Gender and Disability


Persons with disability (PWD) do not form a homogenous group. In Latin America and the Caribbean, discrimination and stigma against persons with disabilities are closely linked to issues of gender, race, and ethnicity. The social response to these characteristics differs and causes some individuals with physical or mental disabilities to face multiple discrimination: for example, being an afro-descendant woman with a sensory disability, or an indigenous man with a mental disability. As a group they are often excluded from education, health services, employment, and from a wider political and social participation. They are at an increased risk of becoming poor and vulnerable to becoming victims of violence and sexual abuse.

Disability related interventions must always include a gender dimension to meet the particular concerns of men and women with disabilities and to facilitate their equal participation in making decisions concerning or affecting them.


International Mandates for Women with Disability

UN International Norms and Standards Relating to Disability - Rights of Women with Disabilities
- UN Enable: Women with Disabilities and Gender Perspectives

Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women

Rights of Women with Disability (in Spanish)
Red de Información Jurídica, Comisión Andina de Juristas



International Organizations

World Bank - Gender and Disability



Conferences

1st International Women and Disability Congress - Conclusions
February 27 - March 1, 2003. Valencia, Spain. Organized by the Valencia Regional Government Ministry of Welfare.

Women with Disabilities and Allies Forum: Linking Arms for Equality and Justice for All
October 17 - 19, 2003. Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Organized by the National Organization for Women Foundation (NOW).

International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities - Final Report
June, 1997. Bethesda, Maryland, USA.



Publications and Articles

Working to Achieve Ethnic Equity in Health
Gender, Ethnicity and Health Unit, Pan American Health Organization, 2005

Gender and Disability
By Helen Meekosha, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Draft entry for the forthcoming Sage Encyclopaedia of Disability, 2004.

Indicators of Social Exclusion of Women with Disability (Pdf in Spanish)
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Spain and Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, 2002

Women and Disability - Best Practices (Pdf in Spanish)
Instituto de Migraciones y Servicios Sociales (IMERSO), Spain, 2000

Loud, Proud and Passionate - Including Women with Disabilities in International Development Programs
Mobility International USA, 2002

Special Education

Bibliography on Women and Disability and Special Education (in Spanish)
Ministry of Education and Science, Spain

Connecting Gender and Disability
Women's Equity Resource Center, Education Development Center, 1999.

Violence

Disabled Girls and Women - Victims of Violence: The Daphne Programme Informative Kit (also available in Pdf)
Disabled Peoples International - European Union Committee (DAPHNE II), 2000-3

Violence Against Disabled Women
By Barbara Waxman Fiduccia and Leslie R. Wolfe. Center for Women Policy Studies, 1999.

Collections

Women with Disability (in Spanish)
Collection of articles on women with disability from Minusval2000.com

Publications on Women with Disabilities
Collection of various publications from World Enable



Research and Education

Center for Research on Women with Disabilities (CROWD)
Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Gender and Disability
Syracuse University, Center on Human Polic



Further Resources

Further Resources in Spanish
Disabled People's International:  Women Issues and Links to WWD Organizations
Disabled Women's Network Ontario - Links collection
Disabled Women on the Web
Disability World - Women
Independent Living - Women with Disabilities
World Enable - Women with Disabilities