Breaking down walls: supporting people with disabilities to fight for equality in Palestine

Yana Zayed is our volunteer working to support staff and activists
at the General Union of Disabled Palestinians.
Here she shares with us how taking small steps to challenge inequalities and fight for the rights of people with disabilities, can begin to break down walls...

"There are two separation walls that menace Palestinian            society;  one is that infamous grey structure that denies every   Palestinian the basic human right to live in dignity, and the other is    the lesser-known invisible wall that pushes Palestinians with    disabilities even further away from this right.

For the last three years, I have been working hand-in-hand with    disability activists from the General Union of Disabled Palestinians    (GUDP) attempting to chip away at this invisible wall and address    the inequalities that exist.

 
The GUDP is the largest organisation working on disability rights in    the occupied Palestinian territories, which is both led and run by    Palestinians with disabilities. Set up in the early 1990s, it was one    of the key driving forces behind the passing of the Palestinian Disability Law in 1999.
 
Today, the GUDP’s activists are busy lobbying for proper and    effective implementation of that Law. This is no small feat    considering the context in which they operate, and the low priority    that is given to dealing with disabilities and the rights of disabled    people. To address this, the Union must also dedicate time and    resources to working on disability-awareness within Palestinian    society. Like I say, no small feat.

          
    Yana walks alongside the separation wall 
     © Y Zayed

For my part, I have been actively involved with the GUDP’s central    office and its 11 West Bank branches in awareness-raising and    training events. The branches are totally dependent on the    commitment of volunteers. They open their doors every day to the public so that Palestinians with disabilities and their families can come and seek advice and support. And despite the fact that disability is    stigmatized - sadly, all too often I hear stories about Palestinians    with disability being physically locked away from society by their    families - people do come.
 
I quickly learnt at the beginning of my International Service    placement with the GUDP that if I was to support the Union in    empowering Palestinians with disabilities, my first step was to focus    on the self-empowerment of the Union's activists themselves.

I remember once, at the beginning of an advocacy training course,    sitting in a circle with activists and listening to stories of rejection,    abuse, embarrassment and inferiority. Before long, the tears began    to flow amongst the participants; myself included. 

It felt like the group had taken a leap over the first hurdle before tackling the bigger wall

At the end of this course, one participant with a physical impairment told us how he always found it awkward requesting to sit in the front seat of a shared taxi when travelling. As a result of coming to the advocacy course and learning how to self-advocate, he decided he would go directly to the taxi garage manager to explain his situation:

    “From that moment on, the manager always greets me when I’m     at the garage and makes sure I get to sit in the front seat without     causing any embarrassment or conflict.”

These may be small chips. But as long as we are breaking down    walls in Palestine - not building them - then the possibility of living a dignified life is a step closer to becoming reality."