Editor’s note: This commentary is by Elayne Clift, who writes about women, culture and social issues from Saxtons River.
When disability rights advocate Anastasia Somoza, a young woman with cerebral palsy, gave her rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention in July she did more to bring disability into the mainstream’s view than anyone else in recent memory. She also reminded the world that there is a gender dimension to disability, one too long overlooked, misunderstood or left unaddressed.
One in five American women – about 27 million of them — have a disability. That number, which is growing, includes women veterans. But women with disabilities often have to fight against two forms of discrimination, one related to disability, the other to gender. This is especially true for women living in poverty, women who are members of marginalized ethnic or racial groups or women who are part of the LGBT community.
One problem, grounded both in disability and gender discrimination, is lack of access to appropriate, affordable, quality health care or regular health screenings, not only in the U.S. but everywhere.
This double-edged issue is exacerbated by the employment challenges disabled women face. The United Nations estimates that 75 percent of women with disabilities are unemployed while employed women with disabilities often earn less than their male counterparts or than women without disabilities.
Internationally, gender disparities also exist in education. For example, while the overall literacy rate for people with disabilities worldwide is 3 percent, UNESCO estimates that it is just 1 percent for women and girls with disabilities.
Even more disturbing is the fact that females with disabilities are often disproportionately subjected to violence, sexual abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation. Studies have shown that women and girls with disabilities are twice as likely to experience gender-based violence compared to those without disabilities. They are also less likely to receive reproductive health care services and in some places they are subjected to forced sterilization.
But the fact is that disability impacts all of us at some time in our lives, whether we face reduced mobility, problems with thinking, memory, impaired vision or hearing, or other challenges that ultimately affect our ability to live independently or without assistance.
That may well be because many people assume disabled women have no interest in or lack the ability to have a sex life. This troubling mistake is artfully addressed by women like Jennifer Bartlett, co-editor of “Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability.” In a recent New York Times piece, she provided larger insight into the issue of disabled women’s sexuality when she wrote: “I know I’m lucky not to be sexually harassed as I navigate the New York City streets. But I am harassed in other ways that feel much more damaging. People stare. People insist that I have God’s blessing. People feel most comfortable speaking about me … to avoid speaking to me.”
It seems to me that Bartlett is reminding us that no woman wants to be treated like a sexual object, but it would be nice if they could be treated like sentient human beings, who do in fact have sexual feelings.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recognized that women and girls with disabilities are often at greater risk by virtue of abuse, injury, neglect and exploitation. It has also emphasized the need to “incorporate a gender perspective in all efforts to promote the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities.”
Those are nice words consistent with the kind the UN routinely crafts for documents that sit on shelves and generally remain ignored.
But the fact is that disability impacts all of us at some time in our lives, whether we face reduced mobility, problems with thinking, memory, impaired vision or hearing, or other challenges that ultimately affect our ability to live independently or without assistance. For women, who often end up living alone in impoverished conditions, these challenges are even more dramatic, especially if they are black or Hispanic.
The Americans with Disability Act has made a positive difference, to be sure. But the fact remains that with new “disability growth areas” like depression and anxiety, eating disorders, still-undefeated cancers, traumatic brain injuries, autoimmune diseases, dementia and autism spectrum disabilities, we still have much work to do.
One of our tasks is to realize and address the “double disabilities” women face, whether by way of programs, policies, or personal attitudes. The fighting spirit of women like Anastasia Somoza and Jennifer Bartlett can do much to help show us the way.
