Disability and ethnicity: for the rights of people with disabilities in Amazonia

The movement for the rights of persons with disabilities in Colombia is recent; for less than 20 years, leaders with disabilities have been advocating for their basic rights. However, the movement has focused on urban areas with little or no participation of rural PWDs; and even less participation of indigenous PWDs from the Amazon region.

There is little real information on the quality of life of this population group, including high underreporting of their existence. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 15% of the world's population has a disability, increasing in places with high rates of poverty and ethnic diversity¹. However, according to DANE, in a department with some of the highest poverty rates in the country, in Vaupés there are only 39 PcD for a department of more than 40,000 people.

This lack of information and the indications of a worrisome violation of basic human rights make it necessary to design and carry out collective reflection processes within the communities, analyzing the intersection between being indigenous, belonging to a certain people, clan, gender and having a disability, among other relevant variables. It is necessary to develop processes to map the current situation of this population group.

For this reason, Sinergias has initiated work with local leaders to advance the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities in the Amazon region. Collectively, we seek to strengthen the advocacy capacities of indigenous leaders with disabilities and the creation of a replicable advocacy strategy that allows them to promote the creation of an inclusion model that includes local visions of disability and the recognition of the rights and dignity of people with disabilities.

For a year, with a team that includes people with disabilities, and guided by a driving group of people with disabilities and their families, we worked to:

1. Conduct a baseline mapping, using participatory action research strategies; of the current situation experienced by indigenous PWDs in Vaupés, identifying demographics, barriers they face and community resources.

2. Develop an advocacy plan with accessible, replicable tools and methodologies with a differential approach.

3. Strengthening advocacy capacities at the local level of indigenous leaders with disabilities.

4. Generate support networks at departmental and national level aimed at guaranteeing the rights of the rural and indigenous population in Colombia with disabilities.

In addition, as a result of all the work done in the framework of this process, a toolbox was built for NGOs, institutions, leaderships and indigenous organizations, to include the disability approach in a cross-cutting manner and promote the rights of persons with disabilities in their work.

This toolbox is accessible and has easy-to-read documents. We hope it will be useful!

Consult the toolbox

---

1. ONU Mujeres, International Disability Alliance und Indigenous Peoples with Disabilities Global Network. FACT SHEET Indigene Frauen mit Behinderungen. 2020. Erhältlich unter: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2020/Fact-sheet-on-indigenous-women-with-disabilities-en.pdf