My name is Ola Abualghaib and I am from the Middle East,
mainly from--living in Palestine.
I was the founder and chairwoman of "Stars of Hope," which is
mainly dedicated for
women with disabilities
issues, in Palestine and the region in the
Middle East.
My first introduction to disability was when I was
14 years old,
when I lost my ability to walk
because of
a tumor that had to be removed from my spine.
And then I was struck with the fact of
what is meant by disability.
Because I was shocked being,
having to be isolated from the community, being kept in my house,
deprived from any access to education just because
of certain impairment in my legs.
So I was seen by the community around me
that I am no longer useful person,
I am just a burden on the family and on the community.
I had to struggle
accessing proper education,
continuing my higher education,
and even accessing a job.
I started my career of
working in a rehabilitation center
for spinal cord injuries
injuries and I ended up managing programs that need to be developed
for persons with disabilities that needs to be integrated in the community.
And through my work there for twelve years,
I was shocked with the fact that although resources are allocated
--there are services provided for persons with disabilities--
but what they call the 'users,' which is the persons with disabilities, they did not understand their rights.
They did not understand their entitlement,
that they have the right to claim for good quality, for availability,
for a good accreditation system, where they can
claim for
good technical aids, for good access.
And then I realized that I'm probably on the wrong side of the track. I should be moving
to the other way where
I can support and enhance
the rights of persons with disabilities and encourage their voices to be higher up
so that they can demand better quality of life.
And what
struck me also is the fact that in the Middle East and mainly in Palestine,
is that issues of women disabilities were never on the agenda
of either of women's organizations, human rights organizations, service providers, or even
the structure of the disability movement--they were not given
the lead or the visibility of
the issues that were addressed there. And that's why the idea of Stars of Hope came out.
Where, okay, although we want to be mainstreamed everywhere, but a specific program
should come up to guarantee
this visibility bar that everybody is aware of this issue.
Where I see things,
now,
is that there is a good start, there is an interest from the communities
at least to reconsider this
image of
marginalizing the issues of women disabilities, images of looking at women disabilities
as if they are a burden on the family, that they are useless,
only because they have a certain
impairment.
But I still believe that to reach the level where we would really
see issues of women disabilities, persons with disabilities, addressed at higher level,
where it can really affect policy reform, it can affect better quality of
life
for the women with disabilities, I think it's a long way yet to go,
and if we only think that it has to be solved
by fundings allocated for disabilities, which in general it will not be enough,
I dream that there will be more interaction between different
stakeholders, different donors, different
policy makers
to work together towards reaching that goal.
Because if women with disabilities issues are not seen as human rights issues, as women's rights issues,
then we are not missing the case.
Then we will end up still seeing--being seen--as
a disability that is preventing me from contributing to the community.