Feminists with disabilities speak about living with physical and social barriers身为残障女性，她们面对的挑战尤为巨大；听这三位讲述者分享她们的生活和抗争
When 23-year-old Fang Yangyang lost her short life to starvation, abuse, and torture for allegedly being infertile, the perpetrators—her husband and in-laws—were sentenced to just two to three years in prison with probation by their municipal court in Shandong province.Born with slight intellectual impairments that made it “extra difficult” for her to find a husband in rural Shandong, Fang had married Zhang Bing, a man from a neighboring village 11 years her senior, in an arranged marriage in 2016. Her story echoed that of her mother, an “intellectually troubled” woman whom Fang’s uncle picked up at a train station and brought home as a bride for Fang’s father—likely a victim of trafficking.Sexual, physical, and emotional violence are a reality for disabled women in China, who often lack economic autonomy, self-defense ability, and awareness of danger. Women and girls with disabilities face greater danger of domestic violence and have lower access to sexual and reproductive health services, with girls living with multiple disabilities being the most vulnerable, according to a national-level analysis of China in 2019 by both the UN’s Population Fund and Handicap International.China has made some progress in disability inclusion planning and services, but disabled women, amounting to 48 percent of China’s 100 million people with disabilities, remain at the bottom of lawmakers’ priorities. There are currently no national laws dedicated to women with disabilities, or specific protocols to the dangers confronting them, such as being confined, trafficked, and abused.The neglect from government departments responsible for women and the disabled creates a double burden borne by disabled women due to both their gender and disability. They also create a vacuum of accountability, when the unique needs of women with disabilities are both overlooked by the “women’s matters” agenda and de-prioritized from disability issues.
Peng Yujiao (second from left) being filmed for a video themed around art and disability at the Today Art Museum in Beijing.
In society, women with disabilities are also sexualized in the name of security. Whereas disabled men are encouraged to “go out” and break barriers, disabled women are expected to stay at home, as “the outside world is too dangerous for them,” says Ma Wei, former project officer at One Plus One Disability Group (OPO), China’s biggest non-profit organization for disabilities. Marriage and child-rearing are promoted as the highest aspirations for disabled girls, who are often told by their families that they have less to bring to a marriage than an able-bodied woman.The reproductive expectations sometimes go too far, like in the case of Fang’s mother—by no means an isolated incident of abduction, trafficking, and rape of a disabled woman. Paradoxically, disabled women are also asexualized, experiencing a general lack of sex education in both family and school settings, and are consequently at greater risk of sexual exploitation.The lived experiences of being female and disabled deserve to be heard, especially from the disabled women themselves. Xiao Jia, Tong Can, and Peng Yujiao, three young women with disabilities working toward disability inclusion in China, spoke to TWOC about their “everyday” experiences and work toward inclusion in the world of gendered disability in China.Peng Yujiao: I am first of all a feminist
“If I manage to awaken these women’s sense of their rights, would they draw further back when they realize they cannot exercise those rights?”
Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at an early age, Peng Yujiao has worked for eight years in the disability sector and co-founded the Beijing Enable Sister Center (BEST), the first feminist disability organization in China. She considers herself “first of all a feminist.”Peng’s engagement in women’s rights activism dates back to her university years, when she was exposed to a broad range of feminist events. At the same time, she discovered the absence of disability voices in such activist circles. To address the gap, Peng first took part in starting a clandestine feminist book club at university for disabled women. Several members would regularly gather to read feminist literature, and question mainstream ideas of gender and disability...“Enabling the Movement” is a story from our latest magazine issue,“Dawn of the Debt.” To read the full story, press and hold the QR codes below!
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