Here is a bit for those who want to work more in this field. Women and Girls with Disabilities
Human Rights Watch is committed to promoting the human rights of all persons, and is supportive of the movement toward codification of a specific international human rights treaty on disability rights. We are concerned that the current draft of the treaty does not yet adequately protect the human rights of women and girls. This website and the linked documents provide background on this issue and suggest improvements for the treaty. List of 3 items . Background on Abuses of Disabled Women's and Girls' Rights . Background on the Draft Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities . Human Rights Watch letter outlining concerns about the draft disability treaty list end Background on Abuses of Disabled Women's and Girls' Rights Approximately 300 million women around the world have mental and physical disabilities. Women constitute 75 percent of the disabled people in low and middle income countries. Women with disabilities comprise 10 percent of all women worldwide. Women are more likely than men to become disabled during their lives, due in part to gender bias in the allocation of scarce resources and in access to services. When ill, girls and women are less likely to receive medical attention than boys and men, particularly in developing countries where medical care may be a considerable distance from home. They are also less likely to receive preventive care, such as immunizations. Due to social, cultural and religious factors, disabled women are less likely than men to make use of existing social services, including residential services, and it is estimated that disabled women worldwide receive only 20 percent of the rehabilitation. A study in the Asia Pacific region found that more than 80 percent of disabled women had no independent means of livelihood, and thus were totally dependent on others. According to the World Health Organization, girls with disabilities may be more readily institutionalized than boys. Disabled women and girls face the same spectrum of human rights abuses that non-disabled women face, but their social isolation and dependence magnifies these abuses and their consequences. Women and girls with disabilities fare less well on most indicators of educational, professional, financial, and social success than their non-disabled female and disabled male counterparts. In some countries, laws overtly discriminate against disabled women and men, including by barring them from marrying if they have any form of mental disability. Even where the laws are not discriminatory, disabled women and girls face a host of abuses at the hands of their families, communities, and the state. Though definitive data is rare, there is some evidence that disabled women and girls face higher rates of violence and discrimination than non-disabled women. List of 8 items . Disabled women's sexual and reproductive rights are grossly abused. They experience forced sterilization; forced abortion due to discriminatory attitudes about their parenting abilities; and denial of information about reproductive health and contraceptives. When seeking reproductive health care, disabled women often face abusive treatment at the hands of physicians who do not understand their particular circumstances. A study in the U.S. showed that women with disabilities were significantly less likely to receive pelvic exams than non-disabled women. . Disabled women also face limitations on their rights to marry and found a family, and often lose of custody of their children. In some countries, it is almost impossible for disabled women to adopt children. . Disabled women face high rates of violence, both at the hands of family members and of personal assistants. Their dependence on their caregivers makes it even more difficult for them to pursue a remedy than for non-disabled women. Even where shelters are available for survivors of domestic violence, they are rarely accessible for disabled women. Research indicates that the violence faced by disabled women may be more chronic and severe, and takes some unique forms, such as withholding of essential care and medication. It seems also to be more prevalent: surveys conducted in Europe, North America, and Australia have shown that over half of disabled women have experienced physical abuse, compared to one-third of non-disabled women. In the United States, children with disabilities are almost twice as likely to experience sexual abuse as non-disabled children. (To be continued on Monday Unless the "law" stops me) ----- Original Message ----- From: "smriti singh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 3:54 PM Subject: [AI] A Burning Issues(replies) > Dear list members, > > I don't have regular access to internet, otherwise I > would have participated fully in the discussion. > Anyway, here are my quick comments on all the > responses: > > To begin with, I feel that not much replies have come > on the basic issue I raised. I am actually talking > about institutions who keep visually challenged girls. > Either they have schools for them, or they provide > hostels. I think we all know that girls are not safe > there. It does not mean that all the institutions run > in the same manner. > > As far as one's isolation is concerned, university > students, particularly visually challenged, are > already isolated. So, I'm not scared of being > isolated. I do agree that institution like Nab raise > their problem concerning to study, but no institution > take care about their social rights. Even for > scholarships, some institutions do not allow girls to > use their institutions' address. So, they have to give > address of their friends for receiving the > scholarship. > > I'm also very upset that women have not responded on > this issue. Most of us talked about the self-defence > and martial arts, but do we think our visually > challenged girls have enough sex education? That is > why they are more vulnerable. So, before teaching any > self-defence trick, I think it is necessary for > visually challenged women to understand what they have > to protect themselves from. I would like to inform all > of you that I am not thinking about this issue only > since that NDTV report. I am thinking about this issue > for a long time. I have worked on a project with Prof. > Romila Thapar. For that project, we had conducted > interviews of visually challenged girls. Besides, I > have many visually challenged friends who are staying > in such hostels. So we know what situation is like. I > and Mr. Shobhan Singh have written a joint article > about visually challenged women which was published in > International Journal of Disability. So, it is not > that we are unaware about laws. There are certain > governmental law, true. But, when these NGOs for women > go to register themselves, they are not asked what > precautions they are going to take to ensure safety of > those women. In other words, there are no code of > conduct that governs these NGOs or institutions. > > Being an academician does not mean that one cannot > raise social issues or one is unaware about it. I > would like to request all access India members that, > more than anything, it is necessary to spread > awareness about the entire matter. > > With Regards, > > > > Smriti Singh > Programme: M. Phil (English Literature) > Room # 03 > Sabarmati Hostel > Jawaharlal Nehru University > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Have a burning question? > Go to www.Answers.yahoo.com and get answers from real people who know. > > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
