Women are disabled too

The World Bank estimates that there are 300 million disabled women and girls worldwide. Disabled women in developing countries can face triple discrimination - for being poor, female and disabled. They are often the least educated, weakest and most vulnerable members of any society, especially susceptible to neglect, isolation and abuse. They are often the least educated with few opportunities to speak out.

The impact of inadequate water and sanitation is greatest on women and girls. If the concerns of disabled women and girls are not considered, it can result in the introduction of measures that are unsuitable to their needs and detrimental to their welfare. For instance, the embarrassment that disabled people face when bathing publicly and using communal toilets is compounded by disabled women's vulnerability because of their disability and gender. Improving access should not only consider how to make using such facilities easier but also how to ensure that women can attend to personal hygiene privately and safely. Similarly, many disabled women continue to be responsible for household duties such as fetching water, cooking and caring for children. Practitioners and service providers must be careful not to overlook the capacities of these women and should endeavour to make their work lighter.

Development and disability practitioners also need to realise that:

• Disabled people's organisations do not speak for all disabled people: if participation is a real goal, providers will have to actively seek out the views of disabled women and girls.
• Priorities and concerns for particular groups within the general umbrella of 'disability' will differ. For instance, many disabled girls (and boys) are unable to attend school, simply because toilets are not accessible to them.
• Where interventions increase the independence of a disabled person, it often releases the person supporting them, often a female child, who might have been taken out of school to care for them.
• Gender components of any programmes, including training on gender issues should include specific strategies to include disabled women.

See also

Delivering WATSAN services to disabled people, by H.E. Jones, R.A. Reed & J.E. Bevan, WEDC, October 2003 http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/projects/new_projects3.php?id=60

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