Although one billion people around the world are known to be living with a disability, the public health field has had an uneasy relationship with disability since its beginnings. While this was especially true prior to the 1970s, disability often still remains absent from public health conversations despite the growing understanding that anyone, at any time, can become disabled. Note that our global health textbook covers women’s health, adolescent health, TB, HIV/AIDS, poverty, health systems, communicable and non-communicable diseases, and many other topics, yet fails to mention disability in a substantial way. In 536 pages of text, disability is discussed twice (not counting the section on DALYs, which, while still used, are controversial given the sole focus on mortality). Even in the section on female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that disables the women it is inflicted on, the textbook does not discuss it in a disability context. 

1. In what way could joining forces between different movements or identities benefit dismantling both sexism and ableism? Consider this first for the intersection between the women’s movement to combat FGM and the disability movement to combat ableism. Is it possible for the two to join forces?

The question is addressing the fact that often movements to improve the health of specific populations often do not overlap. For example, the women's movement has not always considered people with disabilities. And the disability rights movement has not always considered women's issues or sexism. So the first question is asking you to consider if possible how the two movements working together, if they are able to work together, could achieve more than they would working by themselves. The specific example is female genital mutilation (FGM), which is both a women's rights issue and a disability issue, since female FGM can be disabling. There is a movie called "A Walk to Beautiful" about this.

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o    Intersections with Class

§   1 The crisis of disabled millennials_ 'It feels hopeless' _ Society _ The Guardian.pdf 1 The crisis of disabled millennials_ 'It feels hopeless' _ Society _ The Guardian.pdf - Alternative Formats (918.347 KB) 

§   Disability, Poverty and Healthcare in the People's Republic of China Disability, Poverty and Healthcare in the People's Republic of China - Alternative Formats (880.336 KB) 

§   “My story started from food shortage and hunger”: living with landmines in Cambodia “My story started from food shortage and hunger”: living with landmines in Cambodia - Alternative Formats (847.147 KB) 

§   Social inclusion of people with disabilities in poverty reduction policies and instruments: initial impressions from Malawi and Uganda Social inclusion of people with disabilities in poverty reduction policies and instruments: initial impressions from Malawi and Uganda - Alternative Formats (465.041 KB) 

Articles:

Intersectionality & Class in the USA

R: Trump's Funding Cuts to the Disabled are Bad Economic Policy 

Intersectionality & Class Abroad (UK, Malawi, Uganda, Cambodia, China, India, Russia)

R: The crisis of disabled millennials: 'It feels hopeless' (attached)

R: Social inclusion of people with disabilities in poverty reduction policies and instruments: initial impressions from Malawi and Uganda (see attached)

R:  “My story started from food shortage and hunger”: living with landmines in Cambodia (see attached)

R: Disability, Poverty and Healthcare in the People's Republic of China (see attached)

R: On the possibilities and limits of “DEAF DEAF SAME”: Tourism and empowerment camps in Adamorobe, Bangalore and Mumbai (Deaf Empowerment Programs in India) or From Stigma to Value

R: "There are no invalids in the USSR!"

R: Accessibility, Acceptance Islamic Education:  Living as a Muslim with Disability

R: ISIS Recruits Children and Adults with Disabilities

R: ISIS recruits many kinds of disabled people

Videos:

Intersectionality & Class in the USA

W: How Health Care Makes Disability a Trap (13:50)

W: Employers in the U.S. are legally allowed to pay people with disabilities less money.  (08:25)

W: Episode 18: Divided States of Minimum Wage (08:22)

Intersectionality & Class Abroad

W: Connecting Disability and Poverty in Africa(01: 29)