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Society should reawaken ubuntu (unhu) in disability relations
National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH)
Extracted from Disability Update, January 16-23, 2007
January 16, 2007

As we commemorate World Aids Day, a cursory scan of the social scene reveals an unsettling scenario: the rape of people with disabilities is on the increase. On Wednesday, November 22, The Herald reported the rape of a teenaged girl living with epilepsy by an 82 year old man. Barely 4 days later, on Sunday, November 26, the Sunday Mail published the story of a group of men who took turns to rape three women with disabilities and then left them locked up in a room. To cap it off, police reports indicate that more rape cases were committed this year compared to last year. This makes sad reading, especially when viewed against the fact that the majority of rapists, if not all do not use condoms.

Despite these chilling revelations of high vulnerability to sexual abuse among people with disabilities, this sector has largely been marginalized from HIV and AIDS intervention programmes. The marginalisation and social exclusion of people with disabilities from the development arena has resulted in the masking and underplaying of an issue that has been addressed comprehensively in the wider society: the issue of the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among people with disabilities.

Paradoxically, it is people with disabilities who need HIV and AIDS intervention programmes more than the rest of the society, which has been inundated with such programmes every which way. The facts are irrefutable: people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to AIDS due to their low literacy levels, little access to health care, high vulnerability to sexual abuse, lack of information on AIDS especially for the visually impaired and hearing impaired, and consequent lack of inclusion in AIDS intervention programmes. The peculiar situation of people with disabilities calls for urgent, target-specific interventions aimed at mitigating the impact of AIDS in the disability sector.

Just as people with disabilities are a forgotten and invisible group in society, they are also forgotten in planning for HIV/AIDS programmes. In the majority of cases, people have found it convenient to wink at the issue of AIDS among people with disabilities, to find solace in the mistaken assumption that disabled people do not engage in sexual activity, or to just regard the problem as inconsequential. The reality, however, is that disabled people are just as sexually active as the rest of the society and are even more at risk of infection because of the obvious barriers that they encounter in accessing vital information on HIV/AIDS, not to mention access to health care. In addition to the attendant factors that have been documented by research as heightening or ameliorating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in any society, the prevalence of AIDS among people with disabilities is further compounded by the following special considerations, again documented by research:

• Hearing and visually impaired people registered lower scores on the HIV/AIDS Knowledge Index than hearing people, thus indicating low levels of awareness of AIDS issues.
• The incidence of alcohol abuse within the hearing impaired community is estimated to be at 35% compared to 12-14% incidence among the general population.
• It is estimated that 1 in 7 hearing-impaired persons has substance abuse problems, compared with 1 in 10 in the hearing population.
• People with serious mental illnesses have a lower level of self-efficacy where taking protective measures is concerned. This observation obtains even where knowledge and awareness of AIDS issues is present.
• People with learning disabilities have difficulties in negotiating safe sex. Incidences of homosexuality are also noticeably higher among this group
• A strong connection between increased risk taking behaviour and risk of contracting HIV has been documented among adolescents hospitalised for emotional behaviour.
• Compliance and adherence to TB medication is very low for the mentally ill, and homeless.

Sadly, little has been done to ensure that HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns and condom marketing campaigns are disability friendly. A half-hearted attempt was made in the 1990s to produce pamphlets in Braille to benefit people with visual impairments but it was short-lived. No attempt is made to advertise condoms in sign language or to put the instructions for use in Braille. This therefore leaves people with visual and hearing impairments uninformed. The introduction of another prophylactic, the Care Contraceptive Sheath, was a welcome development that provided greater choice and independence to women. But, again, people with disabilities were left in the cold - the majority of people with hearing or visual impairments will not be able to get the correct information on how they can use it.

Most of the advertisements in print and electronic media warning people about HIV/AIDS are excellent, well packaged but do not mean anything to those who cannot understand the information.

The issue of HIV and AIDS among people with disabilities is further compounded by a baffling belief in superstition and myths among the able-bodied populace. The myths of virgin cleansing and that if you have sex with a person with a disability, you will be cured of HIV, are very much alive in Zimbabwe and this has contributed to the rape and sexual abuse of people with disabilities.

Organisations of people with disabilities such as the Disabled Women Support Organisation (DWSO), have lost a lot of members due to this misconception among the 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.

Evidently, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among people with disabilities occurs against the backdrop of a plethora of exacerbating circumstances and this requires effective and context-specific interventions that can provide long term, sustainable solutions and takes into cognisance issues of diversity, disability rights, equality, dignity and respect. The onus is on society to ensure the inclusion of this very significant part of the population in HIV and AIDS intervention programmes.

The National Association of Societies is the umbrella organisation for organisations involved in the care and rehabilitation of people with disabilities in Zimbabwe. It is a private voluntary organisation working with and for people with disabilities and has a membership of 53.

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