This pilot study conducted with Disability Research and Capacity
Development in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, found that women with disabilities
(WWD) reported significant experiences with abuse and harassment. Analysis of
these findings revealed that the abuse and harassment of WWD is directly
connected to the complex roles that gender and disability hold within Vietnamese
society. Vietnam is a patriarchal society and WWD experienced abuse and
harassment due to their roles as women; their expressions of gender and
sexuality in connection with disability; and their desire for participation in
processes such as sex, intimacy, and childbearing. Additionally, disabled bodies
in Vietnam are associated with traumatic events from the past such as war,
conflict, famine, and civil unrest. They are imagined as hauntings and are seen
as disruptive to the state-sanctioned agenda of building a productive, healthy,
and beautiful nation. Promoting WWD’s rights, protections, and equality within
Vietnam is dependent on establishing a better understanding of disability as a
human condition and removing it from the realm of social evils and the
supernatural.