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Sexual abuse of women with disabilities
National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH)
Extracted from Disability Update, Aug 28-5 Sept, 2006
August 28, 2006

Despite the phenomenal progress that the country has posted in various fields of endeavour, particularly on the social front as society pursues its relentless drive towards modernity and sophistication, Zimbabwean men remain, for the most part, deeply steeped in superstition and myths. The myths of virgin cleansing and that if you have sex with a person with a disability or child, you will be cured of HIV, are very much a part of some Zimbabwean men.

The Executive Director of the Disabled Women Support Organisation (DSWO), Gladys Choruwa, has expressed concern at the prevalence of the idea among otherwise very educated Zimbabwean men that having sex with a woman with disability would cure them from HIV and AIDS, and cited an incidence in which she and a number of other women with disabilities in her organisation were inundated with calls from men wishing to have sexual relations with them. Determined to get to the bottom of this unseemly incident, she lured one of the amorous men to her office by pretending to play along with him and then demanded to be told the truth. The man eventually confessed that he was afflicted with the deadly disease, AIDS, and had been made to believe that having sex with someone in a wheelchair would cure him of the disease. Mrs Choruwa explained that the organisation had lost a lot of members due to this misconception among society. In 2004 alone, the organization lost 6 women who were raped and subsequently died. DWSO is an organisation whose main thrust is to physically and economically empower women with disabilities, with a particular focus on those with spinal injuries.

In the disability liability stakes, women who have had the misfortune to suffer spinal cord injuries are the worst disadvantaged. In addition to the double discrimination that they have to endure in common with other women with disabilities – discrimination on the basis of their very being and discrimination on the basis of their disability – these women have to battle incredible odds because of their condition. Presently, there is no cure for the damaged central nervous system; the nerves in the system cannot be regenerated and consequently, most people never recover mobility or sensation after a spinal injury; many of these people do not receive comprehensive rehabilitation and they lack support from families and society at large; the majority of doctors are not conversant with the intricacies of spinal cord care and treatment.

Furthermore, it is recommended that people with spinal injuries should spend the first three months sleeping on their back in hospital but due to prohibitive medical costs, this requirement is not adhered to and most are discharged after one or two weeks. As a result, most of these people die within two years of sustaining their injuries as revealed by two quality of life studies conducted in 1999 and 2001. To cap it off, the medical costs to sustain a member for any one month are simply out of this world. Ideally, 6 catheters (1 catheter currently costs $300 at government subsidized rates) are required a day, 4 urine bags each costing $300 are required each month, not to mention expensive medication like Valium and Ibuprofen and other essentials like gloves, bandages, charcoal for pressure sores, bandages, betadine bandage strapping and cotton swabs. The life of most spinal cord sufferers is therefore a life of continuous ill health and grinding poverty. In the final analysis, however, stigma and discrimination continues to be the disability sector’s worst nemesis.

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