Isatou: My Disability Is Not An Inability

Resilient. Perseverance. Understanding. Independent. Approachable. Empathetic.

As routine, my wake up time is around 7am. I do my morning prayers and reflection/mediation soon after. Thereafter, I spend a couple of hours on the phone talking with my family back home. Most of which is spent on a video call with my almost 2-year-old nephew, Bashir. I then select a coffee shop that I think is ideal for good coffee and conducive for my present projects. Currently, I am working on starting a nonprofit organization aimed at lending assistance to children living with disabilities in the Gambia—to provide feasible avenues towards their education despite their daily challenges. This organization will be registered both in the US and in the Gambia.

The remaining time at the coffee shop is spent job sourcing in the form of looking at vacancies, editing my cover letters and applying for jobs. Cumulatively, I spend 4 to 5 hours on a typical day at coffee shops working on my projects. From there, I return home to have a meal with my roommate. The rest of the day is spent reading a book of choice or watching my favorite television shows. One of my greatest passions is helping others. When I was younger, I faced challenges with physical limitations and I am also a survivor of female genital mutilation(FGM). Thus my personal passion became my professional passion. Over the years I have advocated for the eradication of FGM. My LLM paper is based on the anti-FGM law in the Gambia. I have also had the privilege of working with immigrant communities in WA. Furthermore, I served as a commissioner at the Immigrant and Refugee commission and as a committee member for Harborview Medical Center’s Equity and Diversity Committee. I have volunteered my services at organizations that help vulnerable communities, such as Sexual Violence Legal Services and Northwest Immigrant Rights.

As mentioned before, I am also working on making education accessible to people with disabilities in the Gambia. The Gambia does not have a disability act. My goal is to lobby for the implementation of a policy geared towards this need. I feel privileged as a disabled woman of African descent, who is also a survivor of FGM to have received an education. I feel passionate at the same time obliged to help people, especially the marginalized communities.

I wish people could see that I do not view my disability as an inability to achieve anything. I am a lot happier than people assume. I hope that the next time someone calls me strong or inspiring it is NOT because I have done the bare minimum.

I grew up with a disability in a culture that attaches a stigma to my condition, that it is deserved. I became a very serious kid hoping that would stop the name calling and bullying. I have dealt with so many rejections from the playground to the classroom.

Through my culture, I went through female genital mutilation and became scarred both physically and mentally. For many years after this experience, I felt that I am not whole. I asked so many questions that weren’t answered. These experiences contributed to what made me who I am, an activist for the marginalized. My activism emerged from a place of understanding. Although many doors have been slammed on my face because of who I am and what I look like, there are so many aspects of my culture that I appreciate and still carry with me. Here I am a disabled, immigrant, black, Muslim woman…. Five strikes.

You know how that goes.