Excerpt from: Progress Illinois (click for full article)
Recognition of the strides that have been made as well as the challenges that remain was the focus of a panel discussion held Friday regarding the role women with disabilities have played in the struggle for women’s rights.
Held by the disability rights organization Access Living in recognition of International Women’s Day, the event featured academics, caregivers and advocates who discussed the many issues facing women within the disability community, which according to UIC Professor Carol Gill have at times been overlooked by the rest of society.
“Women with disabilities actually have quite a long history of not being recognized as part of the population,” said UIC Associate Professor Gill. “We’re left out of programs for services, health initiatives, research, and policy, from domestic violence shelters to cardiovascular fitness programs to osteoporosis research to educational equity policy. We frequently don’t get counted, we’re not seen, and we’re invisible.”
Comments