Day 2 – Nepal Exchange
Giving up one of their weekend days off, staff and board members of the Nepal Disabled Women Association came to the office to talk with me about the status of women with disabilities in Nepal, the founding of their organization, their work and their plans.
Rama Dhakal, Meena Pandel and Nirmala Dhital, all women with disabilities, started NDWA in 1998, in response to the discrimination they and other women faced in Nepal. As in many countries, they experienced gender discrimination compounded by discrimination based on disability. As the disability rights movement strengthened in Nepal, they saw the need to raise their voices to ensure that the double discrimination faced by women was recognized during the development of policy and legislation.
As they related some of their work, I couldn’t help but think of the parallels to DREDF’s work, and the drive and passion of our founders. Some of NDWA’s accomplishments:
- When NWDA staff experienced discrimination after giving birth, they filed a complaint with the Supreme Court that resulted in a directive to the government to issue policies directing hospitals to provide accommodations to women with disabilities during pregnancy, birth and postpartum deliver
- Tired of the poor treatment and neglect that disabled women experienced in clinics, pharmacies and hospitals, their advocacy at the Supreme Court culminated in policies ensuring access to reproductive health care for women with disabilities
- A Supreme Court decision finding discriminatory a 1963 law allowing men to take a second wife if their first wife gives birth to a child with a disability or becomes disabled during their marriage
- Helping to ensure opportunities for higher education. NDWA opened and continues to run a hostel when they recognized that young women with disabilities coming to Kathmandu for further education were unwelcome in the homes of their extended families, and landlords unwilling to rent to a woman with a disability.
Another victory is in the works when later this week, Rama Dhakal, NDWA President, heads to the Bhutanese refugee camps in eastern Nepal. After an earlier visit she came to suspect that it is Bhutanese with disabilities who remain in the camps after many people have been resettled in North America, Europe and other parts of Asia. During this second visit she will talk with UN staff about disability discrimination, accommodations and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with the hope that intervention will lead to new homes for disabled Bhutan refugees.
After lunch at NDWA, Rakshya, Nirmala and I met with the leaders of the National Dalit Commission, an organization supported by the Nepal government to investigate complaints of discrimination based on caste, and to make recommendations on national policy. The purpose of our meeting was to talk with them about ensuring that Dalit people with disabilities are included in NDC’s programs.
We closed the day with a stroll through the famous shopping stalls in Thamel District.
Tomorrow: Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO)