Transcript of Talk by Rosario Galarza

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TOWARDS INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES: MAKING DATA AND STATISTICS DISABILITY- AND GENDER INCLUSIVE: LAUNCH OF THE 2022 DISABILITY DATA INITIATIVE’S REPORT

FRIDAY JUNE 17TH, 2022

Side event of the 15th Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Transcripts of the introduction and the reaction by Rosario Galarza

Introduction by Rosario Galarza

Hello everyone,

Welcome to our event toward inclusive societies, making data and statistics disability and gender inclusive. I am with the International Disability Alliance and I also represent the Stakeholders’ Group of Persons With Disabilities.

I’ll start with a few housekeeping items.

This event will be recorded.  International Sign, French, and Spanish interpretation and live captioning in English are provided. The International Sign interpreter is spotlighted and the captioning is available by clicking on the closed captioning box on the bottom of the screen, and also available in a separate link that has been shared in the chat box.

Presenters and the moderator will use their cameras while presenting. Otherwise, we ask that you turn off your cameras.

Throughout the event, please ask questions by writing in the chat box on the bottom of the page.

Women and girls with disabilities are one of the most marginalized groups in the world, and are often excluded from society in various ways and face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. For example, women and girls with disabilities are up to 10 times more likely to experience gender-based violence than women and girls without disabilities.

Despite this, there is a lack of data on women with disabilities, and thus it is difficult to create inclusive policy and programmes for women and girls with disabilities.

In our event, we will highlight examples of how data can identify gaps that are not addressed through policies, and to provide examples of success. For example, the 2022 Disability Data Report of the Disability Data Initiative has results on inequalities between women with and without disabilities regarding education, personal activities, health, standard of living, multidimensional poverty, insecurity, and subjective wellbeing.

Additionally, there will be presentations from panelists with experiences of disability and gender and data processes, including the experiences from organizations of persons with disabilities and the use of qualitative data.

Our distinguished panel includes:

Sophie Mitra and Jaclyn Yap are from the Disability Data Initiative, Research Consortium on Disability from Fordham University

Monjurul Kabir is UN Coordination Adviser in Gender Equality and Disability Inclusion from UN Women

Julia Constanze Braunmiller is a Private Sector Development Specialist in Women,

Business and the Law project from The World Bank

Claudia Cappa is Senior Adviser in Statistics and Monitoring from UNICEF

Vandana Chaudhry is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at the City University of New York – College of Staten Island

Gisela Berger is the WISH Global Technical Manager, Kampala Uganda from Humanity and Inclusion

I will now pass it to Jackie and Sophie who will present findings from the 2022 Disability Data Report.

Reaction Rosario Galarza

Title: Women and girls with disabilities and the importance of qualitative data

Women and girls with disabilities face countless barriers across the globe, including exclusion from participation in economies, a significant increase of risk of violence and abuse, lack of access to justice, minimal participation in political and public life, and facing discriminatory attitudes in sexual health, reproductive rights and in the right to family life.

Despite these myriad barriers, there is a lack of data on women with disabilities. Little or no data means it is difficult to create policy and programmes inclusive of women with disabilities who may be most at risk of being left behind. Conversely, high-quality, timely, reliable, and available disability data are needed to understand the real situation of women with disabilities, to identify gaps that are not addressed through policies, and to provide examples of success.

One way to address this data gap, has been the collection and use of qualitative data, including citizen-generated data from OPDs and NGO allies to complement official statistics to measure gaps and progress. This use of qualitative data is especially important in emergency situations, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic, of which I will now share three examples.

The first example comes from findings from the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor survey on disability rights during the pandemic:

• The survey findings suggested that women and girls with disabilities were disproportionately affected by the pandemic and experienced specific rights’ violations due to the interaction of discrimination on the basis of disability, gender identity, and age.
• The survey received testimonies of grave human rights abuses which included multiple forms of assault and violence. There were reports of sexual assault, domestic violence, and police brutality against women and girls with disabilities.
• Respondents shared that their governments did not take measures to safeguard the rights of women and girls with disabilities.
• The pandemic has made the situation even worse because women and girls could not access police, women’s shelters, social workers, or trauma counselling during the pandemic and were isolated at home with abusive partners or relatives and with no access to school or workplaces.

The second example is from the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities’ qualitative research on the experiences of persons with disabilities in the context of the pandemic. The first research phase carried out interviews and focus groups with global disability movement leaders and in the second phase, researchers with disabilities carried out in-depth interviews with persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, Bolivia and Nigeria. Some of the data gathered was on the experiences of women with disabilities, such as:

• Due to the pandemic and lockdown measures, women with disabilities generally had a much higher risk of physical and sexual abuse, including domestic abuse, similar to the DRM survey.
• Deaf women also had at higher risk of domestic violence and the additional barrier of lack of access to information in sign language and no way to call to get help.
• Many women with disabilities encountered barriers in accessing and engaging in society, and thus it was challenging to gather detailed information, especially around the topic of disability-related discrimination.
• Universally the researchers found it challenging to reach the most marginalized persons with disabilities, including women with disabilities, to interview. Thus, there were barriers in even reaching women with disabilities to gain their perspectives.

The third example is from the World Blind Union that carried out a global survey about challenges and resilience strategies for blind and partially sighted people during the pandemic. The survey was both qualitative and quantitative as it included open-ended questions and the Washington Group short set – Enhanced. More than 800 people responded to the survey.

Findings around blind and partially sighted women include that:

• Overall, blind and partially sighted women indicated more challenges than any other gender group. These challenges included loss of independence and choice, autonomy and dignity, challenges related to health (particularly among women aged 25-45 years), negative attitudes from others, and additional barriers for women living in rural settings.
• Blind and partially sighted women also responded higher on having solutions involving personal support networks, getting online, and being practical, while men responded notably higher than any other gender group on solutions involving personal wellbeing and OPD support/advocacy.

As is evident from these rich findings, the use of OPD data – both qualitative and quantitative – are essential in understanding gaps, barriers, and progress for women with disabilities and all persons with disabilities. We look forward to collaborating more in this area.

Thank you.