Sexual and reproductive well being companies are sometimes inaccessible to ladies with disabilities for a lot of causes, together with attitudes from well being suppliers and an absence of bodily entry. In this story, a lady with incapacity talks about her expertise giving delivery and the way it drives her activism at the moment.

“No, no, no! We don’t want to take care of her!” These had been the phrases that Coumba Ndiaye, from Dakar, Senegal, heard repeatedly when she sought care to ship her child. She approached 4 well being centres, however all refused her, saying her incapacity (associated to polio as a toddler) would make the supply “too complicated.” 

She was lastly referred to a hospital. But when she arrived there, a midwife abruptly instructed her, with out analyzing her, that she could be taken to the working room for a caesarean part. The midwife, Coumba stated, had made her resolution by her incapacity. “She saw my disability and automatically for her… disability means surgery. I was afraid,” she stated.

But behind the midwife, a voice assured her: “Wait for me! I’m going to help you give birth in a regular way.” It was a respectful well being employee, who later helped Coumba get onto the supply mattress with a bench after which assisted her to have a vaginal delivery, like most different moms within the hospital. 

Roughly round an hour after the delivery, a nurse got here to maneuver her to the resting room, however didn’t assist her out of bed. Coumba fell and began haemorrhaging. She fainted. Two days later, she wakened in a resuscitation room. “The baby was doing very well. But me? I had a haemorrhage. I didn’t know where I was,” she stated.

Coumba, who was then simply 22 years previous, was later instructed by the top midwife to not have one other little one. “At that moment, I cried,” she recalled, with a sigh. 

Fighting for ladies with incapacity at the moment

Today, 22 years later, Coumba is an activist and metropolis councillor in Pikine, a Dakar suburb, striving for incapacity inclusion. As president of the municipality’s fee for schooling, coaching and native languages, she ensures that kids with disabilities examine and have acceptable studying supplies. As a part of the municipality’s inter-commission, she ensures incapacity is taken under consideration in its different commissions, together with well being and the dwelling surroundings, and in addition advises on the care of girls with incapacity.

Access to schooling was a problem for her when younger. As a teen, she needed to stroll holding her leg for a couple of hour to achieve her highschool. “There was no bus. I didn’t have crutches or a prosthesis. I was limping, I was holding my leg to not feel the pain,” she recalled.

“I lived through many experiences and that’s why I’m confident today. I can fight for disabled women. I also know that I can talk with the authorities,” she stated, including she engages with ladies’s teams, the affiliation of Senegalese midwives, feminine legal professionals and neighborhood teams.

Her delivery expertise nonetheless drives her activism at the moment. She raises the scenario of disabled ladies giving delivery when she will, and generally helps particular person ladies with disabilities on a private capability. “[If] someone calls me for the delivery of a pregnant disabled woman, I go to her home to offer my help for free,” she stated.

In her earlier work with a incapacity group, she encountered many different ladies who had experiences just like hers. “A woman in a wheelchair can’t climb [onto] a delivery bed for the prenatal medical visit. All these issues make women [with disability] scared to marry someone and get pregnant,” she stated. 

“See the person, not the disability”

Although inclusivity is progressing in Senegal, there was nonetheless a necessity for change “from the bottom to the top of society” she stated. She known as for a aim to supply entry to well being centres to all folks with disabilities, with out them having to face issues. “Disabled people are afraid to go to the hospital. If they get sick, they stay at home, they take medicine bought in the street. We must make the hospital accessible.”

She believes well being employees want higher coaching on the best way to present equitable and respectful well being companies for folks with disabilities. “Hopefully, the way they look at people with disabilities will change. It’s necessary to see the person, not the disability,” she stated, including communication with folks with disabilities was essential. 

“Step by step, society will include people with disabilities. My dream is to make all delivery rooms accessible to disabled women… [and] have medical staff both skilled and kind. When the delivery room will be available for disabled women, I would say that I have reached my goal.”

A model of this story first appeared within the WHO Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities.