OBSTACLES TO EQUALITY FOR PERSONS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES: DISABILITY FIELD AND DISABLED PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATIONS

We find that the disabled people are facing a lot of obstacles in their efforts of trying to fight for equality. This is a reality that has not been given enough audience even with the many claims of fighting for inclusion by the many existing disability movements and Disabled People's Organizations-DPOs. The disabled people’s organizations have also not been so pushy about the real issues of persons with disabilities.

There is a hidden fact that women with disabilities have been neglected by the disability field, and they have also been left out by the feminist movements. This can be well confirmed by what we see has been written in the past decades from now. When you compare the lives of women with disabilities and that of women without disabilities as well as that of men with disabilities, you will find that women with disabilities face a lot more discrimination and they are more disadvantaged.
It is a common thing to find that almost all forms of research that have been carried out on issues affecting the disabled have not taken into consideration the importance of gender and many other social dimensions of life which include but are not limited to; social class, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

The experience of living with a disability automatically darkens the experience of the areas mentioned above. We find that even the so called sensitive disability students have focused on disability related issues as a form of unitary concept and they have even gone a step further making it to be a “master” status as well as an exclusive status for persons with disabilities. They have done their so called disability research with a gender blind approach when examining the challenges of the lives of persons with disabilities. There is a big gap where we find that they have not put gender into consideration and the influence it has on the lives of the disabled men and women.

The category of persons with disabilities who are still massively trapped are the persons with intellectual disabilities. There is a group of human rights principles which are globally recognized and should be upheld despite the disability that an individual may be experiencing. These are; The right to equality and non discrimination, the right to marry and found a family, the right to reproductive health, including family planning and maternal health services, information and education, the right to physical integrity, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to benefit from scientific progress and the right to freedom of expression.