Women, Disabilities, Peace and Security: Unlocking the Power of the WILD Women

When I registered last November as an outside delegate for the summer 2025 session of the Women's International Leadership and Disability (WILD) seminar, I was filled with excitement. This session would finally be my first opportunity to take part in this renowned worldwide gathering of women leaders from the disability community, hosted by Mobility International USA (MIUSA) in Eugene, Oregon.  I had long watched and learned from the videos of sessions and rallies from previous gatherings, including the powerful and tuneful "Loud, Proud and Passionate" YouTube video -– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxxomUVsSik. Women from more than 90 countries have helped educate their allies over the years to the reality of global abuse and indifference to their plight through these MIUSA-sponsored videos.  But past participants told me that there was nothing more inspiring than being surrounded by dozens of smart, savvy, and heroic activists themselves.

A New Strategic Vision

The timing seemed perfect.  Since 2021, while serving as a pro bono expert adviser to U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power, I had helped develop a new Agency-wide strategy for promoting disability rights and services, and shifting leadership, power, and agency from foreign donors and NGOs to local disability leaders themselves.  Launched in October 2024, that comprehensive strategy drew in large part on the recommendations of previous WILD sessions, including vital contributions from MIUSA chief executive Susan Sygall and her talented colleagues. The USAID strategy received strong bipartisan support in Washington, at the United Nations, and beyond, with endorsements and funding commitments from across the political and civil society spectrum.  I looked forward to sharing our conclusions with the women at the WILD seminar and getting their suggestions for its implementation. (See the strategy at https:/www.usaid.gov/inclusivedevelopment/disability-policy.)

I was also excited to build new links between women's disability organizations and the NGO that I direct, Mobilizing Allies for Women, Peace, and Security (MAWPS).  Founded in 2017, MAWPS has supported women-led groups in 30 conflict-affected countries to play a meaningful role in peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction and to provide humanitarian and protective services for women and girls impacted by natural disasters and violence.  MAWPS receives generous support from the non-profits, Our Secure Future and Strategy for Humanity.  Recognizing the special challenges facing women with disabilities in these situations, MAWPS has partnered in recent years with groups like Enlightening and Empowering People with Disabilities in Africa (EEPD), Coastal Association for People with Disabilities in Kenya, and MIUSA itself.

A Changed Landscape?

But in the months leading up to the June 2025 start of the WILD program, the script was flipped.  On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump froze all U.S. foreign assistance in line with his "America First" doctrine, pending a review of such programs.  The suspensions included scores of grants and contracts supporting on-going disability programs in schools, health centers, refugee camps, and impoverished communities around the world.  Secretary of State Marco Rubio then rescinded the new USAID Disability Policy and fired staff charged with implementing it.  By the start of the WILD program, USAID had been fully dismantled, 85 percent of its assistance cancelled, and 90 percent of its staff dismissed.  The remaining programs and staff are to be subsumed by the State Department.  Secretary Rubio has yet to elaborate on the long-term fate of the disability strategy, policy, and programs.

Asked to provide opening remarks at the WILD program and to moderate several subsequent panels, I spoke openly about this environment, stressing the uncertainty and challenges ahead. I highlighted both the promise of the world's unprecedented wealth, knowledge, technology and inter-connections, and the risks of growing inequality, greed, conflicts, and religious and ethnic divisions we face.  I noted that despite cuts in U.S. federal funding, a broad array of civil society, foundations, state and local governments, academic institutions, international agencies, and foreign donors are steadfast in support of disability programs that empower local partners. I also acknowledged that as a white, straight, non-disabled American man throughout my career, I have had little personal experience with the stigma faced by others due to marginalized identity factors, and thus need their guidance to serve as an effective ally and advocate.

Still They Persisted

I didn't expect the remarkably upbeat, goal-driven, and activist response my comments received. The participants from Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, and Thailand were well aware of the Trump administration actions, and described the damaging impact of assistance cuts on their organizations and compatriots.  But instead of despair, without exception, the women viewed the situation as just one more of the challenges they had faced and overcome in their life's activist journey.  They had battled the personal impact of blindness, deafness, debilitating diseases and injuries, and the lack of mobility, as well as the social, economic, and political barriers and prejudices in their home countries. Now was no time for immobilizing doubt or pessimism. Their very presence in Eugene, Oregon, those summer days belies the narrative of victimhood that others seek to pin upon them.  

Loud, proud, and passionate indeed, they seized the opportunity to advocate for new partnerships with outside delegates from such organizations as MAWPS, UN Women, the Global Fund for Women, the World Bank, Women for Women International, Oxfam, BRAC, Islamic Relief USA, WEEMA, Women Enabled International, University of Vermont, and several philanthropic foundations.  The WILD women stressed not a charity model, but the clear advantages of drawing on the talents of women with disabilities in building peaceful, prosperous, democratic, just, and inclusive societies. They introduced a rights based approach in which social, judicial, and political systems value and accommodate their empowered participation and leadership. They sought time-bound, measurable results tied to clear goals and outcomes, not just the hollow passage of laws or the symbolic adoption of UN resolutions.  

Going beyond generalities, we discussed the importance of using disaggregated data to measure the differential impact of programs on women with disabilities, the need for broadly accepted parameters for disability impact statements, and the effectiveness of targeted quotas for specific forms of disability.  In all these dialogues, the women demonstrated clearly the advantages of listening to and being guided by local leaders who have lived experience, ground truth, and accountability to their communities. 

New Partnerships for a New Era

MIUSA’s 2025 WILD confab gave outside delegates a renewed inspiration, a jolt of energy, and a roadmap for activism.  I have not heard from other delegates, but as for MAWPS, we also emerged with three new distinguished partners.  Our board has already approved three new unrestricted awards for: (a) a research and training program to address the growing problem of cyber scams and on-line bullying of disabled women in southeast Asia; (b) development of a handbook to guide protection and social services for disabled women displaced by conflict and natural disasters in southern Africa; and (c) assistance programs to address sexual violence against disabled women in the minority Roma community in eastern Europe.

We will also expand our outreach to global actors to secure a seat at the table for women with disabilities in governance and conflict resolution initiatives in their countries, their regions, and  beyond.  The expertise and experience that women with disabilities have gained throughout their struggle for rights and recognition should be applied to the broadest range of national and global concerns.  The long-standing watchwords of the disability community -- "Nothing About Us Without Us" -- should be updated.  From now on, the watchwords  should be: "Nothing Without Us."

Donald Steinberg is Executive Director of Mobilizing Allies for Women, Peace and Security (MAWPS) and formerly served as deputy administrator at USAID under President Obama, special assistant for African affairs to President Clinton, U.S. Ambassador to Angola, President and CEO at World Learning, and as senior advisor for women, peace, and security to the U.N. Secretary General.  Since 2015, he has been living with Parkinson’s disease.

As a guest blog, the views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Our Secure Future or any particular organization.