Forgotten Voices: Women With Disabilities And The AIDS Pandemic
Dancing ladies at the AWID Forum
The discussion was framed within an overall objective of pushing for more effective and urgent responses to the needs of disabled women living with HIV/AIDS.
Existing prejudices around disabled women’s sexual and reproductive rights were highlighted, both within the north and south. The speakers aimed to demonstrate the link between HIV/AIDS and disability, and distinguished that this link works in two ways: existing disabilities pre-HIV infection, and disabilities post HIV-infection. The discussion further highlighted the importance of ensuring disabled women’s needs are represented both within movements, as well as any programmatic responses or interventions regarding the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The session particularly highlighted the vulnerability experienced by women with disabilities in current HIVAIDS responses; highlighted the prejudices that exist around disabled women’s sexuality and agency; and the marginalisation that is further entrenched due to these prejudices as well as exclusion from both movements as well as responses. As such, the session emphasised that disabled women’s needs and participation are crucial in our struggle for creating a more just and equitable society for women.
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AWID