The Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC) has revealed that 16 million women and girls in Nigeria who constitute about 60% of the estimated 28 million Nigerians with disabilities are facing serious poverty, as well as sexual and reproductive health rights challenges daily.
This was made known at a press briefing conducted by DRAC on Tuesday, March 13 in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
The executive director of DRAC, Irene Patrick-Ogbogu said a baseline survey and accessibility audit was carried out by her team on women and girls living with disabilities, with support from Christoffel-Blinden Mission (CBM) UK.
The study was conducted in the Abuja and in the suburb of Mararaba, Nasarawa state, due to its influence on the activities of the FCT.
She however noted that there are no statistics in Nigerian that clearly outline the number of women and girls with disabilities who have experienced and who continue to experience violence in Nigeria.
“Societal attitudes about women with disabilities may be a cause of this exclusion as many people assume that women in this population do not have intimate partners. They are perceived as asexual, not desirous of sex and/or love and are therefore not expected to be in relationships.
“Most often their experiences of violence remain hidden and unaddressed due to their fear of blame, increased stigma and verbal abuse when such cases are reported as well as the multiple barriers they face in accessing seeual and reproductive health, psycho-social and criminal justice services.
“This situation therefore makes it difficult to establish the extent of such violations against women and girls with disabilities, and consequently, planning to reach them with the necessary support, information and services becomes even harder and not a priority.”
DRAC has been actively involved in generating data for decision making around issues of women and girls living with disabilities since its inception in 2009. DRAC also provides psycho-social support/counseling services, community behavious change communication and human rights awareness and education for the women and girls.
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