Excerpt from Inclusion Daily Express:
Report: Ugandan Women With Disabilities Face Ongoing Discrimination And Abuse
(Reuters)
August 27, 2010
KAMPALA, UGANDA– [Excerpt] Women with disabilities in northern Uganda experience ongoing discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many are unable to gain access to basic services, including health care and justice, and they have been largely ignored in post-conflict reconstruction efforts.
The 73-page report, "As if We Weren’t Human’: Discrimination and Violence against Women with Disabilities in Northern Uganda," describes frequent abuse and discrimination by strangers, neighbors, and even family members against women and girls with disabilities in the north.
Women interviewed for the report said they were not able to get basic provisions such as food, clothing, and shelter in camps for displaced persons or in their own communities. One woman with a physical disability who lived in such a camp told Human Rights Watch that people said to her, "You are useless. You are a waste of food. You should just die so that others can eat the food."
The research was conducted in six districts of northern Uganda – a region recently emerging from over two decades of brutal conflict between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and the government. "One of the untold stories of the long war in Northern Uganda and its aftermath is the isolation, neglect, and abuse of women and girls with disabilities," said Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. "As Ugandans in the north struggle to reclaim their lives, the government and humanitarian agencies need to make sure that women with disabilities are not left out."
Entire article:
For Women with Disabilities, Barriers and Abuse
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/2010/red/0827d.htm
Related:
“As if We Weren’t Human” (Human Rights Watch)
http://www.hrw.org/node/92611
Planet of the Blind 