Bringing disabled women together, mobilising
and sharing through lived experiences

our Disability and Sex/uality project  led by Dyi Hudjg and Lani Parker

We’re very happy to have a link to www.sexualityanddisability.org (via INWWD) , a website that starts with the premise that women who are disabled are sexual beings – just like any other woman.

It is a great resource – sexualityanddisability.org is brought to you by (CREA ) and Point of View . Based in Delhi and New York, CREA is a feminist human rights organisation that promotes, protects and advances the sexual rights of all people; as part of its programs, it runs an online course on disability, gender and sexuality. Based in Mumbai, Point of View is a non-profit platform that brings the points of view of women into mutliple domains through media, art and culture.

We would recommend browsing the website.

sexualityanddisability.org

• is constructed as a bunch of questions a woman with a disability might have – about her body, about the mechanics and dynamics of having sex, about the complexities of being in an intimate relationship or having children, about unvoiced fears or experiences of encountering abuse in some form.
• discusses a wide range of topics related to sexuality without shying away from them – parts of it are explicit. People have different views of what is and isn’t appropriate and we’ve included them all.
• is accessible to people with disabilities; special features have been included to ensure this.
• has been created with the active support of women with disabilities, disability rights activists, counselling professionals, and organizations working on disability. More and more women with disabilities are reclaiming their sexual selves, speaking out through blogs , films , books , performances , websites  and offline activism.
• aims to provide women with disabilities and related constellations – partners, families, health workers, counsellors, organisations – a platform to explore this further.

Sometime back we had a post on Abia Akram here  as a disabled woman campaigner but she is recently featured on the Express Tribune

Akram has become the first ever Pakistani woman with disability to be nominated as the Coordinator for Commonwealth Young Disabled People’s Forum and Global Coordinator at Global Network of Emerging Women Leader, Disabled People’s International.

Abia is pursuing her Masters in Gender Policy at University of Warwick in Coventry on the British Chevening scholarship at the moment.

Congratulations, Abia! from all of us here at Sisters of Frida.

Read the full story at the Express Tribune

Abia Akram at Coventry Cathedral ruins

We are very pleased that Zara is part of  the european project team for the supporting disabled young people to become future leaders of the independent living movement programme

The project will entail a weeklong study session at the Council of Europe with the purpose of encouraging and supporting disabled young people to advocate for human rights in their countries and at European level. Participants will have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of disability issues and acquire skills to promote the views of other disabled young  people from their countries. The project team consists of 5 members who have the responsibility for choosing who will  attend the study session at the Council of Europe.

Zara Todd – has a degree in psychology and a Masters in Central and Eastern European studies. She works for a Disabled Peoples Organisation called ALLFIE (the Alliance for Inclusive Education) supporting and training a group of  disabled young people to become researchers. Before that, she has worked with a number of disabled children’s organisations working on participation and involvement. Zara has worked on policy and campaign work including advising government, since the age of 11 both in the UK and internationally. Currently she is setting up a website with a friend in New Zealand to help disabled activists under 30 connect and share knowledge internationally.

Read more at the ENIL website and facebook group.