REDI (Red por los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad)

To strengthen the work for the rights of persons with disabilities (general), and sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities (particular).

Through the expansion and improvement of the App, Nuestra Decisión (Our Decision) and the web platform www.genero.redi.org.ar. The Our Decision app is a free download mobile application. It is the first digital tool of its kind in Latin America to be developed with a gender and disability perspective. Although it is aimed at all people, it is specially designed so that women with disabilities feel included and can benefit from it.

The application contains information on sexual and reproductive rights in simple and accessible language. This work was carried out with financing from the United Nations Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence against Women, which allowed us to generate both platforms as a content base. To sustain its continuity and the expansion of its functions and materials, guaranteeing better accessibility conditions, this Prize will be essential in this regard.

At the same time, we will implement and maintain a massive campaign to raise awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities, and about sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities in particular, in areas like autonomy, employment, etc.

My name is Andrea Grassia, I am a journalist and I work at the legislature of the City of Buenos Aires. I am a person with visual disabilities and I have been part of REDI since 2015. My purpose in the organization is to collaborate with the implementation of projects that contribute to generating greater conditions for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all areas. Taking into account my professional experience, my strength is focused on the development of materials and communication campaigns that allow both the elimination of stereotypes towards persons with disabilities and the dissemination within the collective of their rights in a simple language that takes into account all available accessibility features. In this sense, my goals for the future are based on collaborative work to build a more inclusive world.

The main problem that affects persons with disabilities in our country is their lack of inclusion in various areas. On the one hand, it is because of the lack of accessible information about their rights and the laws that protect them. In addition, there are multiple prejudices around people with disabilities that prevent their full autonomy and equal access to education, a quality employment, and an adequate standard of living like any other person. This situation is even more unequal for women with disabilities, considering the lack f knowledge about their sexual and reproductive rights and the different types of violence they are used to live with.
Currently more than 5 million persons with disabilities live in Argentina, according to the latest national census. 90.6% of this group can read and write, 63.7% finished their studies and only 32.2% have formal employment, according to the INDEC survey about Persons with disabilities profile. 

Despite the fact that 15 years have passed since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was enacted, the medical paradigm of addressing disability is still very strong. For this reason, we work so that the rights of people with disabilities are fulfilled from the social model of disability in all areas to break down barriers and be able to obtain an autonomous life. Although the gender perspective has been part of the public agenda in our country for approximately 5 years, there is still no approach that incorporates the disability perspective. Therefore, our project tries to address issues that are crossed by the gender perspective, such as new masculinities, violence based on gender reasons, etc., from a social perspective of disability. In other words, work in an intersectional way from the perspective of gender and disability.

Because it enables historically postponed rights in groups that are vulnerable, some even by twice (for example, women with disabilities). In addition, throughout these more than 20 years, we have generated alliances with other human rights organizations, such as feminist organizations, so that our claims are more visible and join other struggles. This made us a leading organization for other social movements, and even for government agencies.