In recognition of World Disability Day and supported by the EU, CGDS attended the celebration hosted by the Handicapped Union of Kurdistan. Dr. Lynn Rose, CGDS Deputy Director, delivered congratulations to Mr. Saman Husain and his organization, and pledged that CGDS will join forces with people with disabilities in their efforts to achieve full human rights. The full text of Dr. Lynn’s comments follows.
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We at the Center for Gender and Development Studies, with support from the European Union, are pleased to congratulate you on this advent of World Disability Day 2020, and we thank you for including us in this celebration. I have three observations and three pledges to make today.
First, it is no accident that World Disability Day falls within the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence. There are many commonalities between women and people with disabilities in our struggle for equity, dignity, and respect. In both cases, around the world, progress has relied on a team effort. We have seen your enthusiasm to work with other organizations that focus on other causes, and we applaud this. Together, we are stronger, and we pledge to be part of the effort with people with disabilities to build a better world.
Second, making progress relies not only on teamwork but also on the ability to recognize systematic oppression and discrimination, and we know that your organization is fully aware of the oppression and discrimination against people with disabilities. We know also that you recognize the oppression of women in general and disabled women in particular. When we met with you last month, you referred to disabled women as having a “double disability” because of social attitudes. There is nothing wrong with women, or disabled people, or disabled women. It is the attitudes that must be changed, and we pledge to work with people with disabilities to help correct these attitudes.
Third, while progress in advancing human rights relies on teamwork and recognition of oppression, progress also relies on the willingness to take small steps. If we want to change the world overnight, we will become exhausted and we will fail. We have observed your organization taking these small steps, as well as some rather large steps, and never giving up. Progress also relies on, in the words of our founder and director Dr. Choman Hardi, “hope among hopelessness.” We must harbor hope, even—and especially—when things look grim. Persistence in the face of resistance is the key to change, and we pledge to work with people with disabilities in the face of resistance.
Once again, many congratulations, thank you again for including us today, and we look forward to working with you to help build a better world.
Photo description: Seventeen people stand in a row on a wooden stage, each holding a rose, against the background of eight large white signs, bordered in red, with black Kurdish writing. In addition to the seventeen people, one woman in traditional Kurdish dress, holding roses, is exiting the stage to the right; a man, also wearing traditional Kurdish clothes and holding roses, follows her several paces back. Of the people on the stage, four are women. We see both traditional Kurdish and western style clothing. Four people wear masks.