Disability and motherhood

Dr Christine Peta Disability Issues

This article foregrounds the voices of some disabled women in Zimbabwe in an effort to elucidate their experiences of disability and motherhood, from the women’s point of view.

A recent study carried out in Zimbabwe revealed that some disabled women who have had the experience of giving birth may face challenges in motherhood (Peta 2016).

For example, Tsitsi who acquired physical impairment at the age of two when she was not immunised against polio says, “When I had my first child I was 19 … my mother took me to the clinic in the village.

She said to the people, ‘Please remove some body parts on her body so that she will not get pregnant again because she is disabled and she will not be able to provide for her children.’

The people at the clinic refused, they said it was not their job to remove people’s body parts, my mother was angry.”

Disabled women are commonly and incorrectly regarded as women who are not capable of being good parents.

However, as asserted by Hall (2011), we need to guard against implementing permanent, unnecessary and irreversible surgeries and treatments on disabled girls and women, for the selfish reason of just trying to make our caretaking “job” easier, whilst totally disregarding the views of the disabled women.

Tsitsi explained further, “If my mother had talked to me, I would have explained to her that even though I am disabled, I want to have my own children.

Now I am 42 years old and I have two grown up sons who protect me from people who want to abuse me.”

In relation to her mother’s view that she would not be able to provide for her offspring because of her disability, Tsitsi said, “I am a single mother but I have raised my two sons by buying commodities from Mbare market and re-selling them at a profit.

Non-disabled people help me to move my stuff from Mbare.

So I bring the market closer to people who have money. It’s hard but I am happy that I have been able to pay fees for my sons to attend school.”

There is evidence that some disabled women who have not had the experience of giving birth may aspire to have their own children.

For example, Nyarai, who has Down syndrome (intellectual disability), said she wants to have children with her intimate partner who also has Down syndrome.

The experience of becoming a parent can be both satisfying and difficult for all people and yet people who have Down syndrome have, at a worldwide scale, been historically denied space in marriage and motherhood (Mirfin-Veitch, 2003).

The same author states that whilst people with Down syndrome may need unique and prolonged support in raising their children, they can also be good parents.

The belief that women with Down syndrome may never be able to take care of their children because they are in need of care and support for themselves is, therefore, a myth.

The point is that such women need to be equipped with careful and sensitive advice about the pros and cons of having children, in some cases they decide for themselves not to have children.

In another example, Rudo who is deaf and partially blind said, “Because I am deaf, partially blind and childless, some people call me a disabled witch who cannot have children … but the truth is if I get a good man, I would like to marry and to have a child.”

In part, the above narrative shows attitudes that may result in the discrimination of disabled women in the area of motherhood.

In another example, Mako said, “The nurses, they only told me after I had fallen very sick that epilepsy medicine weakens the power of the family planning tablets which they had given me.

So two months after delivering my premature first baby, I discovered that I was pregnant again.

Now imagine a tiny baby, a pregnancy and epilepsy seizures, I had a miscarriage and I almost died.”

The above narrative shows the discrimination and exclusion of disabled women in mainstream support and services in motherhood.

There is evidence that disability makes a difference in the sense that whilst generic healthcare approaches may apply to all women, disabled women may need unique reproductive healthcare which is tailor-made to suit specific impairments.

In addition, drawing from a medical study carried out in Canada by Basson (1998), one can argue that the side-effects of medical drugs are significant elements that need to be carefully attended to by healthcare professionals who interact with disabled people.

In revealing some of the challenges she encounters in motherhood, Nyasha who became blind at the age of two after she had not been immunised against measles said, “If I deliver a baby no-one tells me anything about caring for the baby, the nurses are just angry that I am blind and having a baby.

I feel that they want me to get out of hospital as soon as possible so that I make way for ‘normal’ women who make their job easier.”

Nyasha remembers nurses who castigated her for having a baby, “Manesi akanditi wakamboitirei pamuviri?

Wakanga usingazive kuti uri bofu here? Ndiro dambudziko renyu mapofu, kuwuya pano kuzotiwanzira basa” (The nurses said to me why were you getting pregnant?

Did you not know that you are blind? That’s the problem with you blind people, you just come here to give us additional work).

She explained further, “But you see, even if I am blind, I also want to have my own children, so why should the nurses shout at me and treat me as if I don’t know what I am doing?

The fact that I am blind does not mean that I am brainless or I don’t want to be a mother.”

Article 23(b) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) clearly states that disabled people have a right to responsibly and freely decide on the number and spacing of their own children.

In any case, judging women and imposing decisions on them because they are disabled, without seeking and respecting their own point of view in relation to their motherhood choices, only serves to secure power and priviledge for parents, care-givers, and service providers to the detriment of the interests and well-being of the disabled women themselves.

Women with disabilities need to be listened to as individuals who have their own views and opinions.

Dr Christine Peta is the first Zimbabwean to acquire a PhD in Disability Studies. Be part of international debate on how best to nurture a society which is more accessible, supportive and inclusive of disabled people. Partner with Disability Centre for Africa (DCFA). WhatsApp 0773-699-229, Website www.dcfafrica.com, e-mail [email protected]