Pacific Workshop on Independent Living was organized in Bacolod
• Korea 1994:  Korean women with disabilities organized for the first time  · India 1995: Enactment of "Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995" · India 1997: The term "Independent Living" was first appeared in the resolution of the leadership training seminar organized by the DPI Asia-Pacific Regional Council
• Vietnam 1999: National Law on Disability passed

2.4 Asia÷Disabled Women

The disabled women's community in Asia has emerged in spurts. Evolving initially through disability groups, disabled women took leadership positions that moved the overall disability agenda forward. Disabled women in Asia face challenges that include cultural proscription of the role of women, extensive patterns of lack of services and gender-biased services that are not inclusive of women. The serious poverty faced by many Asian countries exacerbates long-standing patterns of ignoring disability issues. Nevertheless, Asian disabled women have made inroads in organizing and creating programs to address the needs of disabled women.

2.5 India÷Disabled Women

A recent national survey of disability organizations revealed a very grim situation for disabled women in India. Women formed only 28.45% of the entire strength of the decision-making bodies, with disabled women comprising a mere 3.71%. Only 25% of the program beneficiaries were disabled women, and the percentage of girls receiving education was only 38.34. (Editor's note: see Employment section of this issue of DisabilityWorld for full details of this study.)

Disabled women's issues were identified as a priority area at a national two-day conference on employment and disability. At the disabled women's panel, it was pointed out that while "a lot of organizations are working for women and for the disabled respectively, very few initiatives have been taken in India to tackle the exclusive problems of women with disabilities."

One Indian disabled women frames the situation this way: "The issues of women with disabilities are same as other women in India plus more [complex] as they lack access to education, resulting in all the problems linked with illiteracy such as poverty, lack of decision making power and lack of available options. Because of disability they are not considered to be women who can fulfill the traditional roles of Indian women. Worst of all I have seen that most women with disabilities who are leaders themselves really believe in this notion. So the issue which needs attention is lack of recognition of rights. The concept that a woman has rights is well adopted by the women in India, however not by women with disabilities."

An Indian disability activist says: "In a society where the practice of gender inequality has become a convention, disabled women are the most isolated and marginalized. After years of struggle, disabled men have succeeded to some extent in making their voice heard. A special initiative is required to make sure that disabled women are also heard."

2.6 Japan÷Disability Movement

1991 was a landmark year for the independent living movement in Japan: twelve IL centers all over the country met and decided to establish the Japan Council on Independent Living Centers (JIL), establishing for the first time a country-level organization. In the next eight years, 83 IL centers were founded in Japan, supported by the JIL. However, the situation for women with disabilities in the Japanese independent living movement is similar to that faced by disabled women around the world. While there are some strong activists and advocates, the more official roles continue to be delegated to males. Except for the area of eugenics, disabled women in Japan are asked to take a back seat to their male counterparts.

2.6 Japan-Disabled Women

Yukiko Oka Nakanishi, president of the Asia Disability Institute, reports disabled women are organized and powerful in Japan. "The government finally admitted that the Eugenic Protection law was based on the eugenic concept and thus became open to the idea of reviewing it. In 1995 the DPI-Japan Disabled Women's Network together with other NGOs organized a workshop during the UN Women's Conference at in Beijing. The speakers with disabilities from Japan expressed concerns against the Eugenic Protection Law. Soon after that, the law was finally revised and given a new name, "Maternal Protection Law". It is most welcome that the prevention of the birth of so called "inferior offspring" is not advocated any more."

In Japan, disabled women are leaders of local and regional disability organizations and sit on the boards of national organizations. They have also organized themselves as a strong voice for disabled women's issues through local, national and international organizations.

"We don't know if we can say that there is one overall issue for disabled women in Japan, but I think disabled women here are not recognized enough in the society. In the disability movement, especially in the Independent Living Movement, women are very active and lead the movement. In terms of organizations, there is a group of disabled women named "DPI Disabled Women's Networking". It is a voluntary group and the members meet about three or four times a year. The biggest issue is the Maternal Protection Law. Also, most of the leaders in Peer Counseling field are women."

2.7 New Zealand÷Disability Movement

Disabled Person's Assembly (DPA ) has 35 regional assemblies throughout New Zealand providing an essential link to local communities with over 1100 individuals and 560 organizations contributing their time, energy and expertise. In addition there is a conscious recognition of the need to actively involve Maori people at every level in DPA to ensure that solutions to disability-related issues acknowledge the Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand is unusual in its public commitment to the inclusion of disabled people from the non-dominant culture.

People with disabilities in New Zealand are still forced to fight with the government for basic services. Seventy-five percent of people with disabilities live below the poverty line, and people with disabilities are grossly under-represented in employment, higher education, recreation and leisure activities and in most facets of society.
Although a developed nation, New Zealand has lagged behind other nations in its commitment to the civil rights of people with disabilities. A number of specific legal recognition and protections for people with disabilities have developed since the 1970's. These include the Disability Community Welfare Act 1975 (provides financial assistance for disability, voluntary and other organizations involved in the care of disabled people), the Education Act 1989 (establishes attendance requirements for disabled students), the Human Rights Act 1993 (establishes rights of disabled people) and the Health and Disabilities Commissioner Act 1994 (establishes rights of the consumer when accessing disability services in New Zealand).

2.7 New Zealand÷Disabled Women

Issues of women with disabilities, while present in some small ways are not addressed or included in a national agenda. This may be changing as First Nation activists are forcing the analysis of how disability and gender intersect. While neighboring Australia has many strong disabled women's groups, in New Zealand disabled women are still working primarily in disability groups. Yet their influence is felt within the powerful National Disability Assembly , which in November 1999 passed a mandate that no legislation be enacted about sterilization, euthanasia and abortion on the grounds of disability without strong input and discussion by the DPA. Such national level advocacy on issues which are of direct concern to disabled women, and often overlooked by disability groups, shows a strong commitment to disabled women within the organization.

One exceptional effort on behalf of women with vision disabilities is the Vision Pacific Trust (VPT), in Auckland, New Zealand. Begun in 1999, VPT operates nationally in New Zealand and regionally across the Pacific Islands, working with visually disabled women in training, advocacy, peer support, and health. VPT held a leadership seminar in Fiji where Asian and Pacific women with disabilities identified priority issues for visually disabled women such as unemployment and the health of ethnic minorities.

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2.8 Europe÷Disability Movement

Europe is a leader in many aspects of the disability movement. Many European countries have a long history of governmentally mandated services and benefits dating back to the 1920's. At the same time, beginning around 1981, several European countries have developed technical assistance and leadership development projects with disability partner organizations in developing countries. In the last decade a good number of these development projects have focused on the needs of disabled women and girls. Additionally, many significant disabled women leaders have emerged from Europe.

3.8 Europe÷Disabled Women

3.9 The European Network of Women with Disabilities, DISWEB, describes the situation of women with disabilities in Europe: "The social status of disabled European women varies greatly depending on in which European country they live. Disabled women in eastern and southern Europe are in a particularly disadvantaged position. In these countries it is very difficult for disabled women to get an education or to find a job. A disabled woman easily becomes marginalized; she has no place in the society where she lives. She does not meet the requirements society places on women: she cannot be a good wife, nor a mother. She cannot earn her living because she does not have access to education. A common experience for all disabled women, in spite of differences between the societies where they live, is double discrimination based on disability and gender.

"Disabled women have a hard time trying to establish contacts with the general women's movement. The " general women's movement has not shown any interest to the problems of the disabled minority group. The general women's movement often arranges meetings in inaccessible places. It was a commonly expressed wish that contacts to general women's movement be improved fast. Women with disabilities are first women. Disability is a secondary characteristic." (European Network of Women with Disabilities, Press Release, 1996)

Women with disabilities have taken leadership in disability rights organizations throughout Europe, including Disabled Peoples International and the World Blind Union. European disabled women have provided international leadership, important policy analyses, leadership training and some would say most importantly, funding, for disabled women from around the world. Some areas of note are: creating disabled women's committees in national and international organizations, organizing disabled women's conferences, integrating disabled women's issues into United Nation's projects and forums, providing international exchanges for disabled women's leadership opportunities, and providing funding opportunities for emerging groups of disabled women especially from poor countries.

DPI Europe Women's Committee has organized a number of European Congresses, including "Self-Determined Living for Disabled Women" , 1996, and "Modalities Of Creation And Development Of National Movements Of Disabled Women", 1998.

2.9 Germany÷Disability Movement

With financial assistance from the European Union, a project for consultation on accessible building was initiated 1997 within the Education and Research Institute for Independent Living (BIFOS). The offer for consultation was especially targeted towards architects, developers, city governments, politicians and disabled persons.

Universities in Germany are obligated to meet the accessibility needs of disabled students, but in reality barriers are everywhere. In addition, Fachhochschule Heidelberg (a private architecture university) trains disabled students to study architecture (about a third of the 680 students are disabled). Their study is financed by the labor office or a health insurance fund which consider their training as architects to be a rehabilitation measure. An important part of the courses focuses on barrier free building and much research is devoted to accessible rehabilitation of old housing.

To reach the largely rural disabled population in South Thuringia, formerly part of the German Democratic Republic, Project Mobility was launched to counsel the disabled people on self-determined living and employment. It was felt that the rural disabled population is especially isolated and unaware of new opportunities since the East/West German unification and is unable to use public transportation.

The state association in Thuringia focuses especially on the very precarious situation of disabled women. Many lost their jobs after the unification. Another area of special efforts is work with disabled children and youth.
"Wir vertreten uns selbst" ("We represent ourselves") was founded in December 1997. It supports the existing 19 People First organizations in Germany, which are self-help groups which emphasize self-determined living through meetings, publishing of books, and information and training for "support persons" to provide the assistance what the disabled people want.

2.9 Germany - Disabled Women

Hessen was the first of the provinces to establish a network of women with disabilities and, in l993, a coordinating office. Other provinces followed the Hessian model, however there remains a dearth of initiatives and programs by or for women with disabilities in the new provinces in former East Germany. The most active participants among the self-help groups are women with physical disabilities and/or visually impaired or blind women. Mentally retarded women are hardly represented. Deaf women are slowly gaining access by the use of interpreters at meetings.

It is estimated that there are about 5 million women and girls with disabilities in Germany. The Weibernetz e.V., as the network on the Federal level is called, focuses on an overall improvement of the life situation of women with disabilities. Special areas of emphasis are: sexual violence, occupational rehabilitation, genetic and reproductive technologies and work on legislation.

The unemployment statistics of the Federal Office of Labor does not provide gender specific figures. The only available figures date back to a micro-census in 1995 which reported that only 13.3% of severely disabled women had jobs as opposed to 19.7% of severely disabled men. Two thirds of women with disabilities have to make do with a monthly income of DM 1800 (at current exchange rates about $900) which because of the high rents everywhere is very modest.

There is a dire need to overcome the present predicaments of women and girls with disabilities. Women and girls with disabilities are often poorly educated and the number enrolled in occupational rehabilitation is very low. The occupational training centers offer 20 different occupations but only six for women and girls with disabilities. People who need training after becoming disabled can apply to 28 institutions. But due to inadequate counseling by the labor offices, lack of financial assistance and geographic distances, women constitute only 20% of the enrolled disabled persons.

The Federal Organization for Disabled Women (Bundes Organisationsstelle behinderter Frauen) is a new organization for disabled women. It is housed by the organization "BIFOS" in Kassel and produces a quarterly information bulletin. Among its goals are collection of information on successful projects for disabled women, case histories of blatant discrimination, telephone counseling and communication exchanges among the networks for disabled women in existence in eight cities in Germany.

2.10 Great Britain÷Disability Movement

The United Kingdom has a challenging history with regards to the independent living movement. The UK has an entrenched system of government benefits for people with disabilities, which provides monetary grants, housing, personal assistance services and even programs for children of disabled parents. Much of the work to emerge from the UK has been an analysis and challenge of the predominant paternalistic model. Disabled women have emerged in two significant areas: gender analysis and parenting. The work of writers such as Jenny Morris has shown a bright light on the intersections of women and disability within both disability movement constructs and feminist constructs. There is a long-standing connection between the feminist movement and disabled women. Disabled parenting issues have emerged in direct response to government and charity programs that focus on "relieving the burden for young carers" referring to the children of disabled parents.

2.10 Great Britain÷Disabled Women

Disabled women in the UK have provided consistent analysis and critical thinking on diverse issues, but nearly always outside of the mainstream disability rights movement. Whether this is due to the impact of sexism within mainstream organizations or a part of how UK disability work emerges, disabled women in the UK contribute enormously to many of the more marginalized issues on disabled women.

Jenny Morris is a writer and thinker who is both associated with the development of the Social Model in the UK and one of its most insightful critics in regard to gender. Her writings are enormously influential in the English-speaking world. Her understanding and documentation of how gender and disability intersect to form new paradigms has been quoted and incorporated into nearly all disabled women's writings around the world. Her work ties directly into the efforts of disabled women in the UK to work within women's groups.

The most visible example of such collaboration is WinVisible, a joint group of disabled and non-disabled women who are working to create opportunities for disabled women. WinVisible challenges class-based assumptions of UK society and the disability movement's ignorance of class as an important criteria in social change. They are an ongoing presence at international women's events challenging disabled women and women's groups to analyze more thoroughly barriers facing disabled women. Sexuality issues, and particularly the issues facing lesbian or bisexual women are also strongly represented in the UK disabled women's work, particularly through the writing and organizing of Kath Gillespie-Sells and by the more than 20 year old Gemma group. A particular strength of this work is that it often includes an analysis of how women with different disabilities or from different races are impacted by discrimination.

Whether trading information about government programs, organizing disabled mothers for national policy discussions, or creating international publications and books the disabled women in the UK are defining critical issues and presenting them as necessary topics for the disability and women's movements. Disabled mothers can find information and resources through a national organization, the National Network of Disabled Parents. The international anthology on disabled mothering, Bigger than the Sky was produced in the UK.

A unique project in the UK is the Deaf Women's Health Project, based at the University of Bristol. Begun in 1985, the project was established to give Deaf women access to health information using British Sign Language to enable them to make informed decisions about health care. The goals of the Deaf Women's Health Project are to encourage development of a network of Deaf Women's Health Groups, to promote training for Deaf women in health education, increase access to health information and materials, and improve confidence, independence and assertiveness of Deaf Women. Most coordinators and instructors for the project are Deaf women. As a result of this project, many Deaf women are more aware of their rights, feel less isolated with their health problems and share information more openly with others.

2.11 Russia - Disability Movement

The All-Russian Society of the Disabled identified serving young people with disabilities as one of its priorities in its Program of Action for 1997-2001.

Twenty newly trained disabled youth activists and volunteers conducted self-advocacy workshops and introduced peer support to more than 100 young women and men with disabilities from across Russia at a week-long national Disabled Youth Conference held in Moscow. The goal of youth advocacy activities is to change public attitudes about disability. Disabled youth activists and volunteers have been trained to conduct disability awareness workshops to Russian school children in Krasnodar, Krymsk, Perm, Nytva, Ukhta and Syktyvkar. Organizers now view the youth activist project as a replicable model for disability advocacy in Russia.

The project operates on the premise that empowering youth with disabilities and giving them a responsible role in their communities is an effective way to develop disabled activists. One of the greatest challenges in conducting disability advocacy in Russia has been the assumption in the general community and among Russian disabled people themselves that doctors are the experts on disability. The idea that persons with disabilities have expertise based on their own experiences is relatively new in Russia, and has kept youth with disabilities from participating actively in the disability movement in Russia. The non-disabled "expert" approach towards disability activism has been less than effective at the local level, where disability issues more deeply affected by public attitudes and assumptions than by technical expertise.

2.11 Russia - Disabled Women

Russian disabled women are actively pursuing their dreams within a system of extreme poverty and great physical inaccessibility, as well as a history of ignoring and warehousing disabled women. Current disabled women leaders see an immediate need for service-based systems run by and for women with disabilities. Throughout Russia there are only a handful of experienced disabled women leaders, more women with disabilities are taking new leadership opportunities, through trainings offered to youth by disability organizations, community leadership development programs and economic support projects.

Two of the leading programs led by women with disabilities in Russia are "Ariadna" in Novosibirsk and "Pearls" in Moscow. Ariadna was begun in 1994 by women members of an existing disability sports organization, and mothers of children with disabilities. In the early days there was no office so women members met after sports practice, at disabled people's talent competitions and during visits to the sauna. Ariadna has grown from a social group to an organization which provides job training and placement, operates a legal clinic, sponsors wheelchair dancing, vocal and sports groups and offers counseling and vocational training to women with disabilities. Ariadna participated in training by the Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (US) on women's reproductive issues, and has conducted workshops for young women with disabilities on health, sexuality, community integration, and rehabilitation. Ariadna offers medical consultation and peer counseling for disabled women at the new FINIST rehabilitation center. Ariadna representatives participated in international conferences and trainings including MIUSA's Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability and the 1997 International Forum on Leadership for Women with Disabilities.

Ariadna focuses on issues of disability which impact women's lives, not only those of women with disability but also non-disabled women who are directly impacted by disability, such as mothers of disabled children. Ariadna's goals are to help women with disabilities to develop abilities necessary to actively participate in society, to uphold interests of women with disabilities on a governmental level, and demand equal opportunities for women with disabilities with other members of society. Ariadna is working to include women with diverse types of disabilities to better solve shared problems.

The Moscow City Disabled Women's Commission --"Pearls"-- emerged from the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Pearls organized the First Conference on Women's Problems in Moscow October 1997, and in 1998 coordinated the First International Women's Conference in Moscow.

Pearls offers programs on business and employment, peer support and health. One such program, "REIN" (Rehabilitation of Invalids) assists women with disabilities who are home-bound due to lack of community access to learn sewing, telephone and other home-based work. Currently there are 40 disabled women in this program. Peer groups meet regularly and cover health, networking and equipment issues. The health program is focused on obtaining accessible examination equipment into Moscow and making it available to disabled women. Pearls is also striving to create resources for disabled women with small children.

Pearls' slogan is: "Each of us should remember that she is a pearl or another precious stone, unique in itself and at the same time alike her friends - disabled women. Being together in one necklace we can do a lot. We can overcome most difficulties."

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2.12 Latin America - Disability Movement

Kathy Lysack described the situation of disability movements in Latin America stated in her report "IDEAS 2000 Independent Living Survey: International Findings".

"Although the principles of self-determination and autonomy guide most disability organizations, there is pressure in low-income countries to provide disability services because adequate national rehabilitation systems and social services are lacking. This applies to Latin America today, where organizations of people with disabilities and parent's organizations are changing their original dependency on the government to solve their problems and are taking the initiative as agents of change, providing the needed services themselves. The new approach is causing a major change in the traditional social structure of the region as well as generating new concepts like "integrated education'. The services are leaving the hands - and control - of the specialists and passing to the hands - and control - of the clients. People with disabilities are starting to change from mere 'patients' to active subjects of their social inclusion.

"In reality, this is a political revolution, but different from those which Latin American countries are used to endure. This time it is not from one dictatorship to another, but from the dictatorship of the traditional medical and institutional models to full citizenship and participation, with responsibility."

2.13 Latin America÷Disabled Women

As in many regions, disabled women's work in Latin America has been spearheaded by the work of a few key leaders. In conjunction with other disabled women from the region, these leaders are responsible for both creating and maintaining local, national and regional networks for women with disabilities. Each in her own way has transformed the lives of disabled women and motivated many younger women to take initiative and create programs.

Eileen Giron founded and directs a job training and craft production workshop through her organization in San Salvador: the Associación Cooperativa del Grupo Independiente Por Rehabilitación Integral (ACOGIPRI). Staffed by disabled people, many of whom are deaf, this program provides almost unheard-of opportunities for disabled women. Deaf women in the program learn standardized forms of sign language and Spanish literacy, using a sign language-based curriculum developed by ACOGIPRI. Disabled women participants learn skills on the job, while earning an income from craft production. ACOGIPRI works with local and national women's organizations, to include women with disabilities and incorporate disabled women's issues into their agendas. ACOGIPRI offers women's organizations accessible meeting spaces, and helps to arrange transportation, sign language interpreters and mentoring to empower women with disabilities to participate in community organizations. ACOGIPRI provides intensive mentoring and training to support the development of disabled women leaders.

Younger, new disabled women activists are emerging with training and mentorship by experienced disabled women leaders. One notable example is Alicia Contreras in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Trained and mentored by both southern and northern hemisphere disabled women leaders, Alicia emerged as a powerful community activist. Finding women with disabilities in San Luis Potosi to be isolated and sheltered, Alicia began a simple campaign to get women out of their homes and into community activities, and created the Centro de Vida Independiente para Mujeres con Discapacidad (CEVIMUDI). In the ensuing years, Alicia has created coalitions for improving the education of disabled children, an accessible bus system, the integration of disabled people into public health campaigns, and a disability office in the municipal government. Perhaps most importantly, she has shown an entire community that a woman with a disability can be a catalyst for important and long-lasting change.

2.14 Brazil÷Disability Movement

The disability movement in Brazil did not evolve in isolation: many early activists were part of other social movements, which flourished after the end of years of military dictatorship. The United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons was another key factor in the development of self-advocacy and self-help. For the first time, on a broad international scale, disabled people were involved not only as recipients of medical and social services, but as citizens who deserved equality and inclusion. The UN World Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons, which emphasized self-advocacy and full participation of people with disabilities, was crucial in asserting self-led organizations as a key concept in disability strategy.

Consider this general profile of the 15 million Brazilians with disabilities: high rates of illiteracy, low work skills and training, lack of support services, transportation and other resources that might improve their chances of achieving equal opportunities in society. In this scenario, women with disabilities have to face at least twice as strongly the negative consequences of the social crises of women and of people with disabilities, with far fewer opportunities than men.

2.15 Brazil - Disabled Women

There are eight million women with disabilities in Brazil. During the last 15 years disabled women have been undertaking initiatives to organize themselves, both inside the disability arena and the women rights' movement, to discuss their situation and to improve information and services. The First Brazilian Meeting of Blind Women took place in 1986 with 165 participants from all over the country, with basic themes of "Sexuality" and "Work". In March 1990, women with and without disabilities from Rio de Janeiro celebrated International Women's Day by organizing the first joint meeting to discuss disabled women's issues. In a statement issued from the meeting, participants concluded: "Women with disabilities are asserting the right to maternity and to sexuality. We want to reverse the overwhelming prejudice that we experience. Despite our mutual struggle with our male peers for disability rights, we are conscious of our specific needs as women. Such issues directly affect us and we want to see them discussed more thoroughly. Although we are as affected by disability as are men, we suffer more prejudices for the simple fact of being women". Following the joint meeting the State of Rio de Janeiro established a permanent disability representative to CEDIM (State Council of Women's Rights).

The status of women with disabilities in Brazil is clearly moving ahead. Two Brazilian women with disabilities participated in the official and NGO delegations to the Beijing UN Conference on Women (1995). As of 1997, Brazilian disabled women leaders included parliamentarians, directors of national organizations, academics and artists. Disabled women are taking important leadership roles as advocates, and heading the majority of the national representative organizations in the country. As individuals, women with disabilities are starting to share equal opportunities with men in their same situation. They are becoming empowered and aware of their social role as women.

Rosangela Berman-Bieler, co-founder of the first independent living center in Brazil, was a leading organizer of the 1997 International Forum on Women and Disability in Bethesda, Maryland, USA and which drew more than 600 women with disabilities from around the world, the second largest group coming from Brazil. To celebrate the new millennium and to provide further resources to Spanish and Portuguese speakers around the world, Rosangela founded the Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID), a non-profit entity, managed by disabled people and their allies, to empower people with all kinds of disabilities and their families in the Inter-American region and in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Europe and Africa. IID provides unique and important disability information in Spanish, Portuguese and English through its website (http://www.iidisability.org/).

2.16 Nicaragua - Disability Movement

Disabled people in Nicaragua have managed to create a broad-based and dynamic movement despite widespread poverty and the after-effects of wars. The Sandinista uprising against the Somoza dictatorship, and the subsequent Contra war against the newly-established government, resulted in many war-injured people. As frequently happens in the aftermath of war, renewed attention was paid to people with disabilities, especially those with disabilities acquired as the result of war. In Nicaragua, attention to the needs of disabled veterans led to increased awareness of and responses to the needs of other sectors of the disabled community.

One of the original organizations of disabled people which grew up following the Sandinista rebellion was the Organizacion de Revolucionarios Deshabilidades (ORD). Many of the early ORD members met each other while in rehabilitation facilities recovering from war injuries. With many experiences in common and a commitment to radical restructuring of society, this group soon challenged prevailing norms about disability. Inspired by ORD, and as an outgrowth of the ferment and social change in Nicaragua at this period, organizations were begun by blind people and deaf people. Wheelchair building and repair shops were started, along with other income-generating collectives. Los Pipitos, a group of parents with disabled children which began in the late 1980s, had a primary focus on changing societal attitudes towards children with disabilities, from shame and overprotection to acknowledgment of the rights of children with disabilities to be full participants in society.

An important disability group in Nicaragua is the Center for the Promotion of Integral Rehabilitation (CEPRI) which sees its task as working with people with disabilities not only to learn how to cope with disability on an individual level, but also to make needed social changes: in short, rehabilitating society as well as the individual. CEPRI was founded in 1986 by five disabled Nicaraguans, some of whom had been active in ORD but who wanted to move beyond ORD's focus on those injured in war. One of CEPRI's initial activities was a photographic exhibit of people with disabilities, many of which were taken by people with disabilities. The exhibit was designed to show disabled people not as "victims of war" but as active participants in rebuilding society. CEPRI has been active in creating community-based rehabilitation projects. One of CEPRI's core values is the training of people with disabilities as trainers of other disabled people, enabling the organization to increase the reach of their programs and also to use disabled trainers as role models.

As in other developing societies, disability groups in Nicaragua often focused initially on providing critical services such as rehabilitation and provision of wheelchairs. Support and funding for the newly-emerging disability movement came from disability rights groups outside of Nicaragua and foreign aid projects.

2.17 Nicaragua - Disabled Women

CEPRI was a pioneer in Nicaragua in striving to achieve social and economic integration of women with disabilities through programs specifically designed to reach women with disabilities. Much of this work was initiated by Dr. Lesbia Solarzano, a disabled physician and founder of CEPRI's Women's Program. Through outreach in urban and rural areas to women with disabilities, CEPRI fostered development of more than 25 groups of women with disabilities. Each group receives training on gender issues, feminism, sexuality and reproductive health, self esteem, self-care for women with spinal injuries and legal issues. Selected leaders receive training in developing small businesses, basic accounting and starting cooperatives.

One organization in the CEPRI network is the Asociación de Mujeres Discapacitadas de León, which supports women with disabilities to organize to know their rights, be independent and participate fully in the life of family and society. Founder Petrona Sandoval from Nicaragua describes resistance from a male-dominated disability-rights organization as her motivation to organize a separate organization for women with disabilities. "They said that because we weren't veterans, we didn't have the right to participate in the organization. It was for that reason that I began to organize disabled women. I would visit them house by house until we formed a group." The Asociación conducts training to women with disabilities on care and self-care following spinal cord injury, human rights, human relations and community-based rehabilitation. Financial support for office space, equipment, a vehicle, training courses, and a project to construct ramps in strategic points of the city has come from non-governmental organizations and Sister City programs from European countries.

Other organizations in the CEPRI network include a group in El Viejo which offers literacy courses and training in pastry cooking for women with disabilities, and manufactures cards that are sold to Holland and Japan. In Masayu another group of women with disabilities manufactures bamboo furniture. In Granada, the disabled women's organization established a revolving loan fund, and awards loans to its members to set up income-generating projects.

Petrona Sandoval asserts: "Community development projects should at minimum acknowledge that women with disabilities exist in the community. Women with disabilities need projects for better education, health care, ways of earning money and improved family life. Development programs should permit disabled women to be responsible for creating, administering and implementing development projects to improve the lives of women with disabilities. Women of the so-called Third World must be at the front of the international movement of women with disabilities, as they are often not valued by other women."

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3.0 Conclusions and Summary

While the situation varies in individual countries, the activities of women with disabilities in different countries follows remarkably similar threads. Unfortunately, one of these threads seems to be consistently little support for disabled women's efforts. Non-disabled women's movements assume that disabled women's concerns are more relevant to disability movements, and so do not address them. Meanwhile, disability movements tend to view disabled women's issues as "separate" and not integral to mainstream organizational agenda.

Women who participate in disability organizations are expected to support a gender-neutral focus on disability, while gender-specific concerns are not included in agendas and policies of national or regional disability organizations. Disabled women are expected to contribute their efforts and resources to the fight for social change, legislation and policies which will realize rights of people with disabilities in general. However, disabled men are not expected to attend to issues which are seen as specific to women with disabilities. The result is that disabled women are faced with twice the work in order to have their issues addressed.

Women with disabilities do the daily work of keeping the mainstream disability organizations alive and functional, while fundraising, organizing and networking to achieve opportunities and services critical for women with disabilities. Organizing and supporting two separate programs, less likely to be top leaders or to have a salaried position for their work, many disabled women are also raising and supporting families in addition to their disability work.

Disabled women around the world continue to be second-class citizens of the disability movement. Gender-specific work by disabled women significantly lags behind the work of the general disability movement, in part because most part disabled women are doing the work on a volunteer basis. The gender-specific work of disabled women tends to be on a small scale and heavily dependent on individual, high profile women to keep the work going. The work tends to have a different focus in each region because it is primarily based on the strengths and interests of the individual organizers who find the time and resources to take leadership.

New Survey of Women-Led Organizations: Loud, Proud, and Passionate(sm)

Forty-eight organizations responded to MIUSA's 1999-2000 survey of organizations led by and for women with disabilities, in preparation for the second edition of Loud, Proud, and Passionate (sm): Including Women with Disabilities in International Development Programs (in print Fall 2000). Of the responding organizations, 33% are led by and serve exclusively women with disabilities; 40% are women's committees of larger disability organizations; and 25% are organizations with male and female members in which women with disabilities take leadership and which address women's issues. These organizations cited lack of opportunities for employment and education and resulting poverty as most pressing issues for women with disabilities. Respondents also cited access to health care, opportunities for leadership and participation in decision making, and legal protection for women with disabilities as urgent issues.

Independent living movements, disability rights activists and non-disabled women's programs need to support the strategies which women with disabilities are taking very effectively to improve their situation. Findings include:

• 75% of the surveyed organizations offer leadership development opportunities to women with disabilities; most offer targeted training through seminars and workshop;
• 75% conduct public campaigns to raise community awareness of the issues, rights and potential of women with disabilities;
• 73% offer training programs and support for women with disabilities to participate in business or income generation activities;
• 29% offer some kind of microcredit program for women with disabilities. · More than half of the organizations conduct advocacy activities for improved rights of women with disabilities, many at national and regional policy levels.
• Nearly half of the organizations address educational and health needs of women with disabilities; and
• 44% offer programs for young women and girls with disabilities.

Non-governmental organizations can play a powerful role in counteracting the cycle of oppression through which disabled women are denied access to support and resources which would empower them to reach their potential and contribute to the community. Disabled women leaders in the MIUSA survey credit international assistance organizations and foundations with a leading role in making even small inroads for women with disabilities into participation and leadership. As articulated by a leader of a disabled women organization in Nepal: "The important change has been in the NGOs. All organizations, old and new, are involving women with disabilities in decision-making in their organizations. As a result, more and more women with disabilities come to leadership."

The need for funding support presents a critical challenge for women with disabilities. One survey respondent summed it up: "there is much to be done and not enough resources to do it with." Nevertheless, 79% of the organizations described in this survey have received financial aid from governmental and non-governmental international aid agencies.

A number of disabled women leaders cited in this book address the difficulties of reaching and mobilizing a constituency which, due to a history of oppression and abuse, is largely impoverished, illiterate, isolated and affected by low self-esteem. They call on disability, human rights and women's NGO's to share expertise, training and resources, to support the formation of disabled women's groups and to empower women with disabilities to participate in non-disability specific groups. Disability-led and other NGOs can support the efforts of women with disabilities by helping to reduce logistical obstacles, by sharing office equipment and meeting space, offering access to telephone, Internet and fax and contributing to transportation solutions.

Disability rights organizations hold powerful tools with which to tap the wealth of expertise offered by women with disabilities. In the MIUSA survey, women with disabilities from diverse countries and cultures offered recommendations to NGOs to more effectively include women with disabilities:

• Disability organizations, leadership training projects and independent living services must collect data on involvement of women and girls with disabilities and conduct specific outreach efforts to include women with disabilities.
• Mainstream organizations must support and work in partnership with organizations led by women with disabilities.
• Women with disabilities must be involved in all policy and decision making processes, and at every level of the projects: as staff, volunteers, participants, and evaluators.
• Education, vocational training and rehabilitation programs must include women with disabilities, to prepare women and girls for careers and gainful employment.
• Rehabilitation and adaptive technology must be available for women with disabilities, and women with disabilities must be involved in the development and production of adaptive devices.
• Health service personnel must be trained to offer informed and sensitive service and education addressing the health needs of girls and women with disabilities.

Non-governmental organizations must work with women with disabilities to pressure governments to effectively implement the recommendations which have been made over the years by various UN bodies and non-governmental organizations, particularly at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

From: http://www.independentliving.org/

• "The Disability Rights Movement: its development in South Africa" by Kathy Jagoe
• "Seminar on Human Rights for Persons with Disabilities from a North and South Perspective" Stockholm, Sweden 23 August, 1998 by Shanaaz Majiet, Lawyer, South Africa and a different speech by Jerry Nkeli, Human Rights Commissioner, South Africa
• "An International Summit Conference on Independent Living" Washington, DC, September 21-25, 1999 including: Independent Living in Japan by Shoji Nakanishi - Chairperson of the Human Care Association
• "Nicaragua: Independent Living In The Aftermath Of War"
• "South Africa: The Mobilization Of Disabled People And The Ending Of Apartheid"
• "Uganda: Self-Organizations within a Process of Democratization" Women's Caucus Recommendations. No author.

• Equity (newsletter) - vol 1, issue 4, January 1999 publication of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPD)

• "Disabled Members of Parliament Wield Influence in Uganda" By Kay Schriner, Ph.D.
• "INDEPENDENT LIVING Disabled Youth Advocacy Teams in Russia" By Marc Behrendt, World Institute on Disability
• "New Labor Government in New Zealand: Removing Barriers for People with Disabilities"
• "South Africa Re-drafts Anti-Discrimination Law"

• "Women: African Women & AIDS AND NICARAGUA Governance & Legislation: U.S. Agency for International Development Issues Progress Report on Disability Policy AND Initiatives of the Government of India to Advance Asia & Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons" By Anuradha Mohit http://www.disabilityworld.org/ April 2000

• "European disabled women discussed their human rights in Kauniainen, Finland"

• "The employment scenario in India with reference to People with Disabilities" A Research Conducted by, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People In Collaboration with: The National Association for the Blind, Delhi, India

• "Rating the Rules Data processed at the University of Aerhus in Denmark gives a vivid picture of how far disability organisations think their governments have gone to implement the Standard Rules" By H. Kallehauge, High Court Judge, President of PTU (The Danish Association of Polio and Accident Victims)
• "Ally to the Disability Movement: The work of Action on Disability and Development" By Pat Simmons, Action on Disability and Development, United Kingdom
• "African Decade of Disabled Persons" by Lucy Wong-Hernandez, DPI New York
• "A Conversation with Landmine Survivors at the DPI Fifth World Assembly" by Jean Parker, Disability Radio, USA
• "Women with disabilities - The Most Marginalised group of All." Irene Feika Deputy Chairperson of Underrepresented Groups. DPI

• "Disabled Africa: Rights Not Welfare" by Adewale Maja-Pearce

• "Ministry in the Office of the President Integrated National Disability Strategy of the Government of National Unity" Pretoria, 14 February 1996

• "Definitions of Independent Living Worldwide: a discussion paper" By Tanis Doe, Barbara Duncan, and Susan Brown
• "The Status Of Women With Disabilities In Brazil" By Rosangela Berman Bieler President, Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID)
• "Building Beyond Beijing: Leadership Development Strategies for Women with Disabilities" By Mobility International USA
• "International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities: Research Report and Recommendations" June 15-20, 1997 Submitted by Tanis Doe, Ph.D.
• "International Leadership Forum Brings Together Women from 80 Countries to Report on Progress & Strengthen Networks: Executive Summary"
• "Leadership Development Strategies for Women with Disabilities: A Cross-Cultural Survey" by Laura Hershey and Robin Stephens 1995
• Mobility International USA International Symposium on Microcredit for Women with Disabilities
• "Latin American Independent Living Survey: Executive Summary" Rosangela Berman Bieler, IDEAS 2000 Fellow - 1996

• "Perspective on Independent Living Movement in Asia" by Yukiko Oka Nakanishi, Asia Disability Institute (ADI)
• "IL movement spreads over Asia" by Yukiko Nakanishi
• "Self-reliance in Interdependent Communities: Independent living of disabled persons in the Asia-Pacific region" by Yukiko Oka Programme Specialist, Social Development Division, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
• "Accessibility In Japan" by Yukiko Oka Nakanishi President, Asia Disability Institute
• "Country Reports Of DPI -Japan (Japan National Assembly Of Disabled Peoples' International ) 1990-1999"

RESOURCES

PRINT MATERIALS

ISL-Förderstelle "Peer Counseling Cantianstrasse 7 10437 Berlin tel: 030 44 34 19 25, fax: 030 44 34 19 26 e-mail: 106105.2256@compuserve.com

Mobility International USA, Loud, Proud, and Passionate (sm): Including Women with Disabilities in International Development Programs. Fall 2000. PO Box 10767, Eugene, Oregon USA 97440 Voice/TDD: 541-343-1284; fax: 541-343-6812; email: info@miusa.org.

Susanne Göbel, Gisela Hermes ,Otmar Miles-Paul: Graadse Leeds [Inspite of everything] Portraits of disabled persons' self-help endeavors. BIFOS publishers, Kassel 2000, DM 10.00

ORGANIZATIONS

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, PO Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia. Disability Awareness in Action is an international information project supporting the work of disabled people and their organisations. DAA, 11 Belgrave Road, London SW1V 1RB, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 171 821 9539. Text Tel: +44 171 821 9812. Fax: +44 171 821 9539. E-mail: DAA_ORG@compuserve.com

Bundesorganisationsstelle behinderte Frauen, Kölnische Strasse 99, 34119 Kassel, tel: 0561/7288540, fax:0561/7288544, e-mail:service@behindertefrauen.de, website:http://www.behindertefrauen.de/

Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) advocates the rights of disabled people. The DPI network has over
100 national assembly members, over half of which are in developing countries. Headquarters: DPI, 101-7 Evergreen Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 2T3. Tel: +1 204 287 8010. Fax: +1 204 453 1367.
Text Tel: +1 204 284 2598. E-mail: DPI@DPI.org

East Africa Federation of the Disabled (EAFOD), PO Box 563, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Tel: +255 54
33719. Fax: +255 54 31730. Pan-African Federation of Disabled People (PAFOD), 1 Crescent Court, 130 Herbert Chitepo Street, 12th Avenue, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Tel: +263 9 69356. Fax: +263 9 74398.

Krüppel-Lesben Netzwerk (cripple-lesbian network) c/o Gesa Teichert, Hedwig Jahnow Str.11 35037 Marburg,Germany.

Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD),130 Herbert Chitepo Street, 12th Avenue, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Tel: +263 9 69356. Fax: +263 9 74398.

West Africa Federation of the Disabled (WAFOD), Mohammed Fall, FOAPH, B.P. 2609, Bamako, Mali. Tel: +223 224391. Fax: +223 223303.

Inclusion International is the only organisation which speaks for the world's 50 million people with mental impairments, their families and those who work for them. It includes 169 societies in 105 countries. Secretariat: Inclusion International, Galeries de la Toison d'Or, Chaussée d'Ixelles, #393/32, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 2 502 77 34. Fax: +32 2 502 28 46.

Africa: FEPAPHAM (PanAfrican Federation of Associations), Bd. Allel Ben Abdellah, Casablanca, Morocco. Tel: +212 2 306 585. Organization of African Unity is the regional grouping of African governments. OAU, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. African Rehabilitation Institute - an intergovernmental organisation created by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the International Labour Organisation with the stated aim of helping the member states with prevention of disabilities, provision of rehabilition services, research and empowerment of disabled people.

Rehabilitation International is a federation of 169 organisations in 92 countries conducting programmes to assist disabled people and all who work for prevention, rehabilitation and integration. Headquarters: RI, 25 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010, USA. Tel: +1 212 420 1500. Text Tel: +1 212 505 0871. Fax: E-mail:

Africa: The Hon. A. A. Moody Awori, The Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya, PO Box 56643, Nairobi, Kenya. United Nations Department of Public Information: United Nations, NY 10017, USA. Tel: +1 212 963 0353. Fax: +1 212 963 4556. Economic Commission for Africa (ECA): PO Box 3001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tel: +251 1 517 200.

World Blind Union is the international voice of over 50 million blind and visually impaired people. It has member organisations in virtually every country of the world. Headquarters: WBU, c/o CBC ONCE, La Coruña 18, 28020 Madrid, Spain.

African Union of the Blind: Mr. Imed Eddine Chaker, Président, Union Africaine des Aveugles, c/o Union Nationale des Aveugles de Tunisie, 21 Boulevard Bab Benat, 1006 Tunis, Tunisia. Tel: +216 1 56 56 34. Fax: +216 1 56 67 49.

World Federation of the Deaf is an international organisation of national associations of the Deaf. It is working towards full participation and equal rights for Deaf people. Secretariat: WFD, Magnus Ladulåsgatan 63, 4tr SE-118 27 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: info@wfdnews.org; Web: http://www.wfdnews.org/.  WFD Regional Secretariat for Eastern and Southern Africa: c/o KNAD, Queensway House Office, PO Box 53448, Nairobi, Kenya. Fax: +254 2 333448.

People First,Germany Wir vertreten uns selbst Kölnische Strasse 99 34119 Kassel tel: 0561/728 85 55, fax: 0561/728 85 58, e-mail: People1 D@aol.com

Beratung zum Selbstbestimmten Leben Behinderter Menschen im ländlichen Bereich Süedthüringen Bergweg 10 98587 Seinbach-Hallenberg tel/fax: 036847/48 48 5 This is a project of the Landesverband "Interessenvertretung Selbstbestimmt Leben" in Thüringen, Kastanienstr. 09, 07747 Jena, tel/fax:03641/361155, e-mail: Xbansemer@aol.com.

Länderverband "Interessensvertretung Selbstbestimmtes Leben in Thüringen (Statewide association of "Self-determined Living in Thuringia) Kastanienstr. 09 07747 Jena,Germany tel/fax: 03641/361155, e-mail: ISL@infonet-Thueringen.De, http://isl.infonet-ththueringen.de/

City 4 All Beratungsstelle für barrierfreies Bauen (Consultation for accessible building) Kölnische Strasse 99 34119 Kassel,Germany tel: 0561 7392773, fax: 0561-7392794, e-mail:BIFOS@t-online.de