Relational, Ableist and Gendered Sites of Violence : Perspectives of Tanzanian Girls With Disabilities on Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

Abstract

Adolescent girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health services is a critical development issue in Tanzania where the intersection of disability and adolescence is compounded by barriers to sexual and reproductive health service access and socially normalised gender-based violence. Using the method of empathy-based stories, I explored the perceptions of 136 Tanzanian adolescent girls with disabilities of how gender-based violence and access to sexual and reproductive health services are intertwined. The findings demonstrate that the intersection of disability and adolescence within sexual and reproductive health services render invisible various forms of violence, which are not only gendered but also ableist. Recognising access to sexual and reproductive health services as a distinct site of violence and addressing the issue in relevant policies and programmes could strengthen the sexual and reproductive health of girls with disabilities. Through an Afrocentric perspective, the findings contribute to the current theoretical constructs used to study disability and development. They call for a reconsideration of relational dynamics in the context of accessible and protected sexual and reproductive health services.