Experiences of Women with Disabilities (WWDs) in Marriage: Nurturance, Sexuality and Reproduction

Abstract

People with disabilities face many obstacles in their struggle for equality. Although men and women with disabilities are subject to discrimination because of their disabilities, women with disabilities are at a further disadvantage because of the combined discrimination based on gender and discrimination based on disability. This paper examines the lives of women with disabilities and explores the effects of this double discrimination. It demonstrates how women with disabilities have been neglected by the disability field and the feminist movement alike and reviews the existing literature on women with disabilities,. The paper will also examine three major areas of life and how women with disabilities fare within these areas, compared to women without disabilities and men with disabilities. These areas of concern are the sphere of marriage, nurturance, sexuality and reproduction.

Keywords: disability, marriage, sexuality, nurturance, reproduction, gender.