Overcoming the barriers

This is the story of a courageous Arab woman who refuses to allow her blindness to prevent her from being a fully contributing member of society.

By RUTH EGLASH
Hana Shalata 521 (photo credit: Courtesy )
Hana Shalata 521
(photo credit: Courtesy )
According to Hana Shalata, a 31-year-old resident of Sakhnin who suffers from blindness caused by optic atrophy, Arab women with disabilities should never give up their efforts to become fully contributing members of society.
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Shalata’s own story is inspiring. Born blind, the young woman overcame almost every barrier in her path and in recent years has fulfilled her personal ambition to help other women with disabilities by managing the Center for Independent Living, a JDC-supported community empowerment project in her town.
“I have to help these young women to get up and fight,” says the charismatic Shalata, who in addition to being gainfully employed has also completed two academic degrees – a bachelor of arts from the University of Haifa and a second degree in social work from Bar-Ilan University.
“All people with disabilities face barriers, but most of them we can deal with,” she says matter-offactly.
Although clearly a positive and determined character, Shalata adds that the biggest barrier facing Arab women with disabilities is the one imposed by their society.
“I never felt that I was not able to do something,” she philosophizes. “I learned how to study, went to university, made my own friends and went out for fun. The main barriers that were the hardest to overcome were those forced on us by our own society.”
She cites finding work as one good example.
“There were moments when I felt like giving up,” recalls Shalata. “But I could not allow myself to do it. Even when I was at the end and there was nothing, it made me even more determined to move forward.”
She continues: “My whole life is filled with challenges but there is nothing I can do about it, I cannot hide from my disabilities or from the challenges around me. I have no choice but to confront them.”
While Shalata is confident that she can help other disabled women become productive members of society too, she falters when asked about the taboo of these women finding husbands or starting their own families.
“This is a subject that I always knew would be impossible. Women with disabilities in Arab society cannot find a husband,” she states resignedly. “A boyfriend maybe but it will never amount to anything because after a few years his family will make him break off the relations with the woman.”
“The role of the woman is to clean the house and take care of the children; how can a blind woman or a woman in a wheelchair take care of these things?” she asks sarcastically.
Talking about her own personal experience, Shalata adds: “I had a boyfriend for a few years and even though his father loved me and welcomed me into their home, he never thought I could be his son’s wife. How would I be able to keep his son’s house clean and raise his son’s children?” After a short pause, Shalata says she has come to accept her fate.
“It does not make my life any more difficult [not having a family]. I have a disability and I have to accept the outcome of that,” she says, adding, “I would prefer to stay single than be forced to marry a man I do not love or who is not normal just because I am blind.”
“I have accepted that this is a fact of my life. I am working to change many things, but how many things in society can you realistically change?” she concludes.