| Women with disabilities
We are joining the Strike to press governments and society to
acknowledge that in an inaccessible world, all people with disabilities already have to
work hard just to survive, let alone have a life. Much of disability and ill-health is
caused by poverty, pollution, war and the arms trade, industrial accidents and job
injuries, and other deadly effects of a world economy which prioritises profit over
people’s needs. Those who get the lowest wages internationally and have the worst
working conditions have the highest rates of disability: women of colour and immigrant
people.
Those of us with disabilities are usually seen as the receivers of care, but women with
disabilities don't escape the work all women do; we also care for partners, relatives and
friends, raise children and do the housework, meeting other people's needs while coping
with our disability. Mothers put great effort and responsibility into bringing up children
when we have disabilities ourselves, but instead of providing the support services we are
entitled to, professionals question if we are fit mothers. Many of us have our children
taken away from us or are sterilised without our consent, or forced to choose not to have
children because the obstacles are just too great.
We face greater discrimination than men: we are expected to be able to cope better
while having less money, equipment and other resources to lessen the workload of
disability and ill-health. We also have to deal with the sexism of men. Most men can count
on help from women, but a wife who becomes disabled is often left by her partner.
Usually only the lowest-paid jobs doing the most boring work or work inappropriate to
our disability are open to us. Despite all this work, we are often financially dependent
on partners and family, which makes us more vulnerable to violence, at home and in
institutions. Those of us who are physically dependent on other people must be extra
careful how we relate to carers, and hide many feelings. Often, caring in institutions and
families is more like 24-hour surveillance, denying us our most basic needs, from food and
comfort to sexual choices.
Women in industrialised countries have more resources and protections than if we live
in countries of the South where there is no welfare, SSI, Social Security Disability
Insurance or other benefits for people with disabilities. All of us should be entitled to
these and more. Instead, we face globalisation and its ever-increasing structural
adjustment in the South and benefit cuts in the North.
We're going on strike to change priorities: valuing first of all the caring work all of
us have to do to survive in an inaccessible and hostile world -- to make the planet
healthy, accessible and a pleasure for all who live on it. With the Strike we can claim
together the compensation and resources that are rightfully ours, as women, as people with
disabilities, as workers.
We would like to be in touch with other women with disabilities (invisible and/or
visible) who'd like to join the Global Women's Strike -- from home or wherever you'll be
on 8 March 2001. Send us your reasons for going on strike, or if you are a man with a
disability, please contact Payday, a network of men who are co-ordinating men’s
support internationally. They can be reached at the Strike address.
WinVisible, women with visible and invisible disabilities, is an
international grassroots network bringing together women with disabilities from many
different backgrounds.
"I became disabled following a car accident two years ago. This was
a complete shock as it must be to most people in the same circumstance. I have been a fit
Nurse and Midwife since I left school. I hope that my profession will support and employ
me in the wide nursing field that my disability can cope with. I have a fractured ankle
which may never heal up but that does not mean I am incapable of a lot of other duties an
experienced nurse can do.
I believe disabled people like me need assistance to cope with those areas. they
individually may require but without being looked down upon. We wish people could listen
and respect our decisions. A friend in a wheelchair told me she feels awful when people
talk to her through the person pushing the wheelchair instead of responding for herself.
A lot of disabled people would be happier if only our dignity could be maintained
by the communities we live in, for example, if they could:
- make appropriate resources readily available and equally accessible to all disabled
people,
- meet our individual training needs,
- Reinforce anti-discriminatory standards; respect and acknowledge our individual
culture and individual wishes and requirements.
It is important that we remain as independent as we can, so this should be
encouraged. People should not take over and do things for us that we can still manage,
even if it takes rather longer. We have the right to be consulted and to make our own
choices. Make us feel that we are needed and valued in life." Anon,
London
London, England
My name is Mary and I am registered blind and I also have a
small amount of brain damage. I will be striking on March 8th because I have had enough of
being treated like an illness and not a person. Whilst going shopping people tell me their
medical histories and ask me what could be done for them or their sister or their brother.
I have often gone home and phoned up the visually impaired social workers to let them know
about such and such a person who will be contacting them. This often happens on buses,
which can sometimes be unbearable, especially if there are traffic jams. So on March 8th I
am stopping away from buses and from shops. But I am mainly striking to unite with other
disabled women, and able bodied women -- I’ll be striking with you. We don’t
want to be normalised, we want social help and economic help and improved benefits. Better
access to written material ie large print, braille for those who can read it and things on
tape for those who are unable to read braille or Moon. We expect more than medical
techniques Health professionals earn millions of money for caring for us in the health
service. We need to be more involved in this, in how the money is spent. We need to be
able to determine our own future. Instead of being at the rearguard, we need to be at the
top making our decisions count. Mary
London, England
I’m joining the Strike so that Social Services sit
down and look at their policies and how they are treating people. Illness is something
people can’t help, you don’t ask to be ill. If Social Services turn against
people and discriminate against them, they shouldn’t do that. I don’t know if
racism is involved, but I don’t know why they are kicking me when I am down.
It’s against my children too. I want Social Services not to be rude and aggressive
and offer practical help — things we are entitled to — instead of cutting.
People need to see a kind face. If they cut back all the caring service, who is there to
help everyone? It really does hurt. It’s my faith, and faith in other people, that
keeps me going — other people’s caring nature — and I’d like to give
that back. My husband has really supported me — I fight for him and my children too.
Anitha
London, England
I am going on Strike to highlight the hidden work
that disabled women do which is not recognised, including caring for family and friends,
and against the sort of caring which is more like 24-hour surveillance and often denies
our sexuality and our sexual choices, for example, if we are lesbian. E
Powys, Wales
The struggle which we thought we were beginning to win has almost to
be fought daily all over again, entrenched as it is in institutionalised discrimination.
People who once patronised us are now angry with us for not being properly grateful and
are trying to close the doors we thought were open for us: "You want to be
independent? Then do your own washing up — it may take you all day — but at
least you'll be independent; there is a limit to [how much] the taxpayer is prepared to
subsidise your life, you know. " I have had this said to me recently by a social
worker. My answer to that is, "You wouldn't have a job if it weren't for the likes of
me: it is I who make it possible for you to have paid employment." Jenny
London, England
Basic tasks are so much work
to get done when the world is inaccessible. Having to battle for our rights on every
front, including at home, on top of this first workload, is exhausting. Music is one
reminder of how we could be living. We have the considerate support and fighting spirit of
each other to keep us going, to win what each and all of us wants and needs. We are forced
to accept services as they are dished out, because we are so desperate to have help, have
to breathe and eat pollution, even add to pollution ourselves because there is no
alternative available to us. Unlike many people here in the UK, I am lucky to have a roof
over my head and think about what is happening to those of us who live in disaster areas
in countries of the South (flooded, heavily polluted, cleared), where the physical
struggle of women, children and men with disabilities to survive is even more extreme. The
Strike is our chance to get together to stop the world and change it! Claire
Kent, England
I will be joining the Women’s strike on March the 8th to
highlight the oppression concerning invisible disability. I have ME/Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome which means living with a depleted immune system, unstable health and intense
exhaustion. I use a wheelchair, which confuses people. Some react angrily because they
cannot see evidence of an obvious impairment . . . On a practical level I had a four-year
battle to get the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance. Alongside thousands
of others I have to work hard to defend my benefits and resources needed for survival . .
. Government propaganda has linked invisible disability with claimant fraud which has made
it possible to then cut or completely deny benefits to all sorts of vulnerable people:
single mothers, asylum seekers, young people, disabled people with visible and invisible
impairments on the spurious grounds that they are "workshy" or
"cheats". Some disabled people have died after their benefits were withdrawn. .
. On March 8th I have decided to boycott the questions and refuse to explain that I am
"genuinely disabled" If anyone asks, "why are you using that
wheelchair?" I’m going to say, "I’m on strike, work it out for
yourself." Kate, — member of Incapacity Action
London, England
I am a woman with Total Allergy (multiple chemical
allergy syndrome) and endorse this statement from Incapacity Action. Anne
Cumbria, England
I will be going on strike to defend the right of
every woman with a chronic illness or disability to choose the work which is right and
healthy for her. It should not matter whether it is paid or voluntary, it is all valuable
work. My disabilities, Depression, Anxiety and Hypermobility Syndrome are all invisible
and only I truly know how they affect me. As a volunteer I help to run a Counselling Bank
which provides free counselling for young people, many of whom have suffered serious
abuse. My best friend, who has a Thyroid condition does valuable unpaid work in Nature
Conservation . . . I sometimes think that as people who have experienced the
"down" side of life we have a clearer vision of where our priorities need to
lie. All I ask is that people give us some credit for all the hours of work we put in,
accept that it is real work and treat us with a modicum of respect and consideration.
After all, the world would be a poorer place without volunteers. Lesley
Redditch, England
I’m profoundly deaf
though I don’t use sign as it was discouraged as a child, and have relied on
lip-reading, which has not been ideal! I have had multiple sclerosis for a long time, and
in the last year have become a wheelchair user which would not get me down too much if
access was better. . . I live with my husband in a one-bedroomed one-person flat with no
wheelchair access, so I have to crawl when my crutches are insufficient! . . . The housing
association is dragging its feet to rehouse us as we owe back rent. We owe back rent
because my husband is and was unable to work, and refused benefits because of too little
National Insurance contributions and because I was working. For 18 months I tried to
support us and pay rent on £9,000 a year (before tax) and got into debt with rent,
council tax, water, etc. I was turned down for disability benefits . . . I now get
Disability Living Allowance, but that is used up paying off rent etc.! I’ve had
enough of discrimination by employers, past and future, the benefits system, and anyone
that seeks to treat me like a lesser being, more so because I’m a woman. The running
of the household is by me, finances by me, in fact everything, so why do people always
automatically deal, or try to deal, with my husband? He can’t cope, and I’m
invisible! I brought up two sons as a single parent when I left their violent father,
rebuilt my life, trained as a vet nurse, cared for my husband whose treatment by the
mental health services would be barbaric on occasion if I let them, so I truly
resent being treated as a non-person. Suzanne, – went on Strike at home, 8 March 2000
London, England
As a woman with a physical disability stemming from spinal injuries I
find access through heavy fire and security doors extremely difficult. I find myself
denied autonomous access to my privately rented flat, shops, libraries, banks, leisure
centres, etc. This is a problem I face daily. In practice the Disability Discrimination
Act fails to give disabled people either the right or the means to independently access
their environment. Strangely, this situation is regarded as "normal" or
"acceptable" for disabled people as though it is their problem somehow for not
being "normal". Another hidden factor about living with a disability is the
additional costs incurred in surviving life with dignity, pain reduction and improved
quality of life. No government really takes this into account. Overcoming the neglect,
deprivation, humiliation and cussedness which societal attitudes inflict upon disability
is hard psychological work. On March 8 I will strike to be free of such harmful attitudes
and engage myself and others in positive self-appraisal. Sue
Los Angeles, US
I find that with my disability I must do a lot of work to keep
myself in shape just to be able to function and also to keep from getting more disabled as
I get older. When I was young, the medical establishment tried to terrorize my parents
into making me have brutal surgery by saying that if I didn't that I would be a cripple,
deformed and confined to a wheelchair when I was older (fortunately they did not agree).
So I do a lot of work to avoid doctors if at all possible. I have researched and tried
different alternative approaches, and have worked out a program for myself that constantly
changes as I learn more. It takes many hours each week, its really a part-time job, and I
sometimes resent how much time it takes, but being in pain really takes over your life,
and makes it very hard to do anything. Most of these alternatives are not covered by
Medicare -- the medical insurance that covers people receiving Social Security disability
benefits (as well as older people) so in addition to taking my time, it takes a very large
part of my income each month. I am lucky that the last waged job I had paid fairly well
(for a woman) so that my disability benefits are not poverty level or below like those of
many women, and that I do have the money at all to pay for yoga classes or Alexander
lessons which are beyond the reach of many people. But I think it is not fair that people
with disabilities must bear this extra cost, or go without, especially in this country
where there are huge concentrations of wealth and obscene corporate profits, and enough
resources to provide for everyone's healthcare. Part of why I am joining the strike is to
make visible all the work that women with disabilities do to care for our health and
ourselves generally and to demand free healthcare of our own choosing for all people.
Mary
Philadelphia, US
As a single mother with a disability, I am joining the strike
because I am sick of living on a fixed income that is inadequate to meet the needs of my
son and myself. I think its outrageous that the US, the richest country of the world,
treats mothers so badly. And what I receive on Social Security Disability is more than a
mother on welfare (who may also have a disability). Here we have a hierarchy of who is
deserving, more deserving or less deserving poor. But as mothers, we are all treated as if
we are being unproductive unless we also have a waged job on top of the unwaged work of
raising children (or the unwaged work of having a disability) and the work of all mothers
- and all women - is devalued. That's why its so important that our work be measured and
valued, so that we can point to what we are actually contributing. In this new millennium,
we have to make a change so that the needs of people are central. As a woman with a
hearing disability, its always on me to do the work of adjusting so that I can best hear,
so that I don't miss the subtleties that are so much a part of human communication. I'm
sure much more could be done technologically to make the world accessible to all of us if
people were the priority. I think the Strike is a way to say we intend for the new
millennium to be a time to build a movement in that direction. Pat
Oakland CA, US
I have been married for 36 years and held several part-time jobs while our two daughters
were growing up and a full-time position for a short time after they left home. I had to
quit due to a progressively worse physical problem. Currently, I am totally disabled, and
my husband does or pays for housework which has to be done. However, I am not eligible for
any Social Security disability assistance here in the United States, because I did not
work at a paid job for the required number of months during the last ten years, nor does
our income fall below the required amount. Because of this, I am not desperate for the
money, but this is discrimination against full-time homemakers, who need an option to pay
into the Social Security system directly or through their husbands’ incomes. I have
written to my governmental representatives about this, but it seems to be low on their
list of priorities. I hope this issue can be addressed as part of the strike. Chloe
Report
of meeting with Bhopal Gas-Affected Women Stationery Workers’ Union,
April 2005
All
Women Count: Women dealing with disabilities and ill-health
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