It has never occurred to me that gender could be a contributing factor to disability injustice. I read Amy T. Wilson's essay with a heavy heart; the places around the world where females are discriminated against not only because of their gender, but also for being disabled, is endless. Girls that grow up in developing countries are already at a disadvantage merely because they are not male, and when you factor in a perceived disability the prejudice only increases. But we talked in class about what it even means to be disabled, and I think Wilson included a great definition on what disability means: "Disability is caused by society as 'the limitations imposed on people with disabilities by attitudes, and social, cultural, economic, and physical barriers to their participation in society'." This is another global issue which has roots beginning many many years ago, and has become embedded within our society as values and norms which are still practiced today. A disability can be seen as a similar quality to race or gender in the context of global justice because people with these traits are often judged, stereotyped, categorized, and marginalized. In the context of Amy Wilson's essay, a focus is put on those "unfortunate" citizens worldwide that can be classified as female and disabled. I put the word unfortunate in quotation marks because the only reason these girls are considered unfortunate is because of the social expectations that are placed on children in cultures around the world. Like Amy Wilson said, many countries have the hopes of raising a son. When their wish is not granted, they receive a female. The female is then perhaps expected to do household chores or is expected to refrain from the things their male counterparts get to experience. When it is often not enough to even have girls that could be considered healthy and normal, factor in the child's disability and you have one pretty miserable situation. What I thought was interesting was how the rest of the community behaved toward the girl with a disability. According to Amy Wilson, people had to find an excuse for it, blaming the disability on bad luck, punishment from the gods, or magic spells. Therefore, negative attitudes toward disability have always been "the greatest barrier for people with disabilities."
I appreciated the many solutions that Amy Wilson shared with the reader. Some require hardly any work at all, such as just promoting the rights of women with disabilities. I am the type of person who loves volunteering and gets enthusiastic about fixing these types of issues, so I would like to someday travel to a developing country in order to help the girls with disabilities. I know that any bit helps, and it makes me happy to see that there are so many worldwide organizations that are dedicated to bettering the lives of females with disabilities in all types of cultures.
I completely agree with you. I also read this with a heavy heart, mainly because I could relate since I am a female. I was not aware of all of the injustices girls encountered, especially in developing countries and at such a young age. It is crazy to think that we don't hear about all of that very much and are sheltered from this information unless we look for it. It's also crazy that people come up with excuses such as magic spells to deal with the uncomfortableness of a disability.
This particular issue hit home with me as well. I have had medical issues of my own throughout my adolescent years, and while I knew I was lucky to have the medical insurance to cover all the healthcare services I required, I never addressed how fortunate I am to not have endured the isolation and marginalization that these girls have. It awful to think that they do not receive the medical care they require, as well as the social services to maintain their mental well-being.