Yes! We are girls with disabilities and Yes! We can represent ourselves in policy dialogue

abstract

This paper is located within a critical feminist disability studies theoretical framework. It aims to illuminate the significant contribution made by girls with disabilities during the process of drawing up the National Disability Policy for Zimbabwe. A purposive sampling approach was used to select participants, and focus group and plenary discussions were held to generate data, with a thematic analysis approach used to analyse data. Several themes were constructed, but the focus of this paper is on themes that arose from focus group discussions with girls with disabilities: 1) living arrangements; 2) access to physical infrastructure and information; 3) music and sport; 4) education; 5) health and 6) disaster risk management. Findings show that girls with disabilities can make a significant contribution to national policy-making processes; hence there is a need to initiate strategies that create space for them to lead or participate in national policy dialogue.

keywords:

• disability policy
• girls with disabilities
• self-representation
• gender
• policy dialogue
• Zimbabwe

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christine Peta

CHRISTINE PETA is a policy, international development and disability expert. She has a PhD in Disability Studies from the University of Cape Town and Masters’ degrees in various fields, including Public Health and Development Studies. She has authored a book, book chapters and several papers that have been published in scientific journals on policy, development and disability issues. In her role as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-Zimbabwe disability expert she led the process of drawing up the National Disability Policy for Zimbabwe under a Government of Zimbabwe-United Nations partnership which was also partly supported by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative. Email: [email protected]