Afghanistan: Better Access to Schools for Disabled Girls and Boys

KABUL, Afghanistan � It�s one thing to be disabled and face the kind of discrimination typical for anyone with a disability here. It�s another to be disabled girl and go to school in one of the most conservative Islamic countries in the world.

The last thing you need is to face physical barriers as well, particularly in a wheelchair.

That�s one of the reason Clear Path works closely with the Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled, a domestic charity that builds wheelchair ramps and provides other advocacy services for persons with disabilities in Afghanistan.

Since CPI began as a subcontractor of the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International, it has funded the construction of 25 wheelchair ramps at 13 schools around Kabul, including several schools for girls.

It has also paid for the training of 40 teachers and principals in the rights of persons with disabilities and the creation of fully accessible computer train g room for the disabled.

The School Accessibility Initiative was conducted in accordance with The Government of Afghanistan�s Victim Assistance Plan of Action, known as the Kabul Report, to render at least ten percent of existing schools per year physically accessible to children with disabilities.

More than 640,000 Afghan are considered severely disabled with wheelchairs as the only means of physical mobility. To have any chance at securing meaningful employment in Afghanistan, children using wheelchairs need access to an education and means they need to be able to get into the building and the restrooms.

At Ariana, a Kabul high school for girls where CPI funded one of its first ramps for WRA, more than 80 girls with disabilities use wheelchairs and now have barrier-free access to the buildings thanks to the AOAD project.