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.
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