The U.S. Gender and Disability Justice Alliance,Women Enabled International (WEI), Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network,and the Autistic People of Color Fund, appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the Human Rights Committee’s consideration of the U.S.’s periodic report to the Committee.
Women and girls with disabilities account for approximately 16% of all women in the U.S., and although gender identity is not yet included in the U.S. Census, an analysis of the CDC’s 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System determined that 36 percent of LGBTQIA+ adults—including 52 percent of transgender adults—self-identify as having a disability.
Women and gender diverse people with disabilities in the U.S. encounter many barriers to fully exercising their civil and political rights, due to discrimination based on gender identity and disability, as well as other factors such as race and systems of power and oppression. These rights violations persist, despite international and domestic law designed to ensure the rights of women and gender diverse people with disabilities in the U.S.
This submission will provide an overview of some of the human rights violations under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as they relate to women and gender diverse people with disabilities in the domains of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender affirming care health care, freedom of expression, and political participation.
We’re excited to share our new storytelling project on Medium, highlighting the experiences of women and gender-diverse people with disabilities as they navigate sexual and reproductive healthcare and/or gender-affirming care. Through first-person narratives, this series amplifies voices that are too often unheard—revealing both the barriers faced and the resilience shown in pursuit of vital health […]
Read More »
This shadow report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) examines the intersecting impacts of racial discrimination, gender bias, and disability on women, girls, non-binary people, and gender minorities from marginalized racial groups in the United States.
Read More »
This article by Makahla Jackson and Dr. Ashley Volion honors the late disability-rights trailblazer Judy Heumann—often called the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement”—and traces how her bold, partnership-driven leadership continues to inspire today’s advocates. It outlines Judy’s early fight for school access, her ethos of “Nothing About Us Without Us” forged at Camp Jened, […]
Read More »
This article by Kayla Rodríguez and Oluwatobi Odugunwa explores two intertwined crises for disabled people in the United States: the erosion of reproductive rights following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the chronic underfunding of Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). Drawing on their own experiences—Kayla’s heightened health risks from PCOS and Georgia’s near-total abortion […]
Read More »Support the work of the US Alliance and global efforts to advance the rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse people with disabilities.
The U.S. Gender and Disability Justice Alliance, an initiative of Women Enabled International, is a disability justice-oriented collective convening women and gender-diverse people with disabilities from across the United States together to take action on issues important to our community.
The Alliance is sponsored by Women Enabled International and is especially grateful for the generoisty of the New York Women’s Foundation and the PRBB Foundation.
Copyright © 2026 United States Gender & Disability Justice Alliance. All Rights Reserved.