Twenty models with disabilities have taken to the catwalk in Ivory Coast in a groundbreaking assault on taboo and stigma.
Decked out in a red suit, traditional Sahelian boubou robes, multicolored African bogolan prints and a blue tunic with printed motifs, the models showed off the latest creations of Abidjan designers in an event dubbed “Strong and Beautiful Together.”
Grace Beho had her right forearm amputated after a road accident. Six months ago, she created the Mougnan Foundation, an organization set up to improve the quality of life for disabled Ivorian women. Its name means “moving forward despite difficulties” in the Guere language of western Ivory Coast.
Photo: AFP
“I think that the women who are going to be watching us and who do not yet have confidence in themselves ... are going to assert themselves and show themselves to the world as they are,” she said as she stepped off the stage.
Leslie Antsere, who has neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease which can cause disfiguring tumors, said she was delighted to take part in an event that had stopped her from “feeling ashamed.”
The MC at the fashion show, Nelly Aka, was sporting high heels despite a foot disability.
“Even in a situation of disability, we can go beyond ourselves and do many things,” she said.
“Overcoming disability is about accepting yourself — the way people look at you and criticize you will not affect who you are,” she said.
A model called Sylvia, dressed in a green-and-white dress, opened the show, coming down the catwalk on crutches by the side of a swimming pool in front of an enthusiastic audience in a hotel in the Ivorian economic capital.
The event was on Friday last week — the UN’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Officially, Ivory Coast has 453,000 people who are disabled in some way, 2 percent of the population. For them such an event is unheard of.
“Even mentioning a disabled person in the world of beauty is taboo in Ivory Coast,” said Ange Prisca Gnagbo, one of organizers of the event.
“They are sidelined in all the beauty shows,” she added.
Such practices are entrenched in Ivory Coast, where disabilities are often viewed — as elsewhere in Africa — as an affliction.
“Many disabled women are very vulnerable, rejected and marginalized, so they hide away for fear of being judged,” sociologist Yves Ouya said.
For Abdoudramane Coulibaly, a consultant at the WHO and head of a disability non-governmental organization, the issue also faces a lack of political will.
“Let’s suggest to able-bodied people that they walk with crutches for a day — [that way] we will be [able to] gain more understanding than with big speeches,” he said.
“My dream is that in the coming decades, I will see a handicapped person making a name for himself or herself in areas where the doors have been closed,” Beho said.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
ANTI-SEMITISM: Some newsletters promote hateful ideas such as white supremacy and Holocaust denial, with one describing Adolf Hitler as ‘one of the greatest men of all time’ The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, a Guardian investigation has found. The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10 percent of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform. Among them are newsletters that openly promote racist ideology. One, called NatSocToday, which has 2,800 subscribers, charges US$80 for an annual subscription, although most of its posts are available
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
Venezuelan Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado yesterday said that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later yesterday that former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and was to be put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process,” the office said in a statement. The conditions of Guanipa’s release have yet to be made public. Machado claimed that
RSS