Issues of Gender in the context of the Movement of Persons with Disability

by Rita Barbuto
Regional Development Officer, DPI Europe

The last century was harbinger of cultural, social, political, economical and technological transformations. Among these particularly important is the change that has come over the way in which the woman is perceived, which happened gradually at the end of the sixties, giving origin to the feminist movement.

Through this feminist movement  women acquired their being direct actresses of social, political, cultural and working life.  The aim of the movement was the promotion of the woman’s status in society and the achievement of equality between sexes. This implicated, therefore, a great attention for feminine needs, interests and perspectives.

During the last decades  an analogue change came on even in the world of disability.  The concept of disability as an issue of human rights is accepted internationally and political and civil rights are recognized to persons with disability as to all other persons and also recognized is the necessity to adopt the necessary measures to live their life fully.  Therefore their right to economical and social security, to employment, to live with their own family, to participate in social and cultural life, to be protected against any form of exploitation, abuse or degrading conditions are recognized.

But during the nineties the categories of  women and persons with disability  develop a new and revolutionary approach, that of mainstreaming: Gender Mainstreaming and Disability Mainstreaming means not only adding the female and disability component in the policies, in the actions and in the existing activities, rather it means taking the experience, knowledge and interests  of women and persons with disability in the political and economical agendas, in the social and cultural actions .  It means  transforming unjust political, social and institutional structures that lack apparatus into just ones equal for all.  In order to do this the two movements have invoked and linked two principles: inclusion and transformation.  Where inclusion means equal opportunities and transformation means to reread the knowledge established and revolutionize the order of things.  This means to think over the representative systems of ability and disability, gender and sexuality, diversity and normality.

In relation to persons with disability this means to unhinge the negative ideological vision of disability that pervades the cultural practices, the structuring of the Institutions, the political thought and practice, the human history and experience.

Therefore at one end there is the history , the course of emancipation and the rights of women and at the other the history and the commitment of the movement of persons with disability.  And in particular of DPI, the emancipation and the conquered and recognized rights of persons with disability. 

But where are the women with disability?  How are they seen? How do they see themselves? What is their life like?  Where are their rights and their equal opportunities? Do they work and study? Do they have appropriate services? Are their needs and desires satisfied?

Of course the life conditions of women with disability vary from woman to woman, they depend on the historical, social and cultural context, on the economical situation of the country they live in: of course the women with disability that live in a poor country are discriminated more and live in more disadvantaged conditions compared to those who live in EU countries.  But always and in any case comparing the quality of their life, the opportunities, economical resources that they have at their disposal, the information they receive, are, always and however, inferior to those of men with disability and other women.

Many things have definitely changed, but even the forms of discrimination  and violence to which women with disability are subjected to have changed.  They are more subtle and less evident.  For example women with disability continue being exposed to eugenic programmes:  selective abortion and infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia, forced sterilization.  They are the ones who are mostly excluded from the world of employment and education aggravating their conditions of poverty.  They are the ones that are most disadvantaged due to the lack of services.  And all these discriminatory practices  are made legitimate by systems of representation, by cultural and collective stories that mould the world with excluding manners.

DPI Italia is the Italian National Assembly of Disabled Peoples’ International, world organization of persons with disability that works for the safeguarding and promotion of Human Rights, for Inclusion and non discrimination and to guarantee equal opportunities to these same persons with disability.  Starting from this cultural and political horizon DPI Italia has committed itself, during these last years, to throw light upon gender problems in the context of disability to focus on discrimination and the violence to which women with disability are subjected to, and to propose solutions , methodologies and instruments to strengthen women with disability and make them protagonists in their own life and in society.

The violation of human rights, discrimination and violence that women with disability are subjected to everyday and in every area were, therefore object to attention and consideration of the IV European Conference of Disabled Women entitled  “Disabled Women And Personal Assistance -   an instrument to guarantee equal opportunities  and a life of quality”, that was held on the 9th and 10th April 2005 in Paestum (SA). 

In the Conference, that was the conclusive action of the project “I Care - disabled women and personal assistance against violence”– Daphne I programme,  continued the consideration started with the research  work  through which the relationship between women with disability and personal assistants was analyzed.  A relationship that is structured between two persons, that are not two empty bodies, one that supports and the other which is supported, but two psychological worlds, each one with its own emotions, fantasies, experiences, sensations and ideas, that meet during activities such as eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, etc.  The conference was, therefore a space and a place where the argumentations and modalities of the interpretation of the relationship between women with disability and personal assistants was reformulated and likewise it was a moment of reflection to find together strategies and instruments, to elaborate positive solutions and actions that allow women with disability, both if they live in  big and opulent  cities or in poor rural areas, to get out of the ghetto of invisibility and discrimination, in which they were segregated by prejudice, by their being women and by their condition of disability.  The women with disability present in Paestum, established that the personal assistance, that guarantees women with disability the possibility to live a full, independent and free life, is an issue to be confronted on two levels.  The first one, subjective and personal, it is  to identify methodologies and instruments of empowerment that allow women with disability to expect personal assistance consciously, as a right, and to feel themselves on the same  level as the other in the relationship.  The second level, objective and social, it means taking on the responsibility by society to identify economical, social, political and instrumental solutions, made to guarantee to persons with disability, in particular women with disability, this service.

At  the conclusion of the Conference, the 128 women with disability coming from 16 European countries elaborated  the “Manifesto: Women with Disabilities, Independent Living and Human Rights” adopted by DPI Europe during the Regional Assembly that was held in Bucharest from the 16th to the 19th June, 2005.

MANIFESTO
Women with Disabilities, Independent Living and Human Rights

Paestum (SA) Italy  9th and 10th April, 2005

We, 128 women with disabilities coming from 16 European countries, reunited at the IV European Conference “Disabled Women and Personal Assistance: Personal Assistance as an instrument to guarantee equal opportunities and a life of quality”, in Paestum Italy, carried out on the basis of the principles of Disabled Peoples’ International, demand:

that the national and local Governments of Europe and the European Union implement this Manifesto in their own policies and actions regarding matters of disability and gender.

conditions that guarantee a life of quality, equal opportunities, full participation in the life of the community, freedom of choice for and respect of the Human Rights of all women and girls with disabilities, even of those women who cannot represent themselves because: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.

For all women and men with disabilities, we demand:

• Anti-discrimination laws in all European states. As equal citizens we must have the same access to the basics of life including: food, clothing, housing, health care, assistive devices, personal support services, education, employment, information, communication, transportation and access to the physical and cultural environment, the right to sexuality and the right to marry and have children.
• A law on personal Assistance in all European states that guarantees an independent and self-determined life to each woman and man with disabilities. Personal Assistance enables persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and other impairments to carry out activities of daily life that the user cannot do by herself/himself. Personal Assistance will enable persons with disabilities to gain more quality of life and therefore they will be able to take part in and contribute to the economic and social life of the community.
• A good example of orientation for the states for legislation is the Swedish Law on Personal Assistance. We stress that independent living support services are essential for disabled people to enjoy basic freedoms and must be funded by all Governments. For example, it is unacceptable that European citizens with disabilities are still kept in residential institutions, because of the lack of appropriate living alternatives in the community.
• Penal laws in all states punishing violence and sexual violence. Penal laws have to mention girls and women with disabilities explicitly in the text of the legislation. Perpetrators have to be punished accordingly. Programmes against violence and sexual violence have to be carried out so that women and girls with disabilities can defend themselves and are protected.
• Freedom of choice: each woman and man with disabilities has to be able to create and carry out her/his own life project. States must guarantee financial, organisational and human resources to create and implement services that cover the real needs.
• Mainstreaming: Governments have to put the experience, knowledge and needs of women with disabilities in the political, economical agenda and the social and cultural actions. This means to transform unjust and lacking political, social and administrational facilities into just and inclusive facilities that respect diversity.
• Participation: Governments have to develop an active role in all initiatives, programmes and measures connected to activities that involve and/or influence the choice and the quality of life of women and men with disabilities: “Nothing about us without us”.

We strongly call the governments to reaffirm the entire scope of Human Rights of women and girls with disabilities, including the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in order to achieve the internationally agreed development goals as well as those contained in the millennium declaration of the United Nations. We strongly recommend addressing the unique issues of disabled women and girls in the future Convention on the Rights and Dignity of People with Disabilities. Representing women with disabilities in 135 countries, Disabled Peoples’ International demand that the unique concerns of women and girls with disabilities will be recognized in all relevant official.

2005-07-22 00:00:00

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