Black people with disabilities demand to be heard at world forums. This statement was delivered at the Second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in New York on 1 June 2023 by Luciana Viegas, Director of Vidas Negras com Deficiência Importam (VNDI), Brazil.
Hello President,
My name is Luciana Viegas, I am an autistic woman and director of Vidas Negras com Deficiência Importam.
On behalf of the Black Disability Movement, I would like to warn that we are deeply concerned about the situation of Black people with disabilities.
The lack of Black people with disabilities at this forum is significant. Because it shows us that there are barriers that prevent my brothers and sisters of African descent with disabilities from being here with me. Accessibility is one of them.
Ableism and racism allow a normalization of oppression and violation of the human rights of people of African descent with disabilities.
On May 6, 2022, a young black man with an intellectual disability Ruan Limão do Nascimento, 27 years old, was shot in the back and killed by military police.
Like Ruan, there are other young people with disabilities who are being tortured and put at risk because there is no debate about double discrimination and how it impacts the lives of black people with disabilities.
The Black Lives with Disabilities Movement is concerned by, understands and reinforces the need for a commitment from the state and the international community to pressure authorities to collect this data so that we can think of policies aimed at protecting people of African descent with disabilities, not only in Brazil but all around the world.
After all, there is no way to think about reparations if you do not include the 10% of the world’s population that has a disability. Where most of them are people of African descent, who do not have access to health, education, justice and have their basic rights violated.
Black people with disabilities exist, fight and resist!
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