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“From the moment I was born, I came into this world with a short leg. Everyone knew I had a disability, but no one truly understood what it was like to live with it,” recalls Yasmin Al-Baseer, a 21-year-old youth advocate. Her story is one of resilience, determination, and hope, set against the backdrop of conflict and turmoil. The findings of the latest Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) [1] indicate that 18 percent of children in Yemen have a disability.
Growing up with a disability in Yemen, some children her age did not understand her condition and refused to play with her for being different from them. Yasmin says: “When I was a child, I would try to play with children and have fun with them, but some of them would refuse to play with me maybe because their parents did not encourage them to play with me.”
The failure of the family and society to provide assistive devices and an inclusive environment limited Yasmin’s interaction with other children. Despite her efforts, Yasmin often felt the sting of pity and sympathy from those around her. Her dream was simple yet profound: to walk freely without crutches. “I wanted to carry a shoulder bag and feel the softness of my hands, free from the marks of crutches,” she says. However, the cost and availability of a prosthetic leg in Yemen made this dream seem impossible. The 9-year-old conflict has exacerbated the challenges faced by persons with disabilities2, making it more difficult to access essential services and support.
Yasmin’s determination never wavered.
At twelve, she still didn’t have a prosthetic leg. “While science was advancing and people were going to space, my other leg couldn’t even reach the ground,” she reflects. The war in Yemen further complicated her life, closing her school and forcing her to attend another school where she faced bullying and discrimination.
Despite these hardships, Yasmin excelled academically. “I was always at the top of my class, but I was never recognized and called to the stage at award ceremonies because the stage was too high for me,” she recounts. Yasmin’s school neither had disability friendly environment that could allow her to walk on crutches to the stage to receive her awards, nor accepted diversity as a normal way of life. Despite these socially-created barriers to participation, she joined the Children's Parliament when she was in ninth grade, eager to advocate for change towards a more inclusive society that accepts diversity. Yasmin was actively taking part in UNICEF advocacy activities to call for child rights such as Peace and Rights for Children with Disabilities in 2019. She wrote A message from the children in Yemen | UNICEF Yemen addressing children’s rights. The letter was sent to UNICEF Representative at the time, who in her turn shared it with former UNICEF Executive Director. These experiences ignited her passion for advocacy for spaces where persons with disability feel included.
Her resilience shone through when she finally received a prosthetic leg after much persistence and hope. “My first training with the prosthetic leg was difficult. I stumbled and fell, but my hope and desire to walk kept me going,” she says. Yasmin’s journey took a significant turn when she discovered the field of prosthetics. “At the beginning, I wasn’t aware that this field of study existed in Yemen. I heard about it when I was studying in college,” she explains. Her frequent visits to the Prosthetics Centre in Sana’a and the obtainment of a scholarship to study Prosthetist opened the door to this new opportunity.
Studying prosthetics has not been without challenges. “Our major is more practical application than theoretical. Standing for long hours is difficult but that does not prevent me from working. Despite these obstacles, Yasmin remains determined to excel in her field. Her goal is to improve the quality of prosthetics for herself and others, especially those in rural areas who face difficulties accessing treatment. “I felt a sense of accomplishment when I and a few students successfully completed the first practical application of making a prosthetic limb. The prosthetic limb that we made was excellent.”
Yasmin’s journey is a testament to the strength of the human spirit. “We are all human, and we all face challenges. Persons with disabilities face unique challenges, but we are not different or less capable,” she emphasizes. Yasmin calls for greater support and understanding for persons with disabilities noting that it is the socially-produced barriers to participation that disable people not the conditions they live with.
