Disability and Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights.

Yesterday,"We the People" in NDTV by Barkha Dutt was probably watched by many, and it was really impressive how the supreme court judgement could bring out such strong emotions on isssues of disability, pregnancy, choices, rape, abortion etc amongst the participants. Majority of them do believe that an woman should exercise her choice on whether she should have a baby or abort her foetus, but whether a women with disability has a right to exercise her choice is a contentious issue.

Probably majority of them felt that the women with disability should not reproduce, some of them openly spoke out against it. This feeling has a lot to do with the fact that many of us do believe that people with disability 'can not' feel, sense, love, have pleasure through sexual relationship, enjoy sexual relations, have the pleasure of pregnancy, having a baby, raising a child etc. This kind of belief has a lot to do with the fact that there is little awareness about disability and the extent to which disability impacts on a individual's life and on his/her sexuality.

One thing that we should know is people with disabilty do not form a homogenous group. Our tendency to club all kinds of disability together, and speak for all of them is because of our lack of awareness. DIfferent disability have varying implications with respect to sexuality. The young women in question was mildly mental retarded and evidence suggests that if she were given proper environment, she could live her life like all 'normal people'. The word mental retardation is substituted worldwide with "intellectual disability" and "person with developmental delays". Retarded persons are slow learners, however they are not insane or of unsound mind....

It was humbling to see a women with disability talk about her life in the same show.

I am learning and hope that all of us learn to integrate disability and sexuality in our project management cycles and into our project activities as we constantly talk of working with vulnerable and marginalized and I can't think of anybody more marginalized and more vulnerable than people with disability.

Sarita