39-3 Nothing About Us, Without Us - Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Demand Action

Elsebet Henningson was born in Jutland, Denmark on June 1, 1926, but from birth she was called Pia, Danish for “girl,” because she was the only daughter in a family with three sons. She grew up in Denmark and earned a degree in nutrition before her parents sent her to England at age 21, where she spent her first years working for the woman who had been Winston Churchill’s secretary during World War II. “My English was incredibly faulty,” Pia recollected in a 2005 interview. “And later in life I was so upset that I never really was able to talk to her properly.

It is estimated that over 1 billion people, about 15 percent of the world’s population, have disabilities. No global data exists regarding Indigenous persons with disabilities, however, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates that the number of Indigenous persons with disabilities could be as high as 54 million. Statistics show that Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately likely to experience disability in comparison to the general population, and are likely to face discrimination based on their Indigeneity and disability.

Indigenous Peoples are too often thought of and referred to a homogeneous group, when in reality there are many subgroups and cross-sections within Indigenous communities. The International Funders for Indigenous Peoples’ (IFIP) regional gathering on June 5, hosted at the Boston Foundation, challenged funders to look closer—to focus specifically on Indigenous LGBTQ and Indigenous people with disabilities, and to consider Indigenous traditional knowledge as solutions to climate change.

Ghana is home to a rich diversity of languages and cultures, and a mosaic of community radio stations reflect and celebrate this diversity by broadcasting in dozens of tribal languages. Radio Gurune is one of these stations. Located in the town of Bolgatanga in the Upper East region of Ghana, a 20-hour bus ride from the capital city of Accra, the station’s coverage is estimated to reach 2 million listeners in rural areas and carries just over the border into Burkina Faso.