Women with disabilities face double challenges in the patriarchal structure of Palestinian society. The Network here presents the cases of two women and their interpretation of the challenges they face.
"We are capable of so much . . ."(Maha, shoe factory owner)
In September 1994 the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq held a conference entitled 'Women, Justice and Law: Towards the Empowerment of Palestinian Women.' During the conference a mock tribunal was held in which women presented their personal experiences of human rights violations. One of the Gazan women in the tribunal, Maha (1), presented her case from a wheelchair; she has been motorically disabled since infancy.
Maha had to struggle against her family's resistance to her education, and spent most of her teenage years alone, writing poetry. She developed a relationship with an able-bodied young man, but his family refused to allow him to marry a woman with a disability and even came to Maha's house to threaten her and inform her parents of her involvement with their son, so that they put her under house arrest. When the young man was killed in a car accident, his mother came to Maha to ask her forgiveness, saying that their rejection of her had been prompted as much by the pressures of society as by her own feelings. 'She felt I would not be able to help her son, to cook or clean.' says Maha. 'Marriage meant serving the husband, there was no consideration for love'. Maha's father strongly resisted her wish to follow vocational training and to become economically independent, but eventually she convinced him to let her leave the house to be trained. She opened her own shoe factory. Again, a colleague of hers, this time a man with similar disabilities, proposed to her but his parents also rejected the idea. 'We are human beings; why don't you accept us? Give us an opportunity' was Maha's plea at the tribunal. 'I challenge any young woman walking on two legs to accomplish what I have accomplished. All the young men at the Society (for people with disabilities) are married, but there are many young women, including teachers, who are unmarried -- why? We are capable of so much (2).'
"We need daring women to change attitudes. . ." (Wafa, lecturer at Bir Zeit University)
The Network interviewed Wafa Darwish, who is blind. She spoke about her own education and about her work as a teacher both in a school for the blind and at Bir Zeit University.
Ednet: Could you tell us about your education?
Wafa Darwish (WD): 'I must say I am an exception. My family was very liberal and well to do. I went to foreign schools; when I started to lose my sight at the age twelve I was attending Schmidt's (a German private school in Jerusalem, Ednet) which was not prepared to deal with blindness. I left Schmidt's and joined the Friends' Girls School (FGS) in Ramallah, which did have some equipment, while I received special education outside school hours. By the age of fourteen I had mastered braille and in addition I used tapes. I experienced very few difficulties -- mostly ordinary things such as walking home and frustrations with tape recorders. I did not even lose a year. I had been quite protected in the elitist FGS environment, and got the first slap in my face upon graduation.
I sat for tawjihi normally and got a very high grade, which in those days meant that you automatically received a scholarship from the Jordanian government. However, the AUB (American University in Beirut) scholarship was not available to me because I was blind. I was told that the government wouldn't make use of me, so why should they invest in me? I could have gone to Egypt but the choice of placement was up to the ambassador, not to me. Thus I went to AUB privately. It didn't have any real facilities, although it had a network of professors' wives who would read to us, which was very helpful. I stayed at AUB until 1976 and then came back to Bir Zeit; the situation here was actually better than in Jordan and Lebanon. I went back to AUB for my MA in 1982. At present I am working on my Ph.D. at the Hebrew University, where there is a whole unit with all kinds of facilities and equipment.'
Ednet: You worked as a teacher in a school for blind girls. Could you tell us about your impressions there?
WD: 'After finishing my MA I worked for eight years as a teacher in one of the local schools for the blind which offers 'special' education from kindergarten to 12th grade. This education is far too special; in fact it doesn't provide education, i.e. awareness and sciences, but charity. The girls go there when they are very young and stay until they are adults. The fact that it is a boarding school and that the girls are crammed with an academic curriculum only, leads to severe social isolation and an unbalanced social, academic and mental development. The girls' personalities become deformed and their potential restricted, even though some are really intelligent. It's very depressing. Some of the girls even have difficulty in keeping themselves clean. The few that can manage go to universities where remedial work is done. Most, however, stay and work in the school, or end up in so-called shelters or at home where they remain for the rest of their lives.'
Ednet: What, in your opinion, should be changed regarding special education?
WD: 'There is a general social and cultural deterioration in society. During my schooldays there was much more mainstreaming. Society is turning reactionary and we are not helping the situation with these charitable institutions. In my opinion the place to bring up blind women is in society itself. All charitable institutions should be closed down and special education should be a responsibility of the Ministry of Education. It should offer governmental special education schools only as far as the 6th grade in elementary school, after which children with disabilities are to join mainstream schools. It will be hard for the first generation, but fruitful in the long run. We've done it before.
The best system in the Middle East is found in Cyprus. They have special elementary education only, and emphasize individual care and the formation of personality; there is an exchange program, coordination with the students' families, and very good social work provision in addition to the academic program. The school should provide a whole world for the child.'
Ednet: How do you view society's attitude towards disability?
WD: 'At the moment not many people with disabilities go back into society and the lack of contact leads to unease and lack of awareness. Society is dynamic; if it is forced to deal with disability its reaction will be different. For example, when I went to FGS I lived in Jerusalem, so I had to walk from the school to the center of Ramallah to take transport back home. On the way I would buy hand cream or sandwiches, so that the shopkeepers got to know me. And with people wanting to help you on the street, you can teach them how to hold you properly -- without grabbing you. Another blind woman I know is a physiotherapist in Makkasad Hospital. She walks beautifully both with her cane and on her own. Now if others follow the routes she uses, they would become aware of Laila's exemplary influence on the people of the neighborhood. We need daring women to change attitudes.'
Ednet: Do you think there are different attitudes towards women with disabilities?
WD: 'Many blind women are shy and easily embarrassed. When a blind man bumps against a lamp post or into another person, or even falls down, it is treated more lightly than if the same were to happen to a blind woman. The situation may be easier for women in villages, where there is more contact on the streets and people know each other. Blind men tend also to have more contact with society. By the way, the only blind school for boys is a government school, up to the third preparatory grade only, after which they join the ordinary schools. Blind males, however they may talk, think or behave, have no problems in getting married. But there are many bright, clever, beautiful blind women who never marry. But this a problem shared by all women -- both blind and sighted. In this society you are treated as a commodity: either you are chosen for marriage or you are not.'
Ednet: You are presently working as a lecturer at Bir Zeit University. What are your experiences of attitudes towards disability in the labor market?
WD: 'People with disabilities are given no help in finding work. There should be a law requiring employers to take on at least 5% of employees with disabilities. For some reason the situation is slightly better in factories. Even though Bir Zeit University is one of the most progressive institutions in the West Bank, it was difficult to get appointed there. I had to work as a volunteer at first and use my connections. Yet I still only hold a part-time post. Colleagues have treated me normally, however, and I haven't encountered the usual over-protection or rejection, which may be due to the fact that several other blind colleagues paved the way. I am on very good terms with my students, who respect me and like me -- even though they hate my grades! I only experience little difficulties, for example that students are uneasy with the fact that I have to enlist some of their colleagues in helping me to correct their papers. Bir Zeit ought to be given credit. Its outlook is liberal and progressive, and it shows how things can work both ways: it's setting an example for the blind to work and study in an ordinary institution. It's unfortunate that it is still an exception.'
1. Maha is not the real name of the woman concerned.
2. This article is an abbreviated version of 'A Mock Tribunal: Women's Testimonies' in Al-Haq Newsletter no 33, July-Sept 1994.
Elaine Clark
Educational Network, POB 66, Ramallah, West Bank
tel: 02 995 6230/fax: 02 995 6231 e-mail: eclark@ednet.birzeit.edu