In this page you will find information made by or with Palestinians with Disabilities:
Trigger warning: this page has descriptions of humanitarian crisis in a war setting that can be upsetting.
Statements and articles by Palestinian advocates and organisations
An urgent call to the International community by the families of Palestinian prisoners of war in Israeli occupation prisons (Arabic and English)
Websites
Webinars
"Voices from Palestine: the lives of people with disabilities under occupation and war" webinar organised by Centre for Lebenese Studies, the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL), Centre and the Cambridge Network for Disability and Education Research (CaNDER) at the University of Cambridge, and Disability Under Siege.
"Dead, Disabled, Displaced, Detained, Orphaned: The Toll of Israel’s War on Palestinian Children" Webinar featuring Miranda Cleland, Defense for Children International-Palestine & Hamdi Shaqqura, Palestinian Center for Human Rights in conversation with 2023 FMEP Fellow Dr. Yara Asi.
Videos
Video of displacement and people moving, including with wheelchairs in Jabalia Camp, shared by Palestinian advocates.
Center for Lebanese Studies: "A testimony from Gaza about the condition of people with disabilities in the Strip, from Shireen, a journalist and disability activist from the Gaza Strip"
Disability Under Siege: "Hiba, a student at the Islamic University of Gaza with a visual and hearing impairment."
Center for Lebanese Studies: "Shaima is a 39-year-old Palestinian woman with partial visual impairment and a special education teacher in the Gaza Strip. Shaima needs eye retina surgery after she completely lost her sight due to the bombing of her house. Shaima shared her story with us on March 1, 2024." (In Arabic, with English subtitles)
Center for Lebanese Studies: "Ghada Zomlot is a person with visual impairment, a journalist, and a community activist in the disability sector. On September 27, 2023, she left Gaza to participate in a regional conference in Tunisia. During her return to Gaza via Egypt, she was forced to stay in Cairo due to the closure of the Rafah border crossing and the inability to reach Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, where her family lives. Ghada shared with us her experience as a woman with disabilities on Monday, February 26, 2024."
Center for Lebanese Studies: "Nesma is a doctor in interpretive sciences. She is 37 years old. She is the coordinator of the Center for Disability and Integration Services and a researcher in international projects. Dr. Nesma shares with us the experience of displacement, the difficulties she faces as a young woman with a visual impairment, and the difficult conditions in light of the genocide of the residents of the Gaza Strip. Dr. Nessma aspires for the war to end so that she can continue her career as a lecturer and researcher in the field of disability in the Arab world."
Center for Lebanese Studies: "Zeina is a Palestinian woman with partial visual impairment, aged 39, residing in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. She lost sight in her left eye at the age of 33 due to a bullet from an Israeli sniper. Zeina holds a professional doctorate in human development and is the executive director of a Palestinian charity organization. On 10 March, Zeina shared her story to highlight the difficult conditions she and her family have been living under since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip."
Center for Lebanese Studies: "Sherin is a 37-year-old woman with visual impairment. She is a media professional and disability rights activist. She shared her experience with us the first time on November 2, 2023, when she talked about the beginning of the forced displacement in the Gaza Strip. Six months later, on March 9, she returned to describe the suffering, the horrors of war, displacement, and genocide faced by the residents of the Gaza Strip."
Center for Lebanese Studies: "The story of Mayssoun, a 35-year-old Palestinian woman with a visual disability, who specializes in physical education. She lost her husband and 30 members of her family. Mayssoun wants us to share her story and her sons with the world, wishing for an end to this war."
Disability Under Siege: "Naheel, a young woman with a motor disability living in the Gaza Strip, told a Palestinian disability activist living in the same area her story of forced displacement which took place on the 18th of October, 2023."
Disability Under Siege: "Shireen is a visually impaired 37 year old woman living in the Gaza Strip. She is a journalist and part of a disability activist group working to expose the disastrous effects of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip which began on October 7, 2023 on all Gaza Palestinians, and especially on people with disability."
Disability Under Siege: "Imad, a visually impaired student from the #disabledvoicesfromgaza project relates his experiences of the war in Gaza."
.
Disability Under Siege: "Hanadi, a true story of a Palestinian young woman with a disability living in Gaza Strip, describing her experience with forced displacement as a woman with visual impairment under the continuous Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. The events and all the details in this story are true, Hanadi experienced it with her family and 3 brothers, who also have multiple disabilities. She shared it with us on October 23, 2023."
The Daily Moth: Deaf Gaza residents struggle to survive Israeli siege and bombing (16/10/2023). You can read the transcript of the interview.
The Daily Moth: Interview with Deaf Palestinian Tayyeb Badwe (13/11/2023). You can read the transcript of the interview.
Some of these testimonies were from the Center for Lebanese Studies and the Disability Under Siege.