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This manual is based on Mobility International USA (MIUSA)’s unique model of international leadership training, the Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD). WILD began in 1997 is an outcome of the Beijing UN Women’s Conference and is held in Eugene, Oregon, USA. The WILD program offers an effective model for empowering women with disabilities to be leaders across the globe.
Despite the pouring rain, women from all over Homa County in Western Kenya gathered in a classroom at the local college. The women came alone, or maybe with an aide, a guide or interpreter; some had a wheelchair, others crutches, but all came with a singular purpose — to learn about how to end gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities.
True to its name, the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) had predicted wisely when it counted Yulia Simonova among its "future leaders" in 2001. Although over a decade has passed since Yulia spent a year in the U.S. as a high school exchange student, she claims that the experiences that shaped her there continue to serve her in her current role as a disability rights leader and founder of non-profit organization Perspektiva in Russia. Yulia, who has a physical disability and uses a wheelchair, created this video to describe how.