Women with Disabilities in Uganda: Isolation and Abuse of Disabled Women and Girls

Historical Perspective of People with Disabilities

The challenges and struggles for people with disabilities have an extensive history globally for being marginalized, treated cruelly and misunderstood in the past and in the present in some underdeveloped countries like Uganda.

Prehistoric humans judged people with disabilities as impediments to their survival who could not contribute to the tribe; therefore, they were left to die if they lived beyond infancy. In the Middle Ages English Elizabethan Poor Laws mandated that the disabled be confined or resort to becoming beggars, and they were tolerated with minimal assistance from the community. The disabled were forced to beg and given a cap to collect alms. This is the origin of the term “handicap.”

The Greeks developed rationales for explaining things like epilepsy which was a “disturbance of the mind,” or that deaf people were unable to learn because speaking was essential to gaining knowledge. Early Christians introduced charity and sympathy based on the generosity of the wealthy, but they still held themselves as superior Mental disability was associated with witchcraft and superstition, and used to chastise and harass people who were different.

By the 1800’s in America, science begins to replace religion as the main authority guiding leaders in the West. Biology and science are used to explain the world, and people with disabilities were placed under the care of the medical profession, professional educators and social workers. But it has only been in the last forty years in the U.S. that people with disabilities have become independent, self determined members of mainstream society.

Evolution of Social Change Influences Attitudes Toward the Disabled

These changes progressed with social movement of social change in the 1960s and 1970s. The pillars of change were 1) Civil Rights Movement; 2) Consumerism; 3) De-Medication; 4) De-institutionalization.

Starting with the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley, California in the late sixties disability rights and independent living concepts merged into one operational organization. Many of the disabled were Viet Nam troops returning home, and they were responsible for a lot of the innovations. The CIL movement spread throughout North American over the next two decades.

People with disabilities also stressed their roles as consumers first and patients last. They demanded a right to be educated and declared their purchasing power to decide for themselves what services and products they would buy.

They demanded self determination whereby the person with a disability recruits, hires, trains and manages their own personal assistants. When consumers with disabilities are allowed to buy the services they need for daily survival, they have separated themselves from the medical professional and de-medicalised the service.

De-institutionalization was in response to the incarceration of individuals in large mental health hospitals and facilities who were mentally-ill or challenged psychologically. Placement in these institutions became the last resort in favor of mainstream community programs that provide support services in community based services.

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal civil rights law enacted on July 26, 1990. It is intended to protect qualified persons with disabilities from discrimination in employment, government services and programs, transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications. The ADA supplements and complements other federal and state laws which protect persons with disabilities

Human Rights Watch Report on Women and Disabilities in Uganda

Care for the disabled appropriately in caring communities has evolved in developed countries, but that is not the case in some developing countries around the world. In a report by the Human Rights Watch on August 26, 2010, it is revealed that women with disabilities in Uganda are experiencing ongoing discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence. The report states “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 report is based on interviews with 64 women and girls with a wide range of disabilities, some by diseases such as polio and others by landmines or gunshot wounds during the protracted conflict. In 2007 a survey revealed that 20% of the people in Uganda have disabilities. This is in contrast to the U.S. which has approximately 12% people disabled.

Women with disabilities, the report notes, are especially vulnerable to HIV because of poverty, difficulty in negotiating safe sex, lack of accessible information, and susceptibility to violence and rape. Many of the women could not reach health centers or police stations, which are often situated far away or are inaccessible for lack of sign language interpreters, Braille signage or ramps for physical access. Others encountered discriminatory attitudes by staff and could not get assistance even from family members.

Candace, a woman with HIV, states “I cannot bathe near others. My neighbors think that the water that comes off me has HIV in it. They say I will get the community sick if they touch the water.” Despite HIV education, these attitudes prevail in the community.

A deaf women reported, “The neighbors beat my children. When they played with the neighbors’ children, they were told to go away. They said, “you’ll spread deafness to my family.”

Uganda is Obligated To Care For The Disabled

Human Rights Watch found that the vast majority of humanitarian aid organizations (NGOs) do not have specific programs to meet the needs of people with disabilities. The report recommends that NGOs partner with organizations representing people with disabilities to ensure that information post conflict resettlement process and support services reach those in need.

Human Rights’ Watch states, “the government of Uganda has an obligation to respect the rights of persons with disabilities and under international and regional laws, the national constitution, and other domestic legislation. As a state party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Uganda should ensure that women with disabilities enjoy all the human rights on an equal basis with others. In practice, the government of Uganda needs to do more to implement its laws to protect women with disabilities in northern Uganda from violence and to ensure their access to basic services.”

Uganda can follow the path of other countries by first recognizing the civil rights and self determination of all its citizens. These battles are hard fought as we have seen in the U.S., but with government and international support and intervention women in Uganda can be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.