Championing Disability Rights in South Sudan

For Patricia Laduma Egan, becoming an advocate for persons with disabilities in South Sudan was seen more as an opportunity to elevate the voices of those frequently marginalised. In sharing her story, she hopes it will serve as an opportunity to spark a deeper conversation about the rights of persons with disability; to share that, in her words: “disability is not inability.”

Patricia, like our other beneficiaries within our Transitional Justice project where we are partnered with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has been supported with training on truth, reconciliation and healing, community sensitisation and awareness; as well as conflict-resolution. Through the organization Women with Impairments Organisation in Torit, Eastern Equatoria, where she sits as Executive Director, she seeks to raise awareness about inclusive rights for all persons with disabilities; to increase their participation in society

“Rights of persons with disabilities are very important and that encouraged me very much. I am one of the women with a disability, specifically with an impairment on my legs; but disability is not inability.”

Through valuable contributions within our radio talk shows, where Patricia has been particularly vocal on the topic of seeking inclusive rights engagement for persons with disabilities, is a timely discussion and one which needs to be continually addressed.

Patricia went on to say:

“I need to share with you my story. That I was married to an able husband who abandoned me, leaving me with three children from 2008. But as an educated person, I was able to raise my children and now my eldest children are in secondary school and my youngest is in primary school. The father of my children after failing to succeed in life tried to find a way to come back to me, but it became very difficult for him because he knew what he did.”

It is through projects such as WART’s Transitional Justice project, with the support of our partners UNMISS and UNDP and with the assistance from community members, that we can sensitize the public to know that these rights, as stated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, protect such people who live with a disability, in South Sudan and within the wider global society.