Tinotodawo kukwirwa, we are not virgins anymore: disabled women say

WOMEN living with disabilities complained that they are prone to sexual abuse because they are always perceived to be asexual therefore are virgins.

In a position paper compiled by Disabled Women in Africa (Diwa), the women added they were facing challenges in accessing health-care mainly because most health personnel had the perception that people living with disabilities were not sexually active, hence ended up treating them with an attitude.

The women and girls with disabilities presented the position paper to the ministry of Health this week.

"Attitudes by health personnel towards persons with disabilities are negative as a result persons with disabilities, especially those who are deaf, are finding it difficult to access health services.

"There should be an overhauling of nursing training system to include sign language as a compulsory language for all those intending to join the health sector," the position paper read.

The women have also called for a stop to forced sterilisation saying they should be left to make their own decisions.  "There should be no forced sterilisation, but persons with disabilities should be engaged, trained in methods of family planning and be allowed to make their own decisions."

According to the World Health Organisation, persons with disabilities constitute about 15 percent of the population in Zimbabwe and women with disabilities are about 10 percent of the population of women.

In the position paper, women with disabilities also called on government to have a disability desk at all hospitals and clinics.
"Women with disabilities receive less screening for breast and cervical cancer than women without disabilities. Adolescents and adults with disabilities are more likely to be excluded from sex education and still face challenges in accessing health facilities.
"Uneven access to buildings, inaccessible medical equipment, poor signage, narrow doorways, internal steps, inadequate and inappropriate bathroom facilities, and inaccessible parking areas create barriers to health care facilities.

Director in family and child health Bernad Madzima, who was standing in for Health minister David Parirenyatwa, said the ministry was going to conduct an accessibility survey to make sure the facilities were designed in line with accessibility standards.

"The ministry of Health and Child Care will strive to address this in the new health strategy, 2016 to 2020. I think this position paper comes at an opportune time for us as a ministry because we are in the process of developing a national health strategy," Madzima said.

"We are going to work to assess all our facilities like has been said, some of our facilities are not accessible and they are not user friendly and we want to adopt an accessibility standard in line with design principles."