By: Zaenal Abidin
The disability rights empowerment training initiated by the Fahmina Foundation was held for the third time on Friday, July 4, 2025. In this final session, the discussion focused on two important themes: comprehensively understanding the causes of disability and strategies for empowering persons with disabilities in families and communities.
Led by Komala Dewi, this forum featured Nurul Saadah from SAPDA (Advocacy Center for Women, Persons with Disabilities, and Children) as the main speaker, and was attended by female religious leaders, interns, and social activists.
Komala opened with a reflection on the previous two sessions, which had discussed the definition of disability, the life cycle of persons with disabilities, and the construction of gender and sexuality.
“Now we are entering a more practical realm—how to understand the root causes of disability and empower them in a real way,” she said.
In the initial session, participants raised various questions about the causes of disability. Halimah, for example, questioned whether stunting and packaged foods had an effect on the birth of children with disabilities. Kang Toah from Cirebon shared his experience of caring for his younger sibling with Down syndrome and questioned whether marriage between relatives contributed to this condition.
In response, Nurul Saadah explained in detail that the causes of disability are very diverse, ranging from genetic factors, malnutrition during pregnancy, consumption of certain drugs, to trauma caused by natural disasters and work accidents.
“I myself have a disability due to the polio virus. But many of my friends in Yogyakarta lost their bodily functions due to an earthquake. So, the causes can be very complex,” she explained.
She also emphasized the importance of education regarding healthy pregnancy, where attention must be paid to the nutrients that can be absorbed by the fetus each semester. “The first three months are the period of fetal brain formation. If during that time the mother experiences severe illness, consumes certain medications, or is malnourished, it can affect brain development, hearing, and motor skills,” said Nurul.
Interestingly, the discussion wasn’t limited to medical topics. Nurul addressed the stigma that still exists in society, such as the belief that disability is a curse or the result of sinful actions.
“Such beliefs must be stopped. We need to approach this with empathy and scientific knowledge,” she emphasized.
In addition to the causes, the training also discussed approaches to empowering people with disabilities. Nurul explained that although the government has set a quota of 1% of the workforce for people with disabilities, its implementation is still hampered by access to information, limited soft and hard skills, and a lack of proper accommodation.
Participants such as Nadiya from Yogyakarta shared their desire to assist disabled students in better understanding religion. “I want to help them learn Islam in an appropriate way. I believe they have the enthusiasm and ability, it’s just that we have to learn how to assist them,” she said.
Komala Dewi emphasized that empowering people with disabilities cannot be done in just one or two meetings. “This issue is multidimensional. We need to continuously learn to understand their needs as a whole,” she said. She also conveyed the importance of the role of the community, Islamic boarding schools, and families in supporting people with disabilities to be more independent and empowered.
At the end of the session, Nurul reminded everyone that disability is not always visible on the surface. There are psychosocial disabilities that arise from trauma and mental stress.
“That’s why we don’t just need facilities, but also perspective. Because what is most debilitating is not the disability itself, but a society that is not yet ready to accompany them,” she said.
This training emphasized that building an inclusive society is not just a matter of regulations or employment quotas. It requires collective awareness, scientific knowledge, and genuine concern from all elements of society—especially families, educational institutions, and religious communities.
The Fahmina Foundation, together with SAPDA, is creating critical and reflective learning spaces, bridging knowledge, real-world experience, and values of social justice for an equitable future for all, including people with disabilities. []
