Self-Advocacy for Women & Teens with Disabilities

Preparing Girls with Disabilities for Life's Challenges through Self-Advocacy & Empowerment

In August, we wrapped up our first ever Self-Advocacy & Empowerment workshop for girls in our afterschool program at the Enoch school in Tel Aviv. We will continue to fundraise for ongoing sessions of this groundbreaking and important project.

WE designed the pilot interactive workshop to give the girls the necessary tools to understand harmful, abusive, violent or exploitative situations and relationships. In addition, by providing real-world information as well as deconstructing the socialization process that creates stereotypical perceptions of females and disabilities, the aim was to empower them to reject society’s norms and instead, believe in themselves.

Topics covered over the 14 weekly sessions included body health, hygiene and sexuality, as well as self-awareness and confidence through debunking beauty ideals and gender socialization. Most critical, since girls and women with disabilities experience ten times the rate of sexual exploitation, violence, and psychological abuse than those without disabilities (half before the age of 15), the workshop focused consent, abuse and how to recognize, avoid, and seek help against exploitation.

The 13 participants ranged in age from 12 to 21 and live with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, epilepsy, mild developmental disabilities, and cerebral abscesses.

According to one of the two workshop facilitators, the course worked by creating a safe, pleasant and enabling space where we started out with a routine of asking each girl to speak about something they went through during the week. “The girls seemed excited each week to speak and listen to each other and adorably share their story about something that happened in their life.”

Segev reported that the girls took to heart, core workshop messages such as “my body is mine only and it is in my possession alone” and "being beautiful means being yourself. You don't need others to accept you. You have to accept yourself."

When discussing “my support circles” – the friends and family they can turn to share their problems including possible abuse, the girls brought in pictures of the people who are important to them and explained why. One girl brought in a picture of all the other girls in the group, which led to a discussion on how the girls in the group were together a support circle for each other and information shared in the workshop was theirs alone.

The last meeting was festive and exciting event – a ceremony and party, where the girls received framed certificates and a gift of a wire bound journal, marking their successful course completion. There was a photomontage set to music, showing the girls in their activities. Each girl had a parent there and managers from Chimes Israel’s executive offices attended. The two facilitators called each girl to the front of the room by name, she was cheered on her peers, and photographed accepting her award from the facilitators. One workshop participant’s mother stood up and spoke extemporaneously about how the workshop has given the girls tools to cope with challenges such as entering adulthood, alleviating anxieties, and moving through life in our society.

The other of the two facilitators, spoke at the ceremony to the girls themselves: “The whole workshop was constructively designed with a lot of thought, but very quickly we realized that you are the ones writing the rhythm. When you felt close and safe enough, you allowed us to get to know your deepest inner world. Thank you, for giving us trust and for teaching us so much about sensitivity, kindness, friendship, and especially how much love you have. Thank you for the meaningful moments, putting your trust in us, and giving us the privilege to go through this amazing journey with you!”

Thanks to a generous donation from the L'Oréal Fund for Women and an anonymous UK foundation, we have launched three workshops, two for women with disabilities in our work programs and one pilot workshop for girls/teens at our afterschool programs in Israel.  L'Oréal Fund for Women funded our pilot for women last year, and the two women's workshops are going well as expected, based on last year's pilot.

The pilot for the girls/young women is currently on week 11 of 15. The program operates through facilitated groups that meet weekly to discuss topics including gender and socialization; It is going very well, with the girls opening up and talking. More than one of them have expressed gratitude for many of the sessions.

The participants are approximately 10 girls/young women, ages 11 to 21, who attend the Chimes Israel after school program for youth with disabilities at the Enoch School (Tel Aviv). They are living with disabilities such as developmental delays, autism, genetic diseases and syndromes, and physical challenges. Some have additional characteristics such as attention and concentration difficulties, challenging behavior, and more.

The subjects being covered are the lie of beauty ideals; bullying and clique behavior; cyber safety; self-awareness; body image; health and hygiene; sexuality; support circles; happiness; friendships, love and consent; and recognizing, avoiding and seeking help against abuse.

To overcome the challenge of imparting this difficult and complicated subject matter to youth with cognitive disabilities, our presenters are professionals with experience and training in working with this population. The project’s director is a senior professional in our organization who is a social worker with a specialty and background in women’s and disability issues. The project manager is a social worker who observes the sessions and regularly meets with the facilitators for guidance oversee the project. Leading each group are facilitators with experience in both counseling on the subject matter and working with youth with disabilities. The facilitators have received training on the program content, are following its curriculum, and meet weekly with the director for guidance. 

We have designed the curriculum and activities for easy assimilation by using strategies such interactive hands-on activities with anatomical models, yoga, flash cards, photos, games, and movies. We use short and simple words and repeat information. We present important information on cards in plain symbols and drawings. We keep sessions short and frequently repeat concepts using interactive activities and visual tools. Examples are relevant to real-life circumstances. All appropriate teaching styles are used and our facilitators present information in a warm, kind, sympathetic and friendly manner.

The strength of this project is the approach: to provide knowledge, then entrust them to make their own choices. The first, foremost and only goals are empowerment and self-advocacy, because we believe people with disabilities must have agency over their own lives.

We closely collaborate with the local municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo on this program through the Enoch school as well as the public-appointed social workers, who manage each participant’s case. Each social worker works with us to understand each girl's needs in this area, given their personal history and abilities.