The fair fight for visibility: Women with disability in India

Women with disability in India face a layered struggle, navigating societal biases that intersect with gender, ability, and socio-economic barriers.

Tomorrow is The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). I presume there will be some messages or ads that will talk about persons with disabilities. There could be a paid feature in a leading daily or a segment on TV or radio with a brand supporting it. Is that something I am criticising? No. Not at all. However, we are questioning brands and advertisers as to why communication should be centred around persons with disabilities on a particular day.

Disclaimer: A quick Google search showed a few campaigns by WHO and the Paralympic Association. Another concern is that adding the ‘India’ keyword took me to a business insider article that has listed a few ads that feature non-disabled women and people from the LGBTQIA+ community and not a single woman with a disability. It clearly shows that the algorithm slots women, LGBTQIA+ and PWDs together. However, some women are less equal.

Call to Action

At Changeincontent.com, we urge brands to feature more women with disabilities as consumers. This reality can be shaped differently by creating inclusive copies and visuals.

Representation matters: Women with disability in India and media’s role

According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, roughly 10% of the world’s population has a disability. Despite the fact that both men and women are affected by impairments, women are treated more unfairly. The representation of disabled women is particularly dismal in the media. In addition to gender difficulties, they confront a triple handicap and discrimination as a result of their condition. The workplace participation of women with disabilities is a fraction in terms of values.

The missing women in advertisements

Media and advertising can play an active role in shaping societal attitudes towards persons with disabilities. We hope that our copy inspires a few people. Women and intersectionalities need better representation. To quote our co-founder Saransh Jain, he believes that a workplace depicted in a mainstream ad or movie should show a braille-enabled screen or wheelchair. Such depiction would normalise the representation of persons with disabilities in mainstream media and the workplace.

The concerning reality

Women with disabilities face a broad spectrum of violence, from neglect to physical abuse to denial of traditional duties such as marriage and motherhood. India is a large country with a population of roughly 1.26 billion people, with women accounting for 48% of the population. There are a humongous amount of products aimed at women, and search shows no advertisements featuring women with disabilities. This complete exclusion shows a societal tendency that assumes women as a whole and without any diversity. This lack of representation is a function of a deep-rooted belief. Culturally, we are conditioned to look at the perfectness of women’s bodies. We, therefore, treat women with disabilities as invisible women.

Understanding women with disabilities: Definitions and perspectives

According to Disability Awareness in Action (1994), “Disabled women and girls are of all ages, all racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds and sexual orientations; they live in rural, urban and suburban communities; they have one or more impairments and experience barriers to their independence and opportunity at home, school, work and in the community.”

According to the World Health Organization, a disability is “any restriction or lack (resulting from any impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.”

Disabled women are women who have one or more impairments and experience barriers in society. Here, we are talking about disabled girls and women of all ages in rural and urban areas. It is irrespective of the severity of the impairment or sexual preference and regardless of socioeconomic background.

Challenges faced by women with disability in India

Coming back to the issue of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), data shows that although there is a global trend toward women with disabilities striving to forge their own identities in this complicated culture, their situation in poorer nations, particularly India, remains significantly different.

Both Houses of Parliament passed the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation) Act, 1995, which was a landmark in the history of the disability rights movement in India following the launch of the disabled rights movement in 1990 and the unrelenting lobbying by Disability Rights Group. Despite the Act’s many excellent features, the condition of disabled women has not improved significantly.

Women with disabilities face a unique set of challenges in India, where they are often marginalised and excluded from mainstream society. Despite the efforts of disability rights activists and organisations, the condition of women with disabilities in India remains dismal.

According to the 2011 Census, India has 11,824,355 disabled women. In India, the position of women with disabilities is heart-wrenching. They are denied the right to fulfil the roles of wife, mother, and housewife.

Discrimination against disabled women

Discrimination against disabled women has been a complex situation for women since time immemorial. Mistreatment of women based on their gender disability does not feature in mainstream media and workplace DEI discussions in India. However, for actual change to occur, it has to be recognised as a significant source of discrimination for them.

The root cause of discrimination

Women with special needs face many disadvantages as a result of their status as women, as people with special needs, and as people who live in poverty in large numbers. The underlying assumption that differently abled women are not usual or different from other women leads to the thought that they cannot have the same rights and ambitions as normal women.

Unfortunately, this is the root cause of the discrimination they face. Also, disabled women’s isolation and marginalisation extend to mainstream women and feminist movements, too. As a society, we have cumulatively failed, and we treat them as objects of our benevolence.

Isolation and confinement due to culture and traditions, as well as attitudes and biases, disproportionately affect disabled women, leading to low self-esteem and negative feelings. The lack of appropriate support services and inadequate education further exacerbate the issue. Therefore, this results in low economic status and creates a dependency on families or caregivers. In some societies, the stigma is so severe that fault is assigned to a mother who gives birth to a disabled child, especially if the mother is a disabled woman.

Women with disability in India: The opportunity to make life better

Since education and vocational training are viewed as investments for higher-value employment, women are less likely to receive these opportunities. It further exacerbates their marginalisation. Although public attitudes are gradually shifting, illiteracy rates among women worldwide are declining. Moreover, more women are entering the labour market, and the situation remains unchanged, mainly for women with disabilities. Regrettably, the prevailing attitude persists. Many believe that a disabled woman has little prospect of becoming a wife or mother or securing meaningful employment. Consequently, she is often perceived as a burden to her family or the state, relegated to the role of a dependent.

Mental health and well-being of women with disabilities

Women with disabilities appear to be at higher risk for depression in comparison to men with disabilities, women without disabilities, and the general population. Contributing to women’s depression are a variety of factors that include low levels of perceived control, lack of social support, low income or poverty, and abuse.

Women with developmental disabilities face a myriad of barriers that prevent sexual expression. These include, but are not limited to, inadequate access to health care, limited choices regarding reproductive issues, and lack of sex education. On the other hand, women with disabilities experience violent or abusive circumstances in their lives. These circumstances include physical, sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse; denial of rights, necessities, privileges, and opportunities; and failure to respond to complaints of abuse and violence.

Interventions to support women and girls with disabilities in conflict and crises

Research reveals that while humanitarian organisations have made strides in acknowledging women and girls with disabilities in their policies and guidelines, significant gaps persist in translating these commitments into tangible actions at the field level. Similarly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) notes that humanitarian responses often fail to adequately recognise the diverse skills, capacities, and needs of individuals with disabilities.

To support women and girls in conflict and crises, we see the necessity of several critical measures:

Firstly, organisations must make a concerted commitment to translating policies that seamlessly integrate disability and gender mainstreaming into actionable practice.
Moreover, it is essential to support staff in identifying the skills and capacities of women and girls with disabilities. It shifts the focus from solely addressing their risks and vulnerabilities.
Activities that create protective peer networks are also vital.
Establishing targets for inclusion in existing programs, including those focused on economic upliftment.
Community committees and supporting advocacy efforts by groups that represent women and girls with disabilities are crucial to improving their representation.
Additionally, recruiting women with disabilities as volunteers and staff.
Partnering with and supporting women’s disabled people’s organisations and acknowledging the diversity of the populations they serve are all essential steps.
One must include girls with disabilities in adolescent girls’ programming. That is particularly critical in reducing the risk of gender-based violence and discrimination.

Women with disability in India: The final thoughts

As we come across DEI as a critical function of modern workplaces and an integral part of futuristic communication strategy, we urge more leaders and managers to consciously urge brands or celebrities to champion the issues faced by PWDs. In a family environment, in a movie, or an ad, if we start showing persons with disability, it will have an impact in the long run. If every matrimonial site creates awareness about disabled women and their ability to lead everyday lives, the world will be more open to embracing them. On the other hand, every office, school, and college with infrastructural investments to accommodate everyone with their diversity will not be a faraway dream if everyone starts thinking about diversity.

Sources

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are based on the writer’s insights, supported by data and resources available both online and offline, as applicable. Changeincontent.com is committed to promoting inclusivity across all forms of content, which we define broadly to include media, policies, law, and history—encompassing all elements that influence the lives of women and gender-queer individuals. Our goal is to promote understanding and advocate for comprehensive inclusivity.