Speakers at a seminar said women with disabilities face a triple handicap and discrimination due to their disability, gender and developing world status.
“If particular attention is not paid towards inclusion and participation of women with disabilities, they will remain largely “invisible” and will not be in a position to access basic human rights”, they remarked.
The seminar was organised by National Institute of Special Education (NISE), Directorate General Special Education (DGSE) in collaboration with National Forum of Women with Disabilities.
Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Director General Special Education Sibghatur Rehman stated that disability and poverty are intertwined. He said women with disabilities are significantly poor in developing countries than non-disabled counterpart.
Many women with disabilities are denied education or jobs, the disorder may require chronic health care and these in turn drain the scarce household resources, he remarked.
“Unless women with disabilities are brought into the development mainstream, it will be impossible to cut poverty in half by 2015 or to give every girl and boy the chance to achieve a primary education by the same date which are key among the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by more than 180 world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000,” the DG said.
NISC Director Naeema Bushra said despite all the development initiatives, the particular vulnerabilities and contributions of women with disabilities are overlooked.
Women with disabilities are disadvantaged in several key areas when compared with other women, men with disabilities, and the society as a whole, she noted.
The participants of the seminar appreciated the effort of the government for securing rights of women with disabilities and its commitment to involve them in the processes of all kinds of development interventions.
Over 150 disability stakeholders, Country Head Sitesavers, Dr Imam Riaz Baig, DGSE Sibghat ur Rehman, Director NISC, Javed Aslam, Ikeda San from Japan International Cooperation Agency, representative of Handicap International, Farooq Masih and a number of civil society officials
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