Growing From African Tradition to Nothing About Us Without Us to Disability Justice
It has been written over and over again the following when it comes to disability in African tradition:
Traditional beliefs about the causes of disability remain prevalent across sub-Saharan Africa.
One set of explanations is linked to traditional animism. This carries beliefs that disabilities are punishments for bad deeds, or the result of witchcraft. Christian fatalism holds that disability is God’s will.
However, in recent times South Africa led by people with disabilities came up with an activist’s slogan that took over the world and that was/is the concept, Nothing About Us Without Us.
From James Carlton’s 1998 book, Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment relates that he first heard the term used in talks by South African disability activists Michael Masutha and William Rowland, who had in turn heard the phrase used by an unnamed East European activist at an earlier international disability rights conference.
Many Black scholars say everything started in Africa so with that can we say that the perception of people with disabilities started in Africa? Not all African traditions towards disabilities in all African countries had the same belief as the one above across sub-Saharan Africa. We can look at the story of Moses who was born in northeast Africa and who had a speech disability. God’s response to Moses after the third time he points out his disability is perhaps even more surprising:
God promises Moses, “See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh, with your brother Aaron as your prophet” (Exod. 7:1).
So we can see that African tradition has mixed views around disabilities. As we know humans evolved throughout time like before disability rights movements to disability studies to new movements of today like Disability Justice and Krip-Hop Nation that both have reached many African countries.
Today, two American Disability movements and their art and philosophies, Disability Justice and Krip-Hop Nation has been making its way into African disability perspective like books like, An African Path to Disability Justice: Community, Relationships and Obligations of 2020 by Oche Onazi and Krip-Hop chapters in Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Leroy Moore hopes that the politics and new terminology like Afro-Krip can be one of a foundation to help expand Pan-Africanism from a disability and radical perspective.
Just learned about Former Bulawayo mayor and disability rights champion Joshua Malinga who helped start Pan African Federation of the Disabled (PAFOD) in Zimbabwe, Africa. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2023. Still doing research on him and his work.
By Leroy F. Moore
11/24/24