Hossen Sohel of DOT : A Bangladeshi has won the first global award recognising the achievements of women with disabilities, reports Reuters and bdnews24.com.
Ashrafun Nahar Misti, who has founded the Women with Disabilities Development Foundation in Bangladesh, won in the rights award category for her campaigns for inclusive policy and equal opportunities in education and work.
The award aims to break through stereotypes to show their skills as leaders and problem solvers, its founder said on Monday.
Besides Misti, a filmmaker and a public health expert were named the first winners of the Her Ability awards, which were announced to coincide with World Disability Day.
Its founder, Ethiopian campaigner Yetnebersh Nigussie, said she wanted to put a spotlight on achievements of women with disabilities to combat the idea that they are passive victims.
“We really wanted to change that image and cherish their abilities and their victories,” Nigussie, who lost her sight at age five, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“In order to change things, people need to really see our abilities and our problem-solving skills that we have developed through life by overcoming attitudinal as well as physical and policy barriers everywhere.”
More than a billion people – about 15 percent of the world’s population – have some form of disability, according to the World Health Organization.
Women with disabilities have been recognised as doubly vulnerable by experts, who say they face additional barriers.
The first winners of the awards, which were set up by Nigussie and the global disability organisation Light for the World, all came from the developing world.
They included Toyin Janet Aderemi, the first Nigerian wheelchair-user to study and practise pharmacy, who was recognised for her work on disability-inclusive health and as a lobbyist for disability rights.
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