Reproductive Health and

UNIT 10 GENDER AND DISABILITY Rights

Structure
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Objectives
10.3 What is Disability?
10.4 Social Attitudes and Stereotypes
10.5 Disability and Gender
10.6 Marriage and Family Life
10.7 Violence and Abuse
10.8 Physical Access and Mobility
10.9 Education, Training and Employment
10.10 Health Care
10.11 Leisure Activities
10.12 Summing Up
10.13 Key Words
10.14 References
10.15 Unit End Questions

10.1 INTRODUCTION
The earlier Units in this course have sensitized you to the health related
discriminations and inequalities that women experience. In this Unit we will talk
about the experience of disability. Think for a moment about what the word
disability suggests to you. I am sure that most of the thoughts that cross your
mind will be negative; loss, defect, tragedy, curse are some of the words that
come to mind when we talk about disability. Disability challenges our fundamental
notions of reality, the world, culture, and most importantly, our own bodies.
Disability has been historically viewed as a physical or mental limitation affecting
an individual due to which he or she is unable to participate in the life of the
community and society in the same way as non-disabled or so-called ‘normal’
people, Spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and speech
disorders, amputation, mental retardation or intellectual disability, autism, etc.
are some examples of disabling conditions. However, over the past few decades,
scholars and activists have challenged the description of disability as an individual
limitation or defect; they view it as a social issue that is the outcome of social
discrimination and stigmatisation. Persons with disability are to be viewed as
persons in their own right, with the same aspirations, needs and desires as the so
called ‘normal’ or non-disabled people. By considering them as persons with
human rights, society has to take the responsibility to ensure their well-being
and dignity. This Unit will help you to understand disability as an axis of social
discrimination. Specifically, it will discuss how gender affects the experiences
and life chances of persons with disability.
Let us look at the objectives of reading this unit.

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Health and Gender
10.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this Unit, you would be able to
Define disability;
Discuss social attitudes and stereotypes towards disability;
Explain gender issues in disability; and
Discucss the issues of disability and violence.

10.3 WHAT IS DISABILITY?

Simply put, disability is a state or condition of mind or body that affects an
individual’s functioning and interferes with their ability to participate in the
activities of day to day life. As we have mentioned above, disability is not just an
individual, medical problem, but a social one. For instance, a person may have
lost her ability to see. That is her ‘impairment’. But because the environment
around her makes it difficult and dangerous for blind people to function, she
becomes ‘disabled’ and thus her quality of life suffers. Thus, there is both a
medical as well as social dimension to the issue of disability. Disabled persons
represent the largest minority group in society after women. Disability can affect
a person anytime in the life-span; as health care improves and persons live longer,
the chances of developing an age-related disability increase as one grows older.
Furthermore, accidents and injuries are a major source of injury and disability. It
is rightly said that we are all ‘temporarily able-bodied’. Thus, disability is not
a unique experience of particular individuals labelled as disabled but of each one
of us at some point in our lives.

Disabled persons differ from one another in terms of the type and degree of
disability. Moreover, gender, class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexuality, residence,
and other such social, economic, political and cultural factors determine how
disability is experienced and understood. For instance, in a rural, agricultural
community, the loss of a limb may be seen as a severe disability because it affects
the ability to work in the fields and earn a living. A person with intellectual
disability who can do farm work may not be considered disabled at all, but may
be teased for being a simpleton. But in an urban society, having an intellectual
disability or mental retardation as it is still known in India, may be more of a
problem because so much importance is given to academic performance and
getting into a profession.

But what is a disability and what does it mean to be disabled in the first place?
Disabilities may be present from birth (congenital). For instance, developmental
disabilities like mental retardation and autism are believed to be congenital.
Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies may result in disabling conditions
in children in the form of stunted physical and mental growth. Certain kinds of
disabilities are acquired later in life due to accidents, injuries or advancing age,
as mentioned above. A disability may be static such as the loss of limb due to
an amputation; or ‘progressive’ in which a person’s condition may deteriorate
with time. The commonly known disabilities include blindness, deafness,
locomotor disability, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and mental illness.

Recently, autism and learning disabilities like dyslexia have also become more
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In legal documents and policy statements, disability is defined in terms of what Gender and Disability
qualifies for public assistance. In India, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Act (2016) identifies 21 disabilities as compared to the earlier Persons with
Disabilities Act (1995) which identified only seven categories.

Persons with disabilities are the most neglected and disempowered section of
the population. Due to their marginalised status, they are denied the fundamental
civil, political, social and economic rights that are guaranteed to all citizens in a
democracy. The plight of women with disabilities is even worse, since they have
to face the double oppression of gender and disability. Indeed not only are
they a socially invisible category but their plight is worse than both men with
disabilities and other non-disabled women. A disabled girl child is considered as
a curse upon the family and often ill-treated and abused.

According to the Census of India (2011) 26.8 million persons have some form of
disability in India accounting for 2.11 % of the total population. Of these, 15
million are men and 11.8 million are women. Thus, women constitute just above
44 percent of the persons with disabilities in India. This is believed to be a
conservative figure as the Census took into account only a limited number of
disabilities .Using a wider definition of disability which includes conditions like
diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates that 6%-10% of the population suffers from identifiable physical or
mental disability. That comes to over 70 million persons in India. It should be
noted that estimates of the total number of persons with disabilities in a country
vary depending on the definition of disability used, degree of impairment, survey
methodology including use of scientific instruments for identification and
measurement of the disabling conditions. Wars and conflict, HIV/AIDS, industrial
injuries, and road accidents are increasing the number of disabled persons. As
mentioned earlier, enhanced life expectancy has increased manifold the incidence
of old age-related, chronic disease induced disabilities worldwide as well.

10.4 SOCIAL ATTITUDES AND STEREOTYPES

Historically, persons with disabilities have always been regarded with a mixture
of fear, horror and disdain, almost as if they were sub-human. They have been
portrayed as freaks, helpless victims and a lifelong burden for family and society.
Even in religion and mythology, negative traits have been attributed with form
of deformity, be it Manthara, the hunchback in the Ramayana or Shakuni, the
“lame” of the Mahabharata. Indeed, the law of karma decreed that being disabled
was a punishment for past misdeeds. Such constructions of the disabled by the
non-disabled leads to the marginalisation and disempowerment of a whole
population group. At the same time, such negative stereotypes are internalised
by the disabled people themselves. This leads to passivity, dependency, isolation,
low self-esteem, and a complete loss of initiative. Pity, segregation, discrimination,
and stigmatisation became normalised in the management of persons with
disabilities.
In India, the dominant attitude towards persons with disability is that of pity.
This reflects in social policies which are based upon charity and welfare. Medical
rehabilitation including distribution of assistive aids and appliances such as braces,
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Health and Gender crutches, hearing aids etc., special schools, vocational training in low-end
occupations and sheltered employment have been the pillars of state policy for
the disabled right from the colonial period. Furthermore, they have never been
regarded as a politically significant group and hence their issues and concerns
have not been taken up seriously by the political class. As many of them are
hidden away from public view and denied access to education and social
experiences, they have not been able to come together in a big way and make
their presence felt in public life.
Things began to change marginally after 1981 (International Year of Disabled
Persons) when the issue of disability was opened up at the national level. The
changing international climate focussing on human rights and empowerment of
marginal groups impelled the government to make some policy changes such as
reservations in educational institutions and employment. But real progress in the
form of concrete legislation to deliver the promise of equality of opportunity and
social justice only came in 1995 with the passage of the Persons with Disabilities
(Equal Opportunities and full Participation) Act. Other legislation soon followed.
One of the historic international policy documents in recent times was the United
Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disability (2006) which was
also signed by India in 2007. This signalled the introduction of a view of disability
as a human right and development issue rather than simply a matter of charity
and welfare. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016) which has now
replaced the 1995 Act, is in line with this view. Several disability rights groups
and NGOs have emerged in recent times and disability related issues are being
increasingly included in the curricula of educational institutions.
Check Your Progress Exercises 1
1) Define disability.
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2) Explain social attitudes and stereotypes with regard to disability.

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We will now look into interface between disability and gender.

10.5 DISABILITY AND GENDER

The plight of women with disabilities as earlier mentioned is far worse than that
of men, as they suffer on account of being a woman in a male-dominated society,
and disabled in a world which considers the healthy, able body as ‘ideal’. How a
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person with a disability experiences the condition and is perceived by others is Gender and Disability
largely dependent on whether s/he is male or female. For instance, Michelle
Fine and Adrienne Asch point out that women with disabilities experience ‘sexism
without the pedestal’ (1988, p.1) ,i.e. they are doubly disadvantaged. Not only
do they experience disability- linked discrimination but they experience sexism
and are denied the consideration and social status that non-disabled women may
claim as wives and mothers. Men with disabilities also experience a similar assault
on their masculinity and may be shamed or bullied as ‘not being man enough’ or
dependents and burdens upon the family. This can be very bruising and damaging
to their self-respect, as traditionally, men are expected to be the providers and
decision makers of the family.

As mentioned earlier, the 2011 Census estimates that there are over eleven million
women with disabilities in India constituting about 4% of the population. Some
researches estimate that there are over 35 million women with disabilities in
India. (Bacquer and Sharma, 1997). Others put the figure at 20 million. 98% of
the disabled are illiterate: less than 1% can avail healthcare and rehabilitation
services (ActionAid, 2003, p. 15). But these statistics are only the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to gauging the level of neglect, isolation, stigma and
deprivation that characterise their lives. The majority of women with disabilities
in India suffer the triple discrimination of being female, being disabled and
being poor. Let us discuss some of the aspects of discrimination that these women
experience.

10.6 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE

A disabled woman is considered incapable of fulfilling the normative feminine
roles of homemaker, wife and mother. Then, she also does not fit the stereotype
of the normal woman in terms of physical appearance. Since women embody
family honour, disabled girls are kept hidden at home by families and denied
basic rights to mobility, education, and employment. They are less likely to be
given in marriage than disabled men. The capacity of women with disabilities to
be sexual partners, homemakers and mothers is questioned and doubted. They
are not considered capable of performing household chores efficiently, having
meaningful sexual relationships or producing and rearing healthy children. Under
these circumstances, they may be married off to older already married or men in
poor health. In short, women with disabilities do not have the same options of
marriage and motherhood as non-disabled women. Being nurturing and caring
are important aspects of female identity and cultural expectations of ‘proper’
womanhood, but women with disabilities are themselves in need of care. Thus,
they are not regarded as complete women.

10.7 VIOLENCE AND ABUSE

Being powerless, isolated and anonymous, women with disabilities are extremely
vulnerable to abuse and violence. In addition, help in activities of daily living
like dressing, eating, and other bodily activities makes them more vulnerable to
abuse both at home and in institutions. She will be less able to defend herself in
a risky situation because she may not be able to run or shout for help. Then,
persons with developmental disabilities may be too trusting of others and hence
may be easier to trick, bribe or coerce. They may not understand differences
between ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’. Many cases are known of mentally or 123
Health and Gender intellectually disabled girls and women who are sexually abused by people
responsible for their safety and care because they are sure that the victim will not
be able to report what has happened to her, and the abuser can escape scot-free.
Persons with speech and hearing difficulties may have limited communication
skills to report abuse. Furthermore, since disabled persons are often taught to be
obedient, passive, and to control their behaviour, this may make them easy victims.

10.8 PHYSICAL ACCESS AND MOBILITY

Women in general in our country find it difficult to move freely from one place
to another for work or leisure. So we can well imagine the condition of women
with disability. Poor public transport, bad roads or no roads, lack of proper lighting
and safety on the streets all make it very difficult for women with disabilities to
move from one place to another without assistance or help. You may have seen
women with disabilities in public places facing great hardships because the built
environment (roads,buildings,toilets etc.) are so difficult for them to negotiate.
Conditions in public buses and the railways are also very unfavourable for persons
with disability in general and women in particular. Lack of proper toilet facilities
is a major problem. Public toilets are filthy and unhygienic and usually at ground
level (Indian style toilet) making it very difficult for loco-motor disabled women
who often get around by crawling on all fours. Many women with disabilities
have narrated their experiences of not eating food or even drinking water for
long periods while they are out of the house for fear that they may need to use
the toilet. This has a bad effect on their health. Due to these difficulties in moving
from place to place, families often prefer to keep their disabled daughters confined
in the four walls of the home. Many such girls never get the opportunity to interact
with the outside world; go to school, make friends or visit relatives or neighbours.
This leads to feelings of depression, isolation and worthlessness.

10.9 EDUCATION, TRAININGAND EMPLOYMENT

Many disabled girls never go to school. There is a lot of social stigma attached to
their condition and families may want to hide them from the eyes of the world
for fear of bringing a bad name on the family and affecting the marriage chances
of other girls in the family. Special schools or vocational centres that are equipped
to deal with their needs are usually only found in urban centres and travelling
daily to these centres becomes a burden on the family. Lack of hostel facilities
and proper care if such hostels exist further worsens the problem. Many families
consider their disabled daughters to be unfit for education and are unwilling to
invest any money for the purpose because the girls are already considered a
burden. Needless to say women with disabilities also find it very hard to secure
employment because of their lack of education and training. This poses a serious
problem for their futures especially after their parents die leaving them without
financial support or independence.

10.10 HEALTH CARE

Girls and women with disabilities may suffer from several health problems which
may be related to their disability and which may require prolonged and costly
medical care, rehabilitation, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, special diets
etc. Assistive devices like hearing aids for the deaf, wheelchairs or artificial
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limbs for those with loco-motor disabilities may prove prohibitively expensive Gender and Disability
for poor families. Women find it very humiliating when they go for health check-
ups because health professionals often treat them in an insensitive and callous
way. Many women neglect their health because they do not want to burden their
families more and consider themselves worthless. Health is directly related to
nutrition and a good quality of life. Many women with disability also suffering
from poverty and neglect, do not get adequate nutrition, fresh air, exercise and a
wholesome atmosphere in which they can be healthy.

10.11 LEISURE ACTIVITIES

As mentioned earlier, girls and women with disability are often confined within
the house because of stigma, shame and practical considerations like mobility
issues. This gives them little opportunity to socialise with their peers, make friends,
attend family events, religious ceremonies etc. This further isolate them and makes
their lives dull and drab. As earlier mentioned, our public spaces are not at all
accessible for persons with disabilities. Leisure activities like going out for a
meal or for a film become potentially embarrassing and humiliating encounters.
A woman with a disability may have to be physically carried because there is no
lift or ramp; or made to sit at a distance from her companions because there is
not adequate space for her wheelchair.
Thus we see that women with disabilities face violations of their rights at every
level. They are considered a financial burden and social liability by their families;
they are denied opportunities to move outside the home, and have access to
education; they are viewed as asexual, helpless and dependant; their vulnerability
to physical, sexual and emotional abuse is enormous; their aspirations for marriage
and parenthood often denied; they grow up isolated and neglected within the
walls of home or special institutions with no hope of a normal life.

Although a rights-based approach has entered the disability rights movement,

the specific concerns of women with disabilities have not yet found a place neither
in the government policies and programmes nor in the voluntary sector. Ironically
or expectedly, the disabled rights movement all over the world including India is
male dominated. It may even be blatantly sexist. Even within the women’s
movement, women with disabilities rarely figured as a distinct group in
international covenants. However, the Beijing declaration in 1995, Platform for
Action, specifies women with disabilities as a particularly vulnerable group
with little access to information on their fundamental rights. This is a serious
lacuna, which needs to be rectified at various levels. One of the most important
features of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, which was passed by the General Assembly in 2006, is the
incorporation of a separate article on women with disabilities. Being a signatory
to this Convention, the Indian state is henceforth duty bound to incorporate a
gender perspective in all its policies and programmes in the disability sector.
The new disability Act does make reference to women particularly with regard
to access to sexual and reproductive health care, however there remains much to
be done on the ground to ensure that women with disabilities access their rights.

10.12 SUMMING UP
Disability is a universal human condition and we are all only ‘temporarily able
bodied’. The notion of disability as a tragedy or medical anomaly has been 125
Health and Gender challenged by scholars who view it as a social as well as biological condition.
Discriminatory social attitudes and denial of basic rights to persons with disability
has made them weak, powerless and isolated throughout history. The condition
of women with disability has been particularly difficult and they have faced
discrimination and marginalization in all aspects of life; from marriage and family
life to mobility, education, employment, health care and leisure. However, the
new rights based approaches and international policies that have been introduced
over the past few years have created greater awareness about their condition.
Rigorous research and life-writing by women with disabilities has contributed to
our knowledge and understanding. Disability has also become a topic of interest
in popular cinema. All these developments will hopefully lead to better
understanding of the situation and concrete action on the ground through enabling
policies and laws for ensuring that all people with disabilities get the opportunity
to lead fulfilling lives.

Disclaimer/ This Unit has been adapted and modified from the Unit ‘Disability
and Feminism’ (MWG001, Unit 5 (Block 5) prepared for the MAWGS programme
of SOGDS authored by Renu Addlakha and Shubhangi Vaidya

10.13 KEY WORDS

Census of India : The Indian Census is the largest single source
of a variety of statistical information on
different characteristics of the people of
India. With a history of more than 130 years,
this reliable, time tested exercise has been
bringing out a veritable wealth of statistics
every 10 years, beginning from 1872 when
the first census was conducted in India non-
synchronously in different parts. To scholars
and researchers in demography, economics,
anthropology, sociology, statistics and many
other disciplines, the Indian Census has been
a fascinating source of data. The rich
diversity of the people of India is truly
brought out by the decennial census which
has become one of the tools to understand
and study India. The responsibility of
conducting the decennial Census rests with
the Office of the Registrar General and
Census Commissioner, India under Ministry
of Home Affairs, Government of India. The
Census Act was enacted in 1948 to provide
for the scheme of conducting population
census with duties and responsibilities of
census officers. The Government of India
decided in May 1949 to initiate steps for
developing systematic collection of statistics
on the size of population, its growth, etc.,
and established an organisation in the
Ministry of Home Affairs under Registrar
General and ex-Officio Census
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 Commissioner, India. This organisation was Gender and Disability
made responsible for generating data on
population statistics including Vital Statistics
and Census. Later, this office was also
entrusted with the responsibility of
implementation of Registration of Births and
Deaths Act, 1969 in the country.
(www.censusofindia.gov.in)

10.14 REFERENCES
Action Aid. 2003. Just People–Nothing Special, Nothing Unusual. Bangalore:
Books for Change.

Additional title in Useful Readings:

Addlakha, Renu (2013) Disability Studies in India. Delhi: Routledge

Bacquer, A.& Sharma, A. (1997). Disability: Challenges vs Responses. New

Delhi: Concerned Action Now.

Begum, Nasa (1992). Disabled Women and the Feminist Agenda. Feminist Review,
40(1), 70-84.

Chib,Malini (2012) One Little Finger New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Fine, M. & Asch Adrienne ( 1988). Introduction: Beyond Pedestals. In M. Fine

and A. Asch (Eds). Women with Disabilities: Essays in Psychology, Culture and
Politics ( pp. 1-37). Philadelphia; Temple University Press.

Gupta, Shivani (2014) No Looking Back New Delhi: Rupa Publications Census
of India,2011 Data on Disability downloaded from http://
www.languageinindia.com/jan2014/disabilityinindia2011data.pdf
Ghai,Anita (2015) Rethinking Disability in India Routledge.

10.15 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain the issues of gender in disability in detail.
2) Explain the problems of disabled women with regard to marriage and family
life ..
3) Explain the significance of access to education and employment for disabled
women.

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