Our Bodies, Our Rights! Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender-based Violence for Women and Young People with Disabilities

"As people with disabilities, we often receive negative messages and are excluded from conversations about relationships, having children, and sexuality."



These curriculum guides and accompanying presentations have been developed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Women Enabled International (WEI) to support workshops that address sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) for people with disabilities. Developed for both in-person and virtual workshops, the curricula are designed to make the concepts of SRHR and GBV tangible and accessible to women and young persons with disabilities to build participants' confidence to conduct advocacy in these areas. The documents are intended for facilitators with disabilities who will be teaching the workshop to their peers with disabilities.



In particular, the curricula are intended for foundational training workshops for organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) to support members to understand and become champions of accessible and inclusive SRHR and GBV services. It is designed to introduce people with disabilities to key SRHR and GBV topics, language, and concepts but does not go into detail on any one topic.



The specific objectives of the curriculum are to:

• Break down the concept of "rights" and make it relatable to participants' lives.
• Explain and reinforce the rights-based model of disability throughout the workshop.
• Strengthen participants' understanding of SRHR and GBV.
• Create opportunities for participants to connect to one another and build enough trust as a group that they can surface vulnerable issues and questions.
• Create enough safety throughout the workshop that participants feel free to ask questions that help them make meaning of the content in the context of their lives.

The two curriculum documents contain guidance on how facilitators should go about implementing the workshop curricula, as well as instructions for each session's content and activities. Accompanying each document is a PowerPoint slide deck. The session content in the two curriculum documents and slide presentations are essentially the same, with the major difference between the two documents lying in the nature of the activities and exercises, which are adapted to either an in-person or a virtual teaching environment.



Following a discussion on the purpose of the workshop and logistical guidance - such as preparing for the workshop, criteria for the selection of trainers and trainees, and technology requirements - the content is divided into the following sessions:

 

• Session 1: Overview, Introduction and the Rights-Based Model of Disability
• Session 2: What Are Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)?
• Session 3: Accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health Services
• Session 4: Gender-Based Violence (GBV): What Is It?
• Session 5: Gender-Based Violence and Disability: Deepening Our Understanding and Access to Services
• Session 6: Q&A with Service Provider and Closing

Click here to download "Our Bodies, Our Rights! Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender-based Violence for Women and Young People with Disabilities: An In-person Workshop Curriculum for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities" [140 pages].



Click here to download "Our Bodies, Our Rights! Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender-based Violence for Women and Young People with Disabilities: Presentation Slides for the In-person Workshop Curriculum for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities" [116 pages].



Click here to download "Our Bodies, Our Rights! Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender-based Violence for Women and Young People with Disabilities: Virtual Workshop Curriculum for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities" [144 pages].



Click here to download "Our Bodies, Our Rights! Addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and Gender-based Violence for Women and Young People with Disabilities: Presentation Slides for the Virtual Workshop Curriculum for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities" [131 pages].