HIV/AIDS: People with disabilities cry foul
CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer
| Friday December 5, 2008 00:00
This was revealed by the public relations Officer of the Botswana Council of People with Disabilities (BCD), Agisanyang Pitsane in an interview with Mmegi after AIDS Day commemoration held on Monday.
She explained that the belief in some quarters that people with disabilities are not sexually active is sending the wrong message as they are denied their rights in accessing the information they need. 'It has gone to point where if you are blind like me and you go to a clinic to ask for condoms they ask you why you need them as you should not be engaging in sexual activities. It becomes even worse if you get pregnant and it will be like you have done an unspeakable thing,' she said.
Pitsane explained that they are met with much hostility from health workers especially when they are pregnant. 'When approached for information they say things like 'why should you be engaging in sex when you know you are disabled?'' she said, explaining that things like this make it difficult for them to learn more about HIV or to even to socialise with other people in places where more information could be shared. 'Women with disabilities are sometimes sterilized without their consent because the health workers think that they are creating unnecessary burdens for their families,' she said.
However, Pitsane stated that the caravans that have been mounted in government clinics to offer services on HIV/AIDS are not user friendly to people with disabilities. She explained that for those in wheelchairs it is impossible to enter them, while there are no interpreters for those with hearing impairment and visually impaired are refused laser tests. 'When you go there to test for HIV they ask why you think you could have contracted the virus as you are not supposed to be engaging in sex. They forget that we are just as human,' she said.
She pointed out that if government's effort is to fight the scourge for all citizens, the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) and all lawmakers must include people with disabilities in their campaigns and workshop in order to sensitize them too. 'It is however important for people with disabilities to be given a chance to represent themselves in those workshops as they can talk about their personal experiences rather than taking someone who is not disabled to talk on our behalf,' Pitsane said.