Women with disabilities helpless against sexual advances

ANJALI SUBEDI
KATHAMNDU, Repeated rape attempts or rape of someone sounds disgusting. However, it is an everyday reality for a number of women with physical and mental disabilities, according to Tika Dahal, general secretary at National Federation of Disabled-Nepal (NFDN).

“And yet, this issue hardly comes up in public discussion, more so in the media,” Dahal points out.

On Tuesday, thousands of disabled people from and outside the capital participated in a rally and other functions organized by NFDN to celebrate 22nd International Disabled Day. The participants had come there to motivate and show support for each other.

However, when moments of exhilaration get over and life is back on normal course, there is not much excitement and hope left in the lives of these people.

“Wow, see the pulsar bike coming,” that is how boys in the street tease us when they see us moving our wheelchair. In some cases, they try to touch our hair or shake our chair just for fun. We feel like crying when we face such humiliation,” says Geeta Dulal, a bachelor level student at Padma Kanya College in Kathmandu.

Dulal, one among five students in the college who use wheelchair because of spinal cord injury or amputation, feels that she and her friends would definitely have a better life if they were male.

“Menstrual cycle, urine infection and pregnancy, resulting from consensual or forced physical relationship, are serious source of worries for women with disabilities. Since we are handicapped, we cannot handle such matters easily,” Dulal said.

“Actually, it is hard to explain how vulnerable a girl or woman becomes when she is not able to handle matters on her own,” said president of mentally-disabled women´s vocational training center, Subarna Keshari.

It is not Keshari who has any kind of disability. But raising her daughter Reena, who mentally and physically disabled, has often made her feel that she too is living a life of a disabled, maintains Keshari.

“When they are mentally or physically unhealthy, the girls and women fail to promptly react to other persons´ approach. In my daughter´s case, I have seen her gently smiling to the persons who are making fun of her. I try to keep her under protection every time but that is very challenging. Moreover, I am already aged and I don´t´ know who will take care of her after my death,” said the 59-year-old mother.

Reena is actually very lucky to have such a caring mom. Otherwise, let alone the state and the society, even family members look down upon disabled people and that most of her friends are living with irreparable pain, she shared.

“In my own case, when I had fallen off the roof of my house and had spinal cord injury, the family took good care of me initially. But then, gradually, they began to treat me like a burden. This Dashain I went home to celebrate with all the members. But I have decided to never go there again,” said Reena.

While physical abuse of disabled women is often meted out by close relatives, verbal abuse is something common in the life of every disabled person, the 24-year-old from Sarlahi district feels.

“The accident occurred when I was 21. The way people used to behave with me earlier and post-accident was very different. Others like me have no different experience. People will attack you verbally. They abuse you physically. Even family members stop caring for you as they get fed up,” Reena said.

There is no accurate data on how many disabled girls and women are there in the country, however, since NFDN estimates 10 percent of the total population (2.6 million) to be disabled, at least 5 percent of them should be women, according to Sudarshan Subedi, president of the federation.

“Due to lack of resources or efficiency we have not become able to keep track of the situation of disabled people across the country. But if that is done, plenty of cases of abuses, most of them rape in case of women, will come to the fore. The vulnerability level regarding disabled female is understandable,” Subedi said.

Tika Dahal, general secretary, NFDN

Do parents themselves discriminate against normal and disabled daughters?

The biggest problem is poverty. Poorer the parents are, less they can manage for your comfort. In case of girls and women, they need extra care when they are disabled. And in such cases, poor families would hardly like to take care of their daughters.

Then, we have the practice of sending off daughters to groom´s house after marriage. Since disabled daughters have slim chances of marrying, parents feel over-burdened and this pressure often translates into hatred towards the daughter. In such families, elders hardly give protection to the daughters.

How vulnerable are disabled women to abuses?
Disabled females very easily become soft target of the men with ill intentions. Sexual harassment and abuses are most common forms of violence faced by this group.

The problem is, women with mental problem or down syndrome are hardly able to make difference between love and lust, the reason why they let strangers come near without much fuss. On the other hand, we have ample of examples of close family members taking advantage of weak females at their house.

Can you provide some figure on attempted rapes or rape cases of disabled women?
There has not been any studies or research in that area. However, as per the nature of the cases we receive in our organization, we can figure out that except for women and girls who have strong economic base and good families, rest have been facing the physical abuse and in many cases, repeatedly. We cannot flash the names, but there are cases with us where the victims have been repeatedly raped. This is the scenario of the valley. Such women in villages face much more challenges.

What needs to be done to improve the situation?
What is needed is holistic approach to change the life of disabled. With education, awareness, access to justice, employment and so on, come strength to fight against injustice. The state must guarantee our rights, give special rights or opportunities to women with disability, make every effort to bring the disabled to the mainstream and let them live with dignity.

This news was publish in www.myrepublica.com date :2013-12-04

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