Sexual and reproductive health.The rights of the intellectually challenged
The clouds had gathered and it was so evident mother earth was about to receive a deep immersion of the blessings of God, with rainfall as the medium. I heard a ruffled movement from the room next door.
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I decided to ignore it, thinking probably the occupant of the room was trying to avoid the risk of having his belongings drenched. But the sound came again and this time it was muffled. I didn’t feel right about not going to find out what was wrong. I went close to the crack to peak and I saw the occupant of the room, Mr Nimo, about to force himself on Adwoa, the daughter of one of our neighbours.
It struck me! What on earth was about to happen? I quickly screamed and got the attention of other neighbours. We managed to get into the room. The neighbours accosted him and sent him to the police station while I consoled Adwoa. I can best describe this day as the saddest day of my life, not because Adwoa was the daughter of my best friend or that she was just 17 years old, but because she has Down’s syndrome and was nearly violated.
At that moment, I just couldn’t bring myself to understand why someone would decide to defile a young girl, let alone someone who was intellectually challenged. Mr Nimo was sent to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service. In his statement, he said the reason for his action was the fact that he had been diagnosed with a chronic disease and according to his friend’s advice, he had to sleep with someone like Adwoa in order to get cured. However, Adwoa’s mother quickly withdrew the case, citing her inability to follow through as her reason, especially because she stood a double risk of being stigmatised should anyone else besides those of us in the compound get to know of the incident as well as its attendant discrimination. Mr Nimo, therefore, became a free man.
After Mr Nimo’s release, it then dawned on me that Adwoa was just one of the numerous intellectually challenged children who ended up sexually abused because they were unable to properly communicate their emotions to others and have their abusers walk freely on the streets.
Persons who are intellectually challenged are at a very high risk of being abused and molested, especially in areas where “virgin-rape” is thought to cure diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Also, because, intellectuallyy challenged persons often have some difficulty in airing their views or are utterly unaware of what goes on around them, they end up being abused. However, I believe these abuses are not entirely the fault of the abusers. The victims of abuse would be able to stand up for themselves if they were aware of their sexual and reproductive rights. It’s high time we stopped pretending that these ones are not sexually active, especially since there are no statistics to back our assumptions.
Speaking about the reproductive and sexual rights of Adwoa has reminded me of something that occurred in my village some five years ago. A girl with Down’s syndrome was offered to the village medicine man for marriage. She was young and beautiful, yet it was evident she had not been consulted before her marriage rights were performed. The excuse her mother gave was that “she had better been given off to this man or she would never get married. “No one wants this in their family,” she said, pointing to her daughter. I felt very surprised and deep down I asked myself this question: Does her condition mean she doesn’t have emotions and thus cannot fall in love? Other questions remained in my thoughts. Five years down the line, I visited my village and this lady has four children already! Now, the question is: “Was she given the opportunity to decide the number of children she wanted to give birth to?” Clearly, her right to reproductive and sexual health has been curtailed and this is a practice we must abhor as a society.
Let us bear in mind that intellectually challenged persons have the right to education on their sexuality and without coercion, choose who to marry. They also have the right to choose the number of children they wish to have and when they desire to have them. Their condition should not be used as a standard to put them at a disadvantage.
