‘Can anything good come out of this mouth?’ Female experiences of disability in Malawi

The aim of this article is to give an overview of the daily life stories of 23 women with disabilities in Malawi. The stories were gained through qualitative interviews that covered aspects of being a woman and living with a disability in Malawi. Recent studies from countries in southern Africa have documented how people with disabilities experience poorer living conditions than people without disabilities. It is generally assumed that the living conditions of women are worse than those of men. There is, however, a large gap in the literature concerning women with disabilities in Africa. The results present a mixed picture. While several of the informants had experienced discrimination and exclusion because of their impairments, most of the women had been well taken care of and were treated equally by their closest family and friends. They had a strong wish to be empowered through education and employment.